147. Memorandum From President Kennedy to Secretary of State Rusk0
I have held two reviews of the overseas expenditures of AID with Mr. Hamilton, his Regional Directors and other members of his staff on June 21 and July 5 [6].1 Under Secretary Ball was present at the second of these meetings. Their purpose was to make clear to those responsible for administering the AID program how urgently they should pursue the task of holding to the minimum the balance of payments drain consequent on AID programs.
All development loans are now tied to U.S. procurement. A large share of the AID expenditures that create claims against dollars arise from cash grants and local currency purchases. Many of these have in the past been in response to crisis situations; recent examples are South Vietnam and Argentina. I think it would be most helpful if you were to see that the same sense of concern about the balance of payments impact of these programs was transmitted to your geographic bureaus, which must appraise requests for emergency funds.
- Source: Kennedy Library, National Security Files, Subjects Series, Balance of Payments and Gold, 6/62-3/63. Confidential. Copies were sent to George Ball, Fowler Hamilton, and David E. Bell.↩
- See footnote 1, Document 142, and footnote 11, Document 144.↩
- Printed from a copy that indicates Kennedy signed the original.↩