was also passed; it banned U.S. assistance to countries doing business with the Soviet Union and was so-named after its sponsor, Representative Laurie C. Battle of Alabama.

Truman sent a first bill to Congress on 25 July 1949, the day he ratified the North Atlantic Treaty but congressional opposition forced submission of a new legislation, which specified the recipients and the amounts of assistance.

Administration planners believed the MDAA's immediate effects would be to raise the morale of friendly nations and prove U.S. reliability and resolve to meet Communist worldwide threats.

The MDAA also institutionalized the concept of specific military aid programs, a result ensured by adoption of similar legislation in 1950 and an increase in annual spending on military aid to $5.222 billion after the outbreak of the Korean War - the very first large-scale test of the validity and practicability of the concept, if excepting the logistical support allowed to France during the First Indochina War.

By joining the CENTO & SEATO alliances, Pakistan officially became a Major non-NATO ally of the US under which it received aid financially and militarily through the Mutual Defense Assistance program to defend herself from Afghanistan and India which were being supported by the Soviets.

The MDAA caused both a great deal of friction with the non-aligned countries[citation needed] and opportunities to tighten geopolitical relations with the western free world and especially the United States.