SEATO, the regional defense organization created to protect members from communist expansionism, formally ended in this year:
SEATO (Southeast Asia Treaty Organization), the regional defense organization created to protect members from communist expansionism, formally ended on June 30, 1977. The organization was created by the Southeast Asia Collective Defense Treaty on September 8, 1954, in response to events in Korea and Indochina (Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos). It members were Australia, France, New Zealand, Pakistan, the Philippines, Thailand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Pakistan withdrew in 1968 and France withdrew financial support. SEATO had one final exercise on Feb. 20, 1976, formally ending a little over a year later.
