Foreign Relations of the United States, 1951, Asia and the Pacific, Volume VI, Part 2

Executive Secretariat Files: 53D444

Memorandum of Conversation, by the Secretary of State

[Washington,] April 12, 1951.

Memorandum of Conversation With the President

item 2.—wheat for india

I informed the President of Mr. McFall’s talk with the Speaker¹ and with the fact that I would appear before the Senate Committee on Monday.²

I outlined to the President what I understood his instructions to be on the method of financing the wheat for India. These were:

That the Administration has recommended for the reasons given that this financing take place by a grant. We continue to believe that that is a sound recommendation and that the reasons given for it are valid. The power and duty of deciding this matter lies with the Congress.

The matter of prime importance is that the wheat should go forward in time to prevent starvation. It is of less importance how that movement is financed.

We therefore urge that the Congress should act on the matter, exercising its own best judgment as to the question of financing.

The President says that this is exactly what he has stated to the Big Four.

D[ean] A[cheson]

1. No memorandum of this conversation with Mr. Rayburn has been found in Department of State files.
2. April 16; see the editorial note under that date concerning Mr. Acheson’s testimony, p. 2146.