Foreign Relations of the United States, 1951, Europe: Political and Economic Developments, Volume IV, Part 2

No. 889

768.5–MAP/4–1251

The Secretary of State to the President ¹

secret

[Washington,] April 12, 1951.

Memorandum for the President

Subject: Notification by the President to Appropriate Congressional Committees of his Determination that it is Essential to Assist Yugoslavia.

On March 23, 1951, you orally approved² in principle a United States grant to Yugoslavia in accordance with the provision of the Mutual Defense Assistance Act of an appropriate dollar value (recommended to be not in excess of $29 million) in the form of raw materials and similar supplies in amounts and kinds equivalent to certain estimated consumption needs for supporting its armed forces. When you make any such determination, Section 408(c) of the Mutual Defense Assistance Act, as amended, requires that you forthwith notify certain Congressional Committees.

When Mr. Webb reported to you on April 2³ on the status of Congressional consultations on Yugoslav aid under the MDAA, he indicated that Senator Connally had expressed opposition to the proposal but that we expected him to change his position. Further check last week indicates that he still does not approve this aid.

Nevertheless, the Department considers such aid essential and is prepared to finalize action on this matter. I am therefore enclosing a draft letter to the Chairmen of the appropriate Committees of Congress.

Recommendation:

1. That you telephone Senator Connally stating that as required by the Act, you are about to inform the Chairmen of the Foreign Relations and Armed Services Committees of the proposed aid to Yugoslavia because you consider it of crucial importance to our national security, but before actually signing the letters you wanted to raise the question with him once again in the hope that his further consideration of the matter had led to his acceptance of the proposal.

2. That, regardless of Senator Connally’s reaction, you transmit the letters.⁴

Dean Acheson

1. This memorandum and the draft letter referred to in it were submitted to the Secretary of State for approval under cover of a brief explanatory memorandum of April 12 from Cabot; these documents had been drafted by Warren Silver of S/ISA and were cleared with McFall, Perkins, the Department of Defense, ECA, and L/E.
2. Regarding this oral approval, see footnote 4, Document 878.
3. This is presumably a reference to Secretary Acheson’s meeting with the President on April 2 described in footnote 1, Document 884.

4. According to a brief memorandum of conversation of April 12, aid to Yugoslavia was one of the topics discussed by the Secretary of State in his meeting with the President that day. The Secretary left with the President the memorandum printed here and the draft letter to the Senate and House Committees. The President agreed with the course recommended and undertook to telephone Senator Connally and sent the letters. (Secretary’s Memoranda, lot 53D444)

   No further information has been found in Department of State files regarding the nature and result of President Truman’s telephone conversation with Senator Connally. Regarding the letters sent to the Committees on April 16, see Document 892.