19. Memorandum From Robert W. Komer of the National Security Council Staff to President Johnson1
I hear that Secretary Rusk plans to call you next week about our aid program in Algeria. The State and AID people have been thoroughly [Page 39] shaken up by your tough attitude on aid (which has both advantages and disadvantages).
As to the facts, our Algerian aid has been almost all surplus food. From $53 million in PL 480 for FY 64 we went down this year to $24 million, though unemployment is still high. We’ve also provided tools and supplies (we pay wages in food) for three small model land rehabilitation projects and a CARE-MEDICO effort to keep one of the big Algiers hospitals going. We have to decide now whether to continue these programs or let them lapse by default over the next six months.
We don’t kid ourselves that we’re buying much short-term political cooperation with our help. Ben Bella is a radical who’s taken outspoken left-neutralist stands on Cuba, Vietnam, Congo, Dominican Republic. He’s also hosting both the Commie-line World Youth Festival and the Afro-Asian Conference this summer. As with the UAR, however, we want to keep giving Ben Bella an alternative to Moscow (and Paris) because Algeria is one of the half-dozen key African powers. We also want to keep a foot in the door with friendlier second-echelon figures who might run the show if anything happens to the current regime. Finally, we have about $100 million invested in the booming Algerian oil industry.
For these reasons, Rusk and AID favor cutting back to about $20 million (again mostly food) in FY 66, but continuing a reduced needy feeding program and our CARE-MEDICO project. Ambassador Porter also wants to go in and force Ben Bella to say yes or no on all our programs. He knows he couldn’t extract much in return for continuing, but feels that a clear affirmative from Ben Bella would be a useful reminder of our help. Also, a negative would put the blame squarely on Ben Bella so he couldn’t charge us with playing politics with food for hungry people.
Here’s another case where the lack of short-term return argues with longer range potential. My own instinct would be to side State in cutting back gradually but staying in the ballgame, unless the Congressional heat mounts. Algeria hasn’t been a big Hill issue so far and it seems unwise to make BB sore at us just before he hosts the big Afro-Asian Conference. The other side of the coin is that letting aid lapse might demonstrate to a lot of other people like Nasser and even Ayub that we do expect something in return for our help. All in all, however, I’d argue for postponing another minor flap here at a time when we’re under the gun in many other places.
- Source: Johnson Library, National Security File, Name File, Komer Memos, Vol. I (2). Secret.↩