345. Editorial Note
On May 16, 1962, the Kennedy administration moved to abandon the country quota system for the purchase of sugar abroad by having legislation introduced in the House of Representatives that would establish a world quota system. Negative reaction in the Dominican Republic was immediate and voluble. Dominican sugar had been purchased at a premium price above the world price and its quota had been protected under the current Sugar Act (set to expire June 30). The new legislation would drastically reduce the Republic’s quota and profits. On June 15 the House Agriculture Committee, chaired by Harold Cooley, passed its own sugar bill significantly different from the administration’s but still unsympathetic to the Dominican Republic.
On June 17 Ambassador Martin spoke with Second Vice President of the Council of State Donald Reid Cabral. Reid said that in the absence of a favorable sugar bill, the Council would cancel all AID agreements made under a $25 million loan the United States had made to the Dominican Government in January. All Alliance for Progress reforms in the country would be suspended. On June 19 the House voted in favor of the Cooley Bill. (Martin, Overtaken by Events, pages 161-164)