Foreign Relations of the United States, 1958–1960, Foreign Economic Policy, Volume IV

284. Memorandum From the President’s Special Assistant for Economic Affairs (Hauge) to the President’s Staff Secretary (Goodpaster)⁰

September 30, 1958.

The purpose of this memorandum is to record the discussion I had with the President Saturday morning¹ concerning Clarence Randall’s proposal for the President to delegate to the Secretary of Agriculture the responsibility for determining the materials for which surplus agricultural commodities are to be bartered.²

The President said that he was aware that the Congress intended that a reasonable amount of barter be conducted and that he thought Mr. Randall’s proposal was the best means for doing this. However, before approving Mr. Randall’s proposal, he wanted to be sure: (1) that the Congress had no objection to the delegation of this authority to the Secretary of Agriculture; (2) that the Secretary of Agriculture had no objection to the proposal; and (3) that the interested agencies would have an opportunity to appeal to the White House if they disagreed with the Secretary of Agriculture in administering this responsibility.

On the first point, I informed the President that the Congress would have no objection to this responsibility being delegated to the Secretary of Agriculture. I told the President that Mr. Harker Stanton, Counsel of the Senate Agricultural Committee, had advised the White House on September 26 that he did not see any reason why under the language of the law the Secretary of Agriculture could not be delegated this responsibility. In this connection, see the attached memorandum from Paul Cullen to me, dated September 26, 1958 (Incl. 4).³

On the second point, I informed the President that I had been assured by Assistant Secretary Marvin McLain, who is Secretary Benson’s assistant for barter operations, that the Secretary of Agriculture will go along with the delegation of this responsibility to him if that is what the President wanted (Incl. 3).⁴ I also told the President that the Director of the Bureau and the Director of OCDM had approved Mr. Randall’s proposal.

On the third point, I informed the President that pursuant to a recommendation of the Council on Foreign Economic Policy last May,⁵ the Secretary of Agriculture established an interdepartmental committee to advise him concerning barter operations. The arrangements provide for the referral to the White House of disagreements on matters considered by the committee.

In view of the above, the President said that an Executive Order should be prepared immediately, delegating to the Secretary of Agriculture the responsibility for determining the materials to be acquired through barter. He further said he thought the Executive Order should provide for interested agency coordination and referral of any disagreements to the White House (CFEP) for decision.

Pursuant to your instructions, Paul Cullen is following up on this matter with the Bureau of the Budget.

The Bureau of the Budget is preparing a proposed answer to Secretary Benson’s letter to the President (Incl. 1).⁶

Gabe

0. Source: Eisenhower Library, White House Central Files, Confidential File, Agricultural Surpluses. No classification marking.
1. September 27.
2. Randall made this proposal in a memorandum to Adams, September 19. (Eisenhower Library, White House Central Files, Confidential File, Agricultural Surpluses)
3. Not printed. (Ibid.)
4. Memorandum from Hauge to Adams, September 22, not printed. (Ibid.)
5. See footnote 1, Document 280.
6. Not printed. In the letter, November 11, Eisenhower provided Benson with authority to acquire certain materials through barter of surplus agricultural commodities and provided Benson authority to procure other strategic and critical materials from time to time by the order of the Director of the Office of Civilian and Defense Mobilization. Benson was instructed to “continue to consult the appropriate agencies in order to assure a broad and flexible consideration of the problems inherent in the program.” The President stated that unless there was a net gain from the exchange, the national interest did not require accumulation of commodities for which there was no current or projected need. Therefore, Benson should continue to approve for barter only those transactions which would expand total exports of surplus agricultural commodities without disrupting world markets. (Eisenhower Library, White House Central Files, Confidential File, Agricultural Surpluses)