883.50/3–1445: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Minister in Egypt ( Tuck )
Washington
, March 16,
1945—7 p.m.
637. For Hoskins.1 Legation’s 648, March 14.2 Time is not propitious in opinion of Department for raising question of unified economic setup in Middle East. Department further feels that present modus vivendi provides ample opportunity for satisfactory operating results provided good will is applied in full measure.3
Economic policy paper4 is moving forward but slowly. Will advise.
Stettinius
- Lt. Col. Harold B. Hoskins, Adviser on Economic Affairs, with the rank of Counselor, at Legation in Egypt; assigned concurrently to Missions in Ethiopia, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, and Saudi Arabia.↩
- Not printed; it inquired whether the Department had taken any action on his memorandum of March 3, 1945, to Assistant Secretary of State for Economic Affairs William L. Clayton and other Department officers, which suggested establishment of a unified economic authority in the Middle East (883.50/3–1445).↩
- Colonel Hoskins once more proposed the advisability of a regional approach to American economic policy in the Middle East in a letter to the Secretary of State on July 31, 1945 (124.836/7–3145). His proposals were given wide discussion, culminating in a meeting of political and economic officers of the Department on August 27, 1945. It was the sense of the meeting that the proposed regional organization would not be a satisfactory arrangement and that the primary problems raised by Colonel Hoskins could be solved by more adequate regional political and economic coordination within the Department and between the Department and the field (890.50 Middle East/8–2945).↩
- See Report by the Coordinating Committee, May 2, infra.↩