Office of the Historian

407. Telegram From Secretary of Agriculture Freeman to President Johnson in Texas1

Washington, December 22, 1966, 1837Z.

WH 60790. I have conferred with Rostow and Katzenbach pursuant to your instructions that the India announcement be made on a low key basis. The following statement has their concurrence.

“It was announced today that an allocation of 900,000 tons of grain, 50 percent wheat and 50 percent sorghum, has been made to India. Immediate shipment will be made with arrivals during the month of February and early March. Combined with earlier U.S. authorizations, purchases by India and grants by Australia and Canada, grain arrivals in India will continue to be around the record million ton per month level. Substantial stocks of privately owned and CCC wheat and grain sorghum are positioned in Atlantic, Gulf and West Coast ports to speed shipments.”

As directed, I plan to hold a press backgrounder prior to releasing the statement.2 That backgrounder will emphasize the following points.

1.
That grain arrivals in India in February will maintain the million ton record level.
2.
That other countries are joining with us in meeting India’s needs. I will repeat what I said in Austin that a 50–50 proportion with other countries around the world is not unreasonable.
3.
That progress has been made by India in strengthening her agriculture. The self-help criteria are being met.
4.
That the President does not want to go any further in connection with grain allocations to India than is absolutely necessary until Congress has had the opportunity to consider the matter.
5.
That purchases have been made by India on a commercial basis in the U.S. and that the proportion between the commercial and the concessional is improving. Each of these points will be developed as effectively as possible during the course of the backgrounder.
  1. Source: Johnson Library, National Security File, Country File, India, India’s Food Problem, Vol. II. Unclassified.↩
  2. Rostow cabled the President on December 23 that Freeman had made the statement and held the backgrounder for the press as planned on December 22. (Telegram WH 60792 to the LBJ Ranch; ibid., Memos to the President, Walt W. Rostow, Vol. 17, 12/14–31/66)↩