153. Memorandum From Secretary of State Rusk and Secretary of the Interior Udall to President Johnson1

Dear Mr. President:

We are transmitting to you by separate memorandum designed [Page 277] to be made public2 our recommendations on the Water for Peace Program you announced last October 7.3

Enclosed with this letter are preliminary cost estimates at two possible levels of funding.4 We will refine these estimates as you deem appropriate and develop the requisite new legislation which will be required.

We have made no specific recommendation regarding the international fund you foresaw in your October 7 address. We have concluded that in the immediate future international funding sources seem adequate, but we will keep the need for international funds under constant review.

Although we propose that a Water for Peace office should be established, and agree that both Departments must be involved in its operation and management, we have not attempted to delineate at this juncture precisely how this effort would be organized. This we will do after receiving your reaction to our program recommendations.

In addition to the $1.2 million appropriation to finance the International Water for Peace Conference which is being requested in the current fiscal year, we have also agreed to seek $2.5 million to finance fiscal year 1967 United States activities in support of the International Hydrological Decade which will provide an essential scientific base for the Water for Peace Program.

We will, of course, be pleased to supply any additional material or information that you consider appropriate. Our Departments stand prepared to do anything necessary to move this program forward.

Respectfully yours,

  • Dean Rusk
  • Stewart Udall
  1. Source: National Archives and Records Administration, RG 59, Records of the Department of State, Central Files, 1964–66, E 11. No classification marking.
  2. Not printed; there is no record that the memorandum was ever publicly released.
  3. See footnote 3, Document 144.
  4. Not printed.