Editorial Note
The Economic Cooperation Act of 1948, Title I of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1948, became law on April 3, 1948, 62 Stat. 137. The Act noted that the provision of assistance resulted “from the multilateral pledges of participating countries to use all their efforts to accomplish a joint recovery program based on self-help and mutual cooperation as embodied” in the Paris Report. In addition the Act stipulated that each country should conclude a bilateral agreement with the United States to be eligible to receive assistance. Nevertheless, the Act provided that the Administrator might for three months perform “any of the functions authorized under this title which he may determine to be essential in furtherance of the purposes of this title”, that is to authorize the flow of aid, if the recipient country had signified its adherence to the purposes of the legislation and had indicated that it was its intention to conclude such an agreement.
For statements by President Truman and the Secretary of State on April 3, on the occasion of the President’s approval of the Foreign Assistance Act, see Department of State Bulletin, April 11, 1948, page 468.
For exchanges of notes between the United States Government and eleven nations which became members of the Organization for European Cooperation on April 16, by which the concerned governments signified their adherence to the purposes and policies of the European Cooperation Act and their intention to conclude bilateral agreements with the United States pursuant to section 115(b) of the Act, see ibid., May 16, 1948, pages 640 ff. (Through an apparent oversight Belgium was not included in this compendium; notes exchanged in this instance were in the same form as those exchanged with The Netherlands.) The exchanges were effected as follows (all at Washington, D.C.): Austria [Page 409] (April 15), Denmark (April 20), Netherlands (April 20), Italy (April 21), Norway (April 22), France (April 24), Iceland (April 28), Ireland (April 28), Belgium (April 30), United Kingdom (April 30), Luxembourg (May 3), and Sweden (May 4). Exchanges were completed with Greece at Athens (May 12), ibid., May 30, 1948, pages 708–709; with Germany (the United States–United Kingdom Bipartite Board) at Frankfurt (May 14), ibid., May 30, 1948, pages 709–711; with Turkey at Washington (May 18), ibid., June 13, 1948, page 779; and with Germany (French Zone) at Paris (June 3), ibid., June 27, 1948, pages 838 and 839.