No. 293
Editorial Note
Throughout the first half of 1954, Congress and the Executive actively contemplated revisions in the Mutual Security and Foreign Aid Programs. Title III of Public Law 215, 83d Congress, 1st Session, passed August 7, 1953, had established a Commission on Foreign Economic Policy composed of 17 members, 7 of whom were appointed by the President and 5 each by the Senate and House from among their respective memberships. This Commission, headed by Clarence B. Randall, made its report to the President and Congress on January 23, 1954. Although largely concerned with the problems of foreign investment, agricultural surpluses, trade expansion, the postwar dollar problem, etc., the Commission did devote a brief section of its report to problems of mutual security and technical assistance. A majority demanded that the offshore procurement program be oriented firmly toward its military purpose and only secondarily toward the encouragement of increased European productive capacity on a competitive basis. “The offshore procurement [Page 613] program should not be used as a form of general economic aid.” Indeed, a majority of the Commission recommended that economic aid on a grant basis should be terminated as soon as possible. (Report to the President and the Congress by the Commission on Foreign Economic Policy, January, 1954, pages 6–10) For further documentation on the work of the Randall Commission, see, volume I, Part 1, pages 49 ff.
On March 19, Secretary Dulles appeared before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to discuss foreign policy and its relation to military programs. While the Secretary did not discuss mutual security problems per se, he did speak at some length about the “New Look” in defense planning which presumed a continued restraint in overall defense spending. (83d Congress, 2d Sess., Hearings Before The Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate; Statements of Secretary of State John Foster Dulles and Admiral Arthur Radford, Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff March 19 and April 14, 1954)
During the spring of 1954 both the House and Senate began hearings on an entirely new Mutual Security Act to supplant that of 1951 which was due to expire by statutory fiat on June 30. The House Committee on Foreign Affairs held hearings between April 5 and June 8 (83d Congress, 2d Sess., The Mutual Security Act of 1954. Hearings … April 5–June 8, 1954); the Senate Foreign Relations Committee held hearings in June (83d Congress, 2d Sess., Hearings … on the Mutual Security Program For Fiscal Year 1955, June 4, 8, 9, 14, 15, 16, 17, and 22, 1954). President Eisenhower signed Public Law 665, the Mutual Security Act of 1954, on August 26, 1954. (68 Stat. 832) For additional information on the Mutual Security Program for fiscal year 1955, see Current Economic Developments, No. 440 (April 27, 1954), infra.
As in 1953, the projected fiscal year 1955 Mutual Security Program was also a subject of discussion in the National Security Council during the early months of 1954, but on a reduced scale. For documentation on NSC discussions of the fiscal year 1955 Mutual Security Program, see volume I, Part 1, pages 592 ff.