Office of the Historian

447. Memorandum From the President’s Special Assistant (Rostow) to President Johnson1

Washington, May 30, 1967.

SUBJECT

  • Status of Indian Aid Requests

As I wired you Saturday,2 the Indian Government via B.K. Nehru’s firm promise has agreed to place 50% of its remaining commercial grain orders in the U.S. this year. On the strength of your Monday approval, we have let the Indians begin buying against their next PL 480 agreement on a reimbursable basis. But the following Indian aid decisions still await your approval:

1. Release 1.5 million tons of wheat and sorghum ($100 million) plus some vegetable oil ($12 million) as recommended by the Freeman-Gaud memo of 10 May (Tab I–A).3 Our consortium effort has so far produced firm matching for $97.6 million, so the 1.5 million tons have been evenly matched under the terms of your February message to Congress. We stand a good chance of matching the whole $190 million when George Woods completes his debt relief exercise next month, but the famine is reaching its peak, and the pipeline is thinning out. Moving [Page 864] this half of our offer now would keep the Indian ports full as well as help our own market situations.

Release now4

See me

2. A $50 million famine relief program for Bihar state, where the famine is worst. This is mainly to broaden the CARE program you launched in your food message to provide nutritional supplement to about half the children and mothers with babies. But we would also tell the Indians this would more than compensate them for the freight differential ($2–3 million) on their extra commercial purchases here. (Tab II)

Approve

See me

3. A $50 million program loan from FY 1967 money recommended in Bill Gaud’s memo of 4 May (Tab I–B.) This is the first slice of our non-project loan to support this year’s consortium effort to bolster quickly India’s exchange reserves and to keep the Indians on the import liberalization route.

Approve

See me5

  1. Source: Johnson Library, National Security File, Memos to the President, Walt W. Rostow, Vol. 31, June 13–20, 1967. Confidential.↩
  2. Reference is to White House telegram 67449 to the LBJ Ranch in Texas, May 27. (Ibid., Vol. 29, May 25–31, 1967)↩
  3. None of the tabs was attached.↩
  4. Next to this option Rostow wrote: “Under conditions set by the President.” Rostow probably annotated this memorandum after reading President Johnson’s handwritten response on a May 31 memorandum he sent to the President again making the case for the release of 1.5 million tons of grain to India. The President wrote “OK” on that memorandum but added a note of concern about the fact that only half of the target goal of $190 million of pledges from other donors had been met: “This doesn’t smell good—Better get India busy on other 1/2.” (Johnson Library, National Security File, Country File, India, India’s Food Problem, Vol. IV)↩
  5. Neither option under paragraphs 2 and 3 is checked on the memorandum.↩