Foreign Relations of the United States, 1952–1954, Africa and South Asia, Volume XI, Part 2

891.00 TA/3–353

Memorandum by the Secretary of State to the President¹

secret

[Washington,] March 16, 1953.

You may be interested in the final paragraph of a recent cable from Chester Bowles² on Indian aid—

“Only rational basis reducing aid request is reject our political estimate (one word here garbled, correction to follow)³ vital importance and danger of failure. This responsibility must be clearly and openly assumed in Washington. In my considered opinion it would be prelude to disaster.”

I am actually recommending a reduction from a projected $200,000,000 to $140,000,000.⁴

John Foster Dulles

1. Secretary of State Dulles drafted this memorandum.
2. See footnote 2, supra.
3. The garbled word in New Delhi telegram 3455, Mar. 2, was “India’s”.
4. According to a memorandum dated Nov. 9, 1953 from Harold E. Stassen, the Director of the Foreign Operations Administration, to Secretary of State Dulles, a total of $89,100,000 eventually was made available by Congress for technical assistance and economic aid to India in FY 1954 (791.5 MSP/11–953).