Office of the Historian

840.50 UNRRA/11–845: Circular airgram

The Secretary of State to Certain Diplomatic Officers in the American Republics 27

Washington, November 8, 1945—3:50 p.m.

Continuing problems of relief and rehabilitation in Europe and the vast problems in the Far East which must now be faced by UNRRA make it essential that the Administration be supplied with sufficient funds. While the greatest financial burden naturally rests upon the United States, the contributions of all countries are important. The US Congress which is now in the process of appropriating the $550 million balance of the first US contribution, will shortly be [Page 1039] requested to authorize the additional one percent contribution recommended at the recent UNRRA Council meeting in London.

A significant factor in the success of the Congressional approach will be the Department’s difficulty in justifying any failure on the part of other contributors to fulfill their original financial undertakings to UNRRA. This failure received considerable attention from Congress and the press during the recent hearings, and will be given even more scrutiny if action has not been taken by the other contributing governments before the new hearings are completed. Action by the governments now in arrears will have a definite effect on the willingness of the Congress to vote an additional one percent contribution by the United States to UNRRA and it is, of course, apparent that without an additional US contribution to UNRRA, the aims and objectives of the Administration and its member governments cannot be accomplished.

As of September 30 the status of contributions to UNRRA was as follows (in thousands of US dollars):

Country Authorized or in process Paid or available Balance due in 1945
Colombia $2,356 $52 $2,304
Costa Rica 400 0 400
Dominican Republic 350 245 105
Mexico 3,602 1,148 2,454
Panama 409 142 267
Uruguay 520 485 35
Venezuela 1,017 17 1,000
Ecuador 150 0 150
El Salvador 129 5 124
Bolivia 95 32 63
Paraguay 38 10 28

You are requested to bring the above points forcefully to the attention of the appropriate government officials. An important service can thus be rendered to the UNRRA program. This subject has been fully discussed with the British and Canadian Governments, whose missions, the Department understands, will receive similar instructions.

Byrnes
  1. Sent to Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Panama, Uruguay, Venezuela, Ecuador, El Salvador, Bolivia, and Paraguay.↩