Office of the Historian

Extract From Department of State “Bulletin” April 23, 1951

[April 23, 1951]

Reorganization in Bureau of Economic Affairs

(Released to the press April 10)

To meet the new requirements in the field of international economic policy raised by this country’s large-scale defense program, the Department of State today announced reorganization in the Bureau of Economic Affairs.

[Page 1229]

Effective immediately, the Office of International Trade Policy is abolished.

There is established an Office of International Materials Policy and an Office of Economic Defense and Trade Policy.

The Office of International Materials Policy will take over the functions, personnel, and equipment of the Petroleum Policy Staff, the Food and Agriculture Branch, and the Industrial Materials Branch of the Economic Resources and Security Staff.

It will be the purpose of the Office of International Materials Policy, in cooperation with other agencies of the Government; (1) to develop programs and policies which will insure the harmonization of domestic and foreign emergency economic controls designed to stimulate the production of basic materials in short supply; (2) to assure the widest degree of parallel action in the adoption of conservation measures; (3) to provide for the continued export of goods essential to meet the minimum civilian requirements of other parts of the free world; (4) to assure the availability to the United States adequate supplies of basic materials, and (5) to promote the allocation where necessary of materials in short supply.

The Office of Economic Defense and Trade Policy will take over the functions, personnel, and equipment of the Commercial Policy Staff, the International Business Practices Policy Staff, and the Economic Security Branch of the Economic Resources and Security Staff.

It will be the purpose of the Office of Economic Defense and Trade Policy to promote the strength of the free world through economic ties to prevent inflation and to increase the flow of essential trade. The Office will cooperate with other Government agencies to consolidate and strengthen the framework of international cooperation in the field of trade policy and economic treaty relationships to develop greater political unity and to assure long-run economic stability on which a sustained defense program must rest. The Office also will have authority in the Department’s jurisdiction over controls of exports to the Soviet bloc.

Principal Officers

The principal officers in the new units are as follows:

  • a. Office of International Materials (OMP)
    Winthrop G. Brown, acting director
    John W. Evans, acting deputy director
    Willis C. Armstrong, acting special assistant
    Clarence W. Nichols, acting special assistant
    (1)
    Petroleum Policy Staff (PED)
    Edwin G. Moline, acting chief
    (2)
    Manufactured Products Staff (MPS)
    (3)
    Agricultural Products Staff (APS)
    Francis A. Linville, acting chief
    (4)
    Industrial Raw Materials Staff (IRM)
    (5)
    Metals and Minerals Staff (MMS)
    Harlan P. Bramble, acting chief
  • b. Office of Economic Defense and Trade Policy (EDT)
    John M. Leddy, acting director
    Joseph D. Coppock, acting adviser
    (1)
    Economic Defense Staff (EDS)
    (2)
    Commercial Policy Staff (CP)
    Carl D. Corse, acting chief
    (3)
    Business Practices and Technology Staff (BPT)
    Roger C. Dixon, acting chief