282. Memorandum From the President’s Deputy Special Assistant for National Security Affairs (Komer) to President Johnson1
Here are Freeman’s new recommendations on India famine relief.2 He proposes (1) announcing a new 1.5 million ton allotment in your [Page 542] foreign aid/food message, or alternatively as a gesture of confidence as soon as the new Indian PM is elected; (2) making 1/5th of such allotments feedgrains, as a means of pressing India to do more on agriculture; (3) hitting other countries harder to share the burden; and (4) authorizing him to reimburse India out of later allocations for dollars it spends now to keep the pipeline full (this last gives us a lot more maneuverability).
The above seems sensible. I’d favor holding any allotment till your food message, rather than acting now, because it will probably lead the new PM to write you. We ourselves should also prod other countries harder now to contribute, especially since the Delhi government will be temporarily disorganized. This point is worth covering in your food message. But no matter how hard we and the Indians push, I frankly doubt that we can get others to contribute as much as 1/5th of India’s needs (as Freeman suggests). Let’s exhort like hell, but any such arbitrary formula would only tie our own hands.
- Source: Johnson Library, National Security File, Country File, India, India’s Food Problem, Vol. I. Secret. A handwritten note on the memorandum reads, “Rec’d 5:50 p.”↩
- Reference is to a January 18 memorandum from Freeman to the President. (Ibid.)↩
- Bundy initialed below Komer’s signature.↩
- Johnson checked this option. He also sent a note to Komer on January 18 in which he wrote: “Please try to get Freeman to quit giving stuff away.” (Johnson Library, National Security File, Country File, India, India’s Food Problem, Vol. I)↩