Editorial Note
President Truman signed the Mutual Defense Assistance Act of 1949 on October 6, Congress having approved the legislation after two months of consideration. On August 18, the House of Representatives passed HR 5895, the military assistance legislation reported by the Foreign Affairs Committee. However, the House first voted to amend the bill by eliminating all contract authority and by trimming an additional $75,000,000. The approved measure authorized the expenditure of $819,505,000.
Between August 8 and September 12, the Senate Foreign Relations and Armed Services Committees conducted joint hearings (both open and executive) on the question. These proceedings are described in The Military Assistance Program: Joint Hearings Before the Committee on Foreign Relations and the Committee on Armed Services of the United States Senate (81st Cong., 1st sess.) and Senate Report 1068, September 13, 1949, the report of the joint committee. Secretary Acheson’s prepared statement before the committee on August 8 appears in the Department of State Bulletin, August 22, 1949, pages 264–269.
The combined committee favorably reported the bill (HR 5895) on September 12 in an amended form. The sums agreed to were those ultimately enacted: $1,000,000,000 for the North Atlantic Treaty states; $211,370,000 for Greece and Turkey; $27,640,000 for Iran, Korea, and the Philippines; and $75,000,000 for the general area of China. The total amount authorized was thus $1,314,010,000. The Senate passed the measure on September 22 by a vote of 55 to 24. House conferees accepted the Senate figures. The conference report, House of Representatives Report No. 1346, 81st Congress, 1st Session, September 27, was approved by the House en September 28 (224–109) and by voice vote in the Senate.
On October 6, President Truman signed the Act (PL 329, 81st Cong.). For the text of the Act, President Truman’s statement on the [Page 399] occasion of signing it, and a Presidential press release of October 10 requesting Congress to appropriate the full amount authorized, see the Department of State Bulletin, October 24, 1949, pages 603–608. On October 28, Congress approved legislation appropriating all funds authorized (PL 430, 81st Cong.).