Office of the Historian

286. Memorandum From Secretary of State Rusk to President Johnson1

Washington, January 28, 1966.

SUBJECT

  • The Next Step on Food Aid for India

I strongly support Orville Freeman’s recommendation to you for a new allocation of 1.5 million tons of PL 480 foodgrain for India. My recent visit in New Delhi and what I have learned since my return convince me that we should make the new allocation of grain as soon as possible.

There is no lessening of the Indian need. On the contrary, Minister of Food and Agriculture Subramaniam states that the crisis is now developing rapidly and that there is considerable suffering in some areas.2

Mrs. Gandhi, in her new role as Prime Minister, has already emphasized how important the food issue looms among her Government’s problems. The new Government needs the nation’s confidence in its ability to avert widespread famine.

Meanwhile, the Indians have been moving ahead on the self-help requirements we have had in mind for both the long run and short run:

  • —In reappointing Subramaniam as Food and Agriculture Minister, Mrs. Gandhi has assured him of her firm support for what he is trying to do to place Indian agriculture on a more solid basis for the years ahead. She has specifically expressed her support for the detailed understanding which he and Orville Freeman have worked out. The Indians have already taken first steps on this front by liberalizing the terms under which new private foreign investment in fertilizer can operate, and by increasing their own allotment for fertilizer imports for this year.
  • —The Indians are also doing what we asked them to do to help themselves to meet the immediate crisis. They have stepped up sharply the rate of shipment of the 1.5 million tons of grain which you authorized on December 9. The last shipment under that allocation should leave the United States within a month. At the same time, the Indians have responded to our urging that they recognize the true dimensions of their problem and plan ahead to meet it. They have booked an additional 200,000 tons of ocean freight for use in February and are planning to go into the market within the very near future to begin booking 900,000 tons of shipping for the month of March. This is being done on faith in our intentions to make additional food available in time. A further allocation of grain is needed very shortly so that the Indians will be able to use the additional shipping and keep up the maximum rate of movement in the period while the weather remains favorable.
  • —The Indians have also moved with unusual vigor to enlist international support in their current crisis. Canada, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Austria, Greece and The Netherlands have already promised aid, and various other countries are now considering how to help. More countries need to come on board, but the returns to date (see attachment)3 indicate the chances are good for a reasonably broad international program of emergency food aid.

There thus seem to be urgent economic and political reasons why we should move ahead promptly with another 1.5 million tons of grain. This would be a limited and interim action, keeping our aid on a fairly short rein and leaving us with ample options on how to react to the Indian crisis as time goes on.

Dean Rusk
  1. Source: Johnson Library, National Security File, Memos to the President, McGeorge Bundy, Vol. 19, Jan. 19–Feb. 4, 1966. Confidential. McGeorge Bundy sent the memorandum to the President on February 1 under cover of a note in which he wrote that he was sending Rusk’s memorandum without comment “because I know you will not need any further advice on the opinions of our local Indians.” (Ibid., Country File, India, India’s Food Problem, Vol. I)↩
  2. On January 23 Bowles reported on a conversation with Subramaniam in which Subramaniam stated that acute shortages were developing in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, and that in Kerala the Communists were taking advantage of the shortages to attack the government and Subramaniam personally. (Telegram 1883 from New Delhi; National Archives and Records Administration, RG 59, Central Files 1964–66, SOC 10 INDIA)↩
  3. A 3-page attachment, undated, entitled “International Responses to Indian Appeal,” is not printed.↩