11 Facts About SEATO

The formal institution of SEATO was established on 19 February 1955 at a meeting of treaty partners in Bangkok, Thailand.

SEATO was dissolved on 30 June 1977 after many members lost interest and withdrew.

President Dwight D Eisenhower's Secretary of State John Foster Dulles is considered to be the primary force behind the creation of SEATO, which expanded the concept of anti-communist collective defense to Southeast Asia.

Organizationally, SEATO was headed by the Secretary General, whose office was created in 1957 at a meeting in Canberra, with a council of representatives from member states and an international staff.

However, with the lingering threat coming from communist North Vietnam and the possibility of the domino theory with Indochina turning into a communist frontier, SEATO got these countries under its protection – an act that would be considered to be one of the main justifications for the U S involvement in the Vietnam War.

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SEATO was unable to intervene in conflicts in Laos because France and the United Kingdom rejected the use of military action.

SEATO sponsored the creation of the Teacher Development Center in Bangkok, as well as the Thai Military Technical Training School, which offered technical programs for supervisors and workmen.

SEATO provided research funding and grants in agriculture and medical fields.

In 1959, SEATO set up the Cholera Research Laboratory in Bangkok, later establishing a second Cholera Research Laboratory in Dhaka, East Pakistan.

SEATO was interested in literature, and a SEATO Literature Award was created and given to writers from member states.

South Vietnam was defeated in war by North Vietnam and France withdrew financial support in 1975, and the SEATO council agreed to the phasing-out of the organization.