Editorial Note
In a letter of July 13 to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, President Truman requested from Congress a supplemental appropriation of $89 million to strengthen and enlarge the international information and educational program. Of the requested amount, more than $41 million was to be expended for expanded radio broadcasting facilities. For the text of the President’s letter, see Department of State Bulletin, July 31, 1950, page 194 or Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Harry S. Truman, 1950, page 521. The President’s letter and the accompanying letter of July 13 from the Director of the Bureau of the Budget to the President were subsequently printed as House Document No. 641, 81st Cong., 2d sess.
Hearings on the additional funding were held before the House Appropriations Committee, July 17–26, 1950. Secretary of State Acheson, Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs Barrett, other Department of State officers, officials of other agencies, and private persons testified on behalf of the supplemental appropriation. For the record of the hearings, see The Supplemental Appropriation Bill for 1951: Hearings before the Subcommittee of the House Committee on Appropriations, 81st Cong., 2d sess., on Supplemental Appropriation Bill for 1951, Department of State (Washington, Government Printing Office, 1950).
On August 11 the Secretary of State issued a statement to the press denouncing the most recent wave of Soviet propaganda against the United States, noting the urgency of an accelerated international information program, and urging speedy Congressional action on the President’s request for supplementary appropriations to carry out the new “Campaign of Truth.” For the text of the statement, see Department of State Bulletin, August 28, 1950, page 335.
Senator Ralph E. Flanders of Vermont and 27 other Senators addressed a letter to President Truman on August 18 urging a “psychological and spiritual offensive against the Kremlin—devised to bring the Russian and American people into contact and into relations of mutual brotherhood.” For the text of that letter, see ibid., September 11, 1950, page 424. In replying on August 30, President Truman expressed gratification with the Senators’ support for the “Campaign of Truth” and briefly reviewed steps already taken to expand the international information and educational programs. The President noted recent action by the House of Representatives in reducing the supplemental appropriation for the information campaign for 1951 (see below) and urged the Senate to support the full amount of funding originally requested. For the text of the President’s letter, see Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Harry S. Truman, 1950, pages 602–603.
[Page 317]On August 26 the House of Representatives approved a measure (HR9526) providing for $62.7 million in supplemental appropriations for the international information program and authorizing the expenditure of an additional $15.2 million in local currency “counterpart funds” accumulated abroad by the Economic Cooperation Administration. The Senate on September 14 approved a measure increasing these figures to $77.9 million and $19.6 million respectively. The House and the Senate subsequently approved a compromise measure appropriating $63.9 million for the information program and authorizing the expenditure of $15.2 million in counterpart currencies. Supplemental Appropriations Act, 1951 (Public Law 843, 81st Cong., 64 Stat. 1044), incorporating the additional funding for international information and educational activities, was signed by the President on September 27, 1950.