890F.515/1–2445
The Acting Secretary of State to the Foreign Economic Administrator (Crowley)
My Dear Mr. Crowley: I refer to your letter of January 24, 1945,20 addressed to the Secretary, reviewing certain aspects of lend-lease assistance to Saudi Arabia in the past, and recalling discussions between officers of the Department and the Foreign Economic Administration with regard to the desirability of placing the Saudi Arabian supply program on a more permanent basis and of substituting some other form of assistance for lend-lease aid. Your letter suggests that any new means of financing a supply program for Saudi Arabia should take effect at the beginning of the 1946 fiscal year, that is, on July 1, 1945.
While the Department is aware of the reluctance of the Foreign Economic Administration to continue lend-lease aid to Saudi Arabia after June 30, 1945, and will continue to press its search for a feasible alternative procedure, no definite plans have yet matured. In the Department’s judgment it would be unwise to assume that such plans can be developed and put into effect before July 1, 1946.
To provide sufficient time for consideration of all the factors involved, because of the political importance of assuring an uninterrupted flow of essential supplies to Saudi Arabia, and in furtherance of the war effort, it is requested that the Foreign Economic Administration take the measures necessary to make lend-lease help available to Saudi Arabia until July 1, 1946 on approximately the same basis as during the calender year 1944.
The Department and the Foreign Economic Administration have already proposed to the British Embassy the continuation of the joint supply program for Saudi Arabia during the first semester of 1945 at the same level as in 1944. Conceivably it might be necessary to continue at this level throughout 1945 and the first six months of 1946. Aid to be extended to Saudi Arabia during the first half of 1945 would be financed from the current Foreign Economic Administration budget, while that extended during the latter half of 1945 and the first six months of 1946 would be charged to the 1946 appropriations of the Foreign Economic Administration. It is therefore suggested that the necessary provisions be made in your 1946 budget estimates to allow for help to Saudi Arabia as indicated above. The Department of State will be glad, if requested to do so, to support the inclusion of lend-lease funds for Saudi Arabia in your 1946 estimates.
[Page 851]The foregoing is based on the assumption that during the entire period to July 1, 1946, a joint American-British supply program for Saudi Arabia similar to that in effect in 1944 will be in operation. Should the British contribution to the joint program be decreased or withdrawn, help for Saudi Arabia might be needed on a scale larger than that indicated above.
Sincerely yours,
- Not printed.↩