Foreign Relations of the United States, 1952–1954, General: Economic and Political Matters, Volume I, Part 2

398.18 ICEM/7–2254

The Secretary of State to the Director of the Intergovernmental Committee for European Migration (Gibson)¹

[Washington,] July 22, 1954.

Dear Hugh: I am sorry that my other duties have not permitted me before this time to answer your personal letter of July 3, 1954² concerning Congressional authorization to accept the ICEM constitution adopted in Venice in October, 1953.

At the beginning of this session of Congress, Chairman Reed of the House Judiciary Committee asked the Department whether we would support legislation authorizing United States acceptance of the ICEM constitution and we assured him both informally and officially that the Department would favor such legislation.³ Unfortunately, the authorization for United States acceptance was incorporated in a bill⁴ which provided for setting up in the Department of State an office of Commissioner of Refugees and Migration under circumstances which would have restored to the Department certain operating functions expressly transferred to FOA by Reorganization Plan No. 7 of last year. We endeavored to persuade Mr. Reed to separate the ICEM constitution from this bill.⁵ As an alternative, however, Mr. Reed and the House Judiciary Committee substantially revised the bill so that we could live with it. In this form the bill passed the House.

When the bill was returned to the Senate, before Senator Watkins,⁶ Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration and Naturalization, could make his recommendations concerning Senate action on the bill, Senator McCarran obtained permission to recommit the bill to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Thruston Morton, our Assistant Secretary for Congressional Relations, and I have talked to a number of people on the Hill concerning the bill and we are doing all we can. We are now trying to get the ratification of the ICEM constitution placed in the Mutual Security bill on the floor of the Senate. We are not at all sure that this strategy will succeed, but it is the last opportunity remaining at this late stage in the session.

Sincerely yours,

Foster

1. Drafted by Brown.
2. For text, see p. 1636.
3. These assurances were contained in letters from Assistant Secretary Morton to Chairman Reed, dated Jan. 28 and Mar. 16, 1954, neither printed. (398.18 ICEM/12–3053)
4. S. 1766.
5. See the Secretary’s letter to Chairman Reed, dated May 27, 1954, p. 1634.
6. Arthur V. Watkins (R.–Utah).