History of NATO Atlantic Treaty, which was signed by US President Harry S. Truman in Washington on 4 April 1949. It included the five Treaty of Brussels states plus the United States, Canada, Portugal, Italy, Norway, Denmark and Iceland. The first NATO Secretary General, Lord Ismay, stated in 1949 that the organization's goal was "to keep the Russians out, the Americans in, and the Germans down". Popular support for the Treaty was not unanimous, and some Icelanders participated in a pro-neutrality, anti-membership riot in March 1949. The creation of NATO can be seen as the primary institutional consequence of a school of thought
Russia–NATO relations becoming a NATO member has at different times been floated by both Western and Russian leaders, as well as some experts. During a series of interviews with filmmaker Oliver Stone, President Vladimir Putin told him that he floated the possibility of Russia joining NATO to Bill Clinton when he visited Moscow in 2000. Putin stated: "During the meeting I said, 'Let's consider an option that Russia might join NATO. Mr. Clinton said 'Why not?' But the U.S. delegation got very nervous." According to former Secretary General of NATO Anders Fogh Rasmussen, in the early days of his presidency around 2000–2001,