Editorial Note

On March 12, 1954, the Cabinet approved the draft of an interim report by the President’s Mineral Policy Committee on stockpiling strategic metals and minerals. The Committee, also known as the Cabinet Committee on Minerals Policy, had been established in November 1953 pursuant to a letter from the President, dated October 26, 1953, for the purpose of studying and making recommendations on United States policies concerning the production and utilization of these items. The Committee consisted of representatives from the Departments of the Interior, State, and Commerce, and the Office of Defense Mobilization. The Secretary of the Interior served as chairman. In noting that “twice within the last 15 years,” the United States had been drawn into conflicts with “almost no stockpile of essential raw materials,” the report recommended that the stockpile objectives be raised from what were described as “minimum” standards then existing to a much larger “long-term” standard. The interim report was submitted in final form to the President on March 31. The text of the report is in the Eisenhower Library, White House Central files, 1953–61; a summary of its recommendations is printed in Current Economic Developments, Issue No. 439, April 13, 1954. (Current Economic Developments, lot 70 D 467) The minutes of the Cabinet meeting of March 12 are in the Eisenhower Library, Eisenhower papers, Whitman file. For a further explanation of the contents of the report and the steps to be taken toward its implementation, see the memorandum by the President to Flemming, April 14, page 1145. Regarding the Committee’s final report, submitted to the President on December 1, 1954, see the editorial note, page 1257.