Foreign Relations of the United States, 1958–1960, Volume V, Microfiche Supplement, American Republics

BL–10. Letter from the Director of the International Cooperation Administration (Smith) to the Assistant to the President (Adams)¹

Washington, July 23, 1958

Dear Governor Adams:

You gave me a letter dated July 2² from the President referring to a letter which he had received about our program in Bolivia.³

The program in Bolivia has been a source of considerable concern to us and I am enclosing herewith a copy of my memorandum of June 30 to Under Secretary Dillon⁴ and his reply of July 15.⁵ From this you will note that we are asking the Ambassador and the Acting USOM Director⁶ to come to Washington for a discussion next month.⁷

I am prepared to go into considerable more detail on this subject but feel a historical review is not what the President is interested in at this time. Consequently, I would like respectfully to suggest that I defer a final answer until we have met with the Ambassador and the Acting USOM Director and have a concrete plan of action which can be outlined to the President at that time, if he so wishes.

I would like to express my appreciation of the President’s interest in our program and for his thoughtfulness in passing along constructive comments on it.⁸

Sincerely yours,

J. H. Smith, Jr.

Enclosure

1. Source: Eisenhower Library, White House Central Files, Confidential File. Confidential.
2. Not printed.
3. The referenced letter was from Willis P. Duruz of the United States Operations Mission in Bolivia and personal friend of the President, June 28, 1958. In the letter, Duruz criticized the U.S. technical assistance program, and stated, inter alia, the following:
   “Various evaluation committees and groups have been here in Bolivia. They have been given the plush treatment, the bright spots glowingly visited, and the sore spots circumnavigated. So few days have been spent in these investigations, and most of the time at the U.S. Embassy or ICA headquarters, that it has become a standing joke among people who really know the situation in the field. One committee member did report this mission as having: ‘Too much, too soon’. He was ridiculed by the bureaucrats, but in my opinion that is a concise explaination [sic] of the situation in this mission.” (Eisenhower Library, White House Central Files, Confidential File)
   President Eisenhower’s preliminary response to Duruz, July 2, 1958, stated that he had sent Duruz’s letter to the Director of the ICA, “taking the precaution only to eliminate the heading and the signature from your letter since your communication is unofficial and personal.” (Eisenhower Library, White House Central Files, Confidential File)
4. The memorandum contained a brief history of the program in Bolivia and a recommendation that Ambassador Bonsal and Ross Moors, Director of the USOM in Bolivia, be asked to come to Washington for full discussions concerning the program with representatives from the Departments of State and Treasury, ICA, and the IMF. (724.5-MSP/6–3058)
5. Dillon concurred with Smith. (724.5-MSP/6–3058)
6. Warren W. Wiggens.
7. The discussions between Bonsal, Wiggens, and various inter-agency representatives were held on August 12–25, 1958. The paper developed from the discussions, dated November 3, 1958, is printed as Document BL-15. Additional documentation concerning the discussions is located in decimal file 724.5-MSP and ARA WST Files, Lot 62 D 16, “Grant Aid.”
8. On July 25, President Eisenhower sent another letter to Duruz in which he stated, inter alia, that he understood the ICA program in Bolivia “has been of concern to responsible officials of the Administration, and that there is ground for your specific criticisms. However, there is another side to the coin which, without going into details, is largely political in character.” He also stated that he wanted Duruz to know that “another look will be taken at the whole situation.” (Eisenhower Library, White House Central Files, Confidential File)