890F.24/9–1345

President Truman to King Abdul Aziz ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia

Your Majesty: It is indeed a pleasure to receive your letter7 and to learn that like myself you are looking forward to the time when we may meet and re-affirm the friendship between our respective countries which has already been cemented by the auspicious meeting between Your Majesty and the late great President Roosevelt.8 I can assure you that I, too, share the strong feeling of friendship which bound him to you and to your people.

You are quite right in assuming that the welfare of your country is important to me and that I recognize the importance of extending you sufficient aid to enable Saudi Arabia to pass safely through the [Page 954] present crisis. You state in your letter that you have learned from Colonel Eddy that the amount of supplies and the amount of currency assigned to Saudi Arabia for the second half of 1945 have not been finally approved by the American Congress. I am happy to inform Your Majesty that our Congress has now acted favorably upon this matter and that I am supporting the fulfillment of the commitment to you. As Colonel Eddy informed Shaikh Abdullah Sulaiman, your Acting Foreign Minister, and as the Department of State informed His Royal Highness Amir Faisal at the time of his visit to Washington, the Government of the United States has agreed to provide aid to Saudi Arabia in 1945 in two supply programs. The first of these is the joint American-British ten million dollar supply program to which we and the Government of the United Kingdom are each supplying commodities valued at five million dollars. Secondly, because we do not feel that this joint supply program provides sufficient assistance to carry your country through this critical period, the Government of the United States is providing a supplementary supply program of six million dollars. This program is composed of three million dollars worth of commodities desired by you and three million dollars worth of silver riyal coins. It is my sincere belief that this assistance will be sufficient to maintain the economy of your country on a sound basis throughout 1945.

May I also call attention to the fact which was communicated to His Royal Highness Amir Faisal in Washington that the Government of the United States has decided to extend a five million dollar development loan to Saudi Arabia through the mechanism of our Export-Import Bank, if the terms of the loan prove agreeable to Your Majesty. It is our hope that you will find these funds useful in developing telecommunications, roads, water works, light plants, agricultural projects, and other projects necessary to the strengthening of your economy.

With very best wishes for your continued health and happiness,

Believe me,

Your sincere friend,

Harry Truman
  1. Ante, p. 926. On August 11, 1945, the White House requested the Department of State to prepare an appropriate reply for the President’s signature. The Department’s suggested reply, sent to the White House on September 10, was returned to the Department on September 13 and was transmitted to the Minister in Saudi Arabia for delivery to the King, under instruction 351, September 18. (890F.24/9–1045, 890F.24/9–1345)
  2. For documentation on this subject, see pp. 1 ff.