NATO has its roots in the Atlantic Charter, a 1941 agreement between the United States and United Kingdom. The Charter laid out a framework for international cooperation without territorial expansion after World War II.[16] On 4 March 1947, the Treaty of Dunkirk was signed by France and the United Kingdom during the aftermath of World War II and the start of the Cold War as a Treaty of Alliance and Mutual Assistance in the event of possible attacks by Germany. In March 1948, this alliance was expanded in the Treaty of Brussels to include the Benelux countries, forming the Brussels Treaty Organization, commonly known as the Western Union.[17] Talks for a wider military alliance, which could include North America, also began that month in the United States, where their foreign policy under the Truman Doctrine set out in 1947 promoted international solidarity against actions they saw as communist aggression, such as the February 1948 coup d'état in Czechoslovakia. These talks resulted in the signature of the North Atlantic Treaty on 4 April 1949 by the member states of the Western Union plus the United States, Canada, Portugal, Italy, Norway, Denmark, and Iceland.[18] Canadian diplomat Lester B. Pearson was a key author and drafter of the treaty.[19][20][21]