Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961–1963, Volume XVI, Eastern Europe; Cyprus; Greece; Turkey

30. Memorandum From President Eisenhower to Secretary of State Herter⁰

Presidential Determination No. 61–18

Washington, January 20, 1961.

SUBJECT

• Determination under Section 451(a) of the Mutual Security Act of 1954, as amended, permitting the furnishing of economic credit to Poland

In accordance with the recommendation in your memorandum of January 20, 1961,¹ I hereby determine, pursuant to Section 451(a) of the Mutual Security Act of 1954, as amended (hereinafter referred to as “the Act”), that it is important to the security of the United States that up to $5,000,000 of funds made available under Section 451(b) of the Act be used as described in your memorandum for a credit by the Export-Import Bank of Washington to the Polish Government without regard to the requirements of the Act, the Mutual Security and Related Agencies Appropriation Act, 1961, and the Mutual Defense Assistance Control Act of 1951, and, from such funds, I hereby direct that $5,000,000 be transferred to the Export-Import Bank of Washington for the foregoing purpose.

You are requested on my behalf to give appropriate notice of this determination, pursuant to Section 513 of the Act, to the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives. The Secretary of Defense, the Director of the Bureau of the Budget, and the Export-Import Bank of Washington are likewise to be notified by you of this determination.

Dwight D. Eisenhower

The foregoing approval is subject to the terms of the memorandum of Secretary Herter for General Goodpaster of January 20, 1961, which is hereby made a part of this document.

0. Source: Department of State, Central Files, 748.5–MSP/1–2061. Confidential.
1. In this memorandum, Herter recommended immediate action to establish a legal basis for further consideration of the issue with the Polish Government “with the understanding that the execution thereof be left to the new Administration” in the light of reports of a Polish trade agreement with Cuba. In a handwritten note at the bottom of the document, Eisenhower gave his approval subject to the understanding that such aid would not be offered to any country “obviously hostile to us.” (Ibid.)