The Treaty of Dunkirk in 1947 and the Treaty of Brussels in 1948 were the precursors of the Treaty of Washington in 1949.
The first one was a Treaty of Alliance and Mutual Assistance in the event of possible attacks by Germany or the Soviet Union.
This was the Western Union.
US weren’t in the initial group.
But the need of a global approach was urgent.
The need came from Europe.
The contact with the enemies was in Europe.
But a wider military alliance had to be created to protect Europe even from itself.
And the result was the North Atlantic Treaty.
With the Western Union
Canada, Denmark, Iceland, Italy, Norway, Portugal and of course the united States.
It wasn’t initially a creation from US.
The flashpoint was Europe.
And we have to keep that in mind
if we want to realize the connection
between Ante Cold War and Cold War
to understand Post Cold War.