126. Letter From President Johnson to King Hassan1
Your Majesty:
I was heartened to receive your letter describing views so similar to my own on the importance of increasing world food production, and I especially appreciated your kind words about our Food for Freedom Program. Mr. Rostow had a good talk with Finance Minister Tahiri, and Mr. Reuter returned from his visit to Morocco optimistic about your country’s potential in agriculture.
[Page 186]It is particularly encouraging to learn of the high priority which you are giving to agriculture in Morocco’s economic development plans. I am convinced that by intensive efforts in this direction Your Majesty’s Government can bring to the rural population of Morocco a higher income and to the consumers in the cities the necessities of life at prices they can afford. A sustained effort to make Morocco more self-sufficient would be the most important contribution you could make in attacking the world food problem.
We are especially gratified to see countries like your own striving to meet their own food requirements at a time when our exportable surpluses are diminishing. One of the most striking revelations to me in my study of the food problem is the prospect that even my country, with its rich blessing of agricultural abundance, will not be able to meet much longer the shortages that could develop around the world in the short space of a decade. In the end, your nation’s own agricultural programs and policies will determine the degree of its success.
We intend to help wherever we appropriately can, and I have asked my own experts to press ahead in determining how the United States can work with Your Majesty’s Government to improve Morocco’s productivity in food grains. I am pleased that we are currently financing two studies in Morocco which we expect will help Your Majesty’s Government reach important decisions on the degree of food self-sufficiency that is most economic for Morocco. These studies should also clarify alternative paths to accelerated agricultural development over the long term. I hope you will find them useful.
The World Bank, I understand, has offered to make available to you its professional advice and services, and I hope you can make full use of its great resources. I have been impressed with the Bank’s acute analysis in other situations and know its guidance will become increasingly important to us all.
Regarding the grain shortage that last season’s bad weather has inflicted on you, I can assure you that the United States will help as much as possible, taking into account heavy demands on our limited supplies. As Ambassador Tasca has told you, we have already allotted to Morocco 100,000 metric tons of wheat under the sales provisions of our Public Law 480 to meet the present emergency. Shipments will begin in the near future. In addition, our officials are examining possibilities for further assistance. Ambassador Tasca has kept us carefully informed of your needs, and Ambassador Laraki is in close touch with our officials here. I assume that other friendly countries are also cooperating in meeting Morocco’s needs.
Your letter has given me a useful opportunity to exchange views on a subject which is of special concern to me. I shall follow Morocco’s program with great interest. Should you come to the United Nations later [Page 187] this fall, I hope we can discuss these and other issues of common interest in greater detail.
Sincerely,
- Source: Department of State, Central Files, POL 15–1 MOR. Limited Official Use. Telegram 28094 to Rabat, August 15, transmitted the text of the President’s letter to the Embassy with instructions that it be delivered to King Hassan. (Ibid.)↩