65. Editorial Note
On March 20, the Senate adopted S. 3420, which extended P.L. 480 for 2 years and increased the authorization for sales of surplus agricultural commodities for foreign currencies from $4 billon to $7.5 billion. At the March 21 Cabinet meeting, Secretary of Agriculture Benson “reported that the 2-year extension of P.L. 480 by the Senate was for a longer period than the Administration desired, also that the Humphrey directive for bartering agricultural surpluses was fortunately defeated and replaced by permissive barter authority. With Sec. Dulles concurring, Mr. Benson stated that the barter directed would have seriously damaged our foreign relations. He noted that Sen. Humphrey’s pressure for this seemed to have stemmed from the Farmers Union.” (Minutes of Cabinet meeting; Eisenhower Library, Whitman File, Eisenhower Diaries)
On March 24, Under Secretary of State Dillon testified before the House Ways and Means Committee in favor of extending the Trade Agreements Act for 5 years. For text of his statement, see American Foreign Policy: Current Documents, 1958, pages 1516–1524. On March 27, Eisenhower, Dulles, and Dillon spoke at the National Conference of Organizations on International Trade Policy. The text of the President’s statement is printed in Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1958, pages 243–250. For texts of Dulles’ and Dillon’s statements, see Department of State Bulletin, April 14, 1958, pages 595–601.
On April 11, Under Secretary of State Herter spoke in Seattle about the relationship between international trade and United States national security, focusing in part on the reciprocal trade bill and U.S.-Japanese trade relations. For text of this address, see ibid., May 5, 1958, pages 731–734. On April 25, Herter spoke in Paris about U.S. support for efforts by the Organization for European Economic Cooperation to [Page 156] liberalize European trade. For text of his statement, given at official ceremonies commemorating the Organization’s tenth anniversary, see American Foreign Policy: Current Documents, 1958, pages 531–534.