800.0146/264c
The Secretary of State to the Secretary of War (Stimson)2
My Dear Mr. Secretary: I refer to my letter to you of this date concerning the general matter of relief and rehabilitation supplies to be furnished to the liberated areas in Europe and the Far East, in which letter there was submitted to you a statement of the considerations which the Department of State believes should be taken into account in the planning and shipping of relief and rehabilitation supplies during the period of military responsibility.
Upon the termination of the military period, it is expected that the primary responsibility for assisting in relief and rehabilitation in the liberated areas will devolve upon the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration,3 to the extent that the recognized civilian governments or authorities in such areas may require outside assistance. The Department of State believes it essential that from the beginning preparations be made for a smooth transition in this field from the period of the military control to the period of civilian responsibility and that, accordingly, the military authorities make every practicable effort to keep the Administration informed as to their operations in this field and, in other respects, including the preparation of requirements for each area, to collaborate with the Administration. It is also believed desirable that the scope and nature of the civilian relief and rehabilitation operations of the military authorities should insofar as practicable be correlated with those of the operations to be subsequently performed by the Administration.
In this connection, I transmit herewith a copy of the Resolutions on Policy of the first session of the Council of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration held in Atlantic City, New Jersey, from November 10 to December 1, 1943, inclusive,4 which I believe will be of general interest and utility to you in connection with the foregoing. Certain of these resolutions bear upon the relations between the military authorities and the Administration and make recommendations to the member governments with respect thereto. I respectfully recommend on behalf of the United States Government the observance by the United States military authorities of the recommendations concerning such relations contained in Resolution 1, Section [Page 305] IV; Resolution 8, Section 4; Resolution 10, Section 7; and Resolution 17, Section A, III, 4 and Section B.
Sincerely yours,
- The same, mutatis mutandis, on the same date to the Secretary of the Navy (Knox).↩
- For documentation relating to participation of the United States in the work of UNRRA, see pp. 331 ff.↩
- Department of State publication No. 2040, Conference Series No. 53: First Session of the Council of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, Selected Documents, Atlantic City, New Jersey, November 10–December 1, 1943 (Washington, Government Printing Office, 1944).↩