Abstract
After France vetoed the creation of the European Defense Community
(EDC) in 1954, it was inevitable that the Federal Republic would be
immediately incorporated into NATO as a solution to the Western European
security problem. At the Paris Conference of October 19–23, 1954, the
Federal Republic was invited to join NATO. At the same time, the three
Western powers undertook partial revisions to the Germany Treaty of
1952: in the new version, the FRG was granted full sovereignty over its
domestic and foreign affairs. In the photo (from left to right), French
Prime Minister Pierre Mendès-France, West-German Chancellor Konrad
Adenauer, British Foreign Minister Anthony Eden, and U.S. Secretary of
State John Foster Dulles pose for the press, in good spirits after
signing the Bonn-Paris Conventions on October 23, 1954.