740.00119 Control (Korea)/1–2047)
The Assistant Secretary of State (Hilldring) to the Chief of the Civil Affairs Division, War Department (Noce)
Dear General: I have given careful consideration to the draft of a proposed bill “To Provide for Government, Relief, Economic Rehabilitation, Reorientation and Reeducation in Occupied Areas in Foreign Countries, and for Other Purposes” transmitted with your letter of January 20, 1947.22 The Department of State approves and will support the bill proposed by the War Department. However, while supporting the War Department’s efforts to obtain enabling legislation to carry on activities in the occupied countries beyond those permitted by the disease and unrest formula, I should like to add this parenthetical thought. Large scale rehabilitation and reconstruction programs are not contemplated from funds appropriated to the War Department. As you know, the State Department is sponsoring a bill to provide relief funds for Austria and is planning to introduce a separate bill to obtain funds for relief and rehabilitation in Korea. It is not now contemplated that funds appropriated to the War Department will be used for reconstruction programs in Germany and Japan.
I should like to have the opportunity to examine any revisions that may be made in the draft of the bill, and would appreciate it if you would keep me advised of developments in this regard.
Sincerely yours,
- Not printed.↩