840.50 UNRRA/12–845
The Secretary of State to the Director of the Bureau of the Budget (Smith)
My Dear Mr. Smith: With what I trust is now the imminent approval by the Senate of the authorization for an additional UNRRA contribution as voted by the House of Representatives,50 the immediate urgency of the relief problem in the countries receiving or to receive UNRRA’s assistance makes it incumbent upon me to request that a full appropriation of the funds authorized be sought from the House Appropriations Committee and the House itself prior to any recess this year. I had hoped that the critical importance of action on the new U. S. contribution to UNRRA, in accordance with the recommendation made last August by the UNRRA Council, would have so impressed itself on Congress, and the people of this country in the course of the recent public hearings before the Foreign Affairs Committee,51 that the Department would not have to resort to special pleading or procedure to insure that UNRRA’s treasury would have the funds necessary to carry on its vital effort to ward off starvation and disease among almost two-thirds of the war-ridden populations of the civilized world.
Reports reaching me daily of the destitution and increasing unrest in these countries, due to the present uncertainty of receiving even the irreducible minimum of essential civilian supplies in the winter months ahead, indicate such a serious threat to our foreign policy objectives and humanitarian commitments that I sincerely believe I would be [Page 1051] derelict in my responsibilities as Secretary of State if I did not now seek extraordinary measures of support to insure that UNRRA would not fail in its all important task because a delay in our democratic processes caused a failure to furnish UNRRA with the sine qua non of its success—the financial support of the United States.
I therefore request your fullest cooperation, and through you, that of the Congress, in completing legislation making funds available to UNRRA in the earliest possible time. Specifically, I would like to begin appropriation hearings before Mr. Cannon’s52 Committee in the House of Representatives as soon as enabling legislation has been passed by that body. I would also like to have the House Appropriations Committee act upon the immediate appropriation of the whole contribution of $1,350,000,000 at that time. I will summarize what I believe to be the logical and special reasons for this request.
The members of Congress, and especially the members of the Appropriations Committee, are at present fully familiar with UNRRA’s financial needs, and with the details of UNRRA’s proposed scope of operations as well as the provisions being made by the Department to insure effective United States participation in the work of UNRRA and control of our contribution to it. It is quite a normal procedure for any agency seeking funds from Congress to request appropriations to cover one year’s operations, as this estimate proposes to do. Administrative and fiscal problems are thereby considerably reduced. It is particularly important to make a lump sum appropriation in the case of UNRRA to avoid repetition of the difficult circumstances in which we have found ourselves this fall in carrying out our responsibilities, and I am sure the Congress can readily satisfy itself that the Department has taken all the steps necessary to insure a satisfactory control over and protection of the United States contributions. There is the further point that the leadership of this country and the Congress in taking such action will undoubtedly promote fuller and more prompt support from other governments contributing to UNRRA. The Department, may I add, intends to pursue this latter point vigorously with other governments.
In the case of UNRRA, there are cogent and special reasons for seeking the immediate appropriation of the second UNRRA contribution, which reasons are in the national interest, as well as to the advantage of UNRRA and its operations. UNRRA’s responsibility is not alone one of relief—although that is certainly the overriding consideration at the moment. UNRRA is responsible for furnishing the minimum rehabilitation supplies essential to the production and maintenance of relief articles, services, and distribution. We deliberately broadened the scope of UNRRA to this limited extent in order to avoid [Page 1052] any obligation for continuing indefinitely non-recoverable relief expenditures abroad. We are hoping that UNRRA’s work can be completed by the end of 1946 in Europe and three months thereafter in the Far East. The UNRRA member governments, including those receiving its aid, support this objective.
We must all admit, however, that attaining this goal will depend upon the success of the 1946 harvest yield in the receiving countries, and the rehabilitation of ancillary services. This means that UNRRA’s deliveries of rehabilitation supplies must reach and pass their peak before the spring, in addition to the shipment of tremendous quantities of food and clothing. The responsibility of UNRRA not only to procure a maximum amount of foodstuffs in surplus areas in the immediate weeks ahead but also to secure production and delivery of raw materials, agricultural and transportation equipment, and other essential rehabilitation supplies must be apparent.
The Department will do all in its power to assist UNRRA in the proper and prompt expenditure of the new contribution in accordance with the objectives stated above. We are also charged with facilitating the disposal of the United States war surpluses here and abroad, and have shared with Congress the desire that our contributions to UNRRA should be an important method of achieving this end. The availability now of the additional United States contribution to UNRRA in full will permit maximum efficiency in integrating surplus disposal with the UNRRA supply programs—both in planning, and in actual transfer and delivery. I cannot over-emphasize the need for funds to be available in full, with a minimum of administrative restrictions, if the Department is to succeed in successfully accomplishing this two-fold task.
Sincerely yours,
- Passed by the House of Representatives on December 6; see Congressional Record, vol. 91, pt. 9, p. 11594.↩
- These hearings took place on November 14, 15, 16, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23; see H.R. 4649: Hearings Before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, 79th Cong., 1st sess. (Washington, Government Printing Office, 1945).↩
- Representative Clarence Cannon of Missouri, Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee.↩