Work of the Combined Food Board, the Combined Raw Materials Board, and the Combined Production and Resources Board

[The White House, on January 19, 1945, released to the press a statement by President Roosevelt and an announcement by the President and Prime Ministers Churchill of the United Kingdom and Mackenzie King of Canada of their decision to maintain the Combined Production and Resources Board, the Combined Raw Materials Board, and the Combined Food Board until the end of the Japanese war. A further continuation was announced on August 29. For texts, see Department of State Bulletin, January 28, 1945, pages 119–121, and September 2, 1945, page 333.

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President Truman and Prime Ministers Attlee and King announced on December 10, 1945, that the work of the C.P.R.B. and C.R.M.B. would terminate on December 31, and that some of their remaining functions would be assigned to certain committees on an appropriate international basis. It was further stated that because many foodstuffs were still in short supply and because of their close interrelationship, the Combined Food Board would be retained as a supervisory and coordinating mechanism, presumably until June 30, 1946. For text of the announcement, which was released by the White House on December 10, see ibid., December 16, 1945, page 975.

For a description of the various United States-United Kingdom combined economic agencies and for a survey of their records (primarily those in American custody), see National Archives and Records Service, Federal Records of World War II, volume I, Civilian Agencies (Washington, Government Printing Office, 1950), pages 1021 ff. For a general account of their organization and operations, see S. McKee Rosen, The Combined Boards of the Second World War (New York, Columbia University Press, 1951).]