week later, Vandenberg and Lovett discussed the wording of a resolution that would provide the legislative groundwork for a long-term pact. On May 11, Vandenberg presented a resolution that he had drafted with Lovett to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which approved it. On June 11 Vandenberg introduced and the Senate passed 82-13 a resolution advising the President to seek the security of the US and the rest of the Free World by support of mutual defense arrangements that operated within the UN Charter but outside the UN Security Council since the Soviet veto would otherwise thwart collective defense arrangements. Paragraph 3 of the resolution referred to issues of military assistance or alliance by encouraging "association by the United States, by constitutional process, with such regional and other collective arrangements as are based on continuous and effective self-help and mutual aid, and as effects its national security." The Vandenberg Resolution was the landmark action that opened the way to the negotiation of the North Atlantic Treaty. It is clear that the concept of such an alliance first arose during the Pentagon Talks in Washington in March, but US action would have been stymied without the Senate resolution endorsing an internationalist role for the country. As chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Vandenberg asserted that "politics stops at the water's edge" and cooperated with the Truman administration in forging bipartisan support. Francis O. Wilcox, the first chief of staff of the Foreign Relations Committee, recalled that Vandenberg's Senate career stood as a monument to bipartisanship in American foreign policy: "his legacy continues." Recently, "the Senate bestowed a unique honor on the Michigan senator," voting to add his portrait to a "very select collection" in the United States Senate Reception Room. A new book about Vandenberg's bipartisan relationship with the Truman administration reinforced the importance of their cooperation. References Further reading Williams, Phil. The Senate and US Troops in Europe (Palgrave Macmillan, 1985), excerpt chapter on "The North Atlantic Treaty, Military Assistance and the Troops to Europe Decision." pp. 11-41. 1948 documents 1948 in law Cold War history of the Soviet Union United States Senate resolutions 1948 in international relations 1948 in the United States United States diplomacy