Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964–1968, Volume XXV, South Asia

512. Action Memorandum From the President’s Special Assistant (Rostow) to President Johnson¹

Washington, September 23, 1968, 6 p.m.

Mr. President:

The attached memorandum and file (Tab 1)² are, in a sense, a reclama from Secretaries Rusk and Freeman, Bill Gaud, and Charlie Zwick on your decision of August 5 on India. (See Tab 2)³ The history is as follows.

• —We reported firmly and clearly to one and all that you wished to make no further decisions on India in your administration.
• —In examining the political and economic consequences of this judgment, Sec. Rusk, for one set of reasons, Sec. Freeman, for another, Bill Gaud and Charlie Zwick, for a third, all felt that they had a duty to lay the matter once more before you on the following basis: What absolutely minimal decisions on Indian aid were required to keep alive the political and economic assets which you had built up there through your policies. (Sec. Freeman’s anxiety has another dimension which is wholly familiar to you.) They concluded by raising for your decision:
• —A $50 million fertilizer loan (as opposed to $200 million in general AID funds) because, as Zwick’s memorandum says: “Failure to order this fertilizer now will mean a serious shortage of fertilizer for India next year which cannot be made up later.”
• —Similarly, this minimal program would cut the proposed 5.5 million tons of wheat to 1.5 million tons: the reason “If there is a break in PL 480 shipments from August through next March, we are all concerned that the buffer stocks will be drawn down to a point where the Indian government will be unable to move ahead in breaking down the food zones that prevent building a national agricultural market.”

Secretary Rusk, I gather, is prepared to make this case to you on political grounds.

Since you know so well the arguments surrounding Indian aid, I forward the attached file unsigned by me: another signature is of no help. I do feel it is my duty, however, to make available to you this proposed minimal package which is, in the judgment of your responsi ble advisers, the recommended course of action in the light of your well understood reservations.⁴

Walt

1. Source: Johnson Library, National Security File, Country File, India, Vol. XI, Cables, 2/68–10/68. Confidential. A handwritten note on the memorandum indicates that it was received on September 24 at 9:10 a.m.
2. Zwick pulled together the positions of Rusk, Freeman, and Gaud in a September 12 memorandum to the President dealing with aid to India. (Ibid.) The file cited by Rostow was his tabulation in a September 23 memorandum to the President of the remaining decisions relating to India. (Ibid.)
3. See Document 507.
4. A handwritten note on the memorandum by Jim Jones reads: “Walt—Talk to Pres. about this. Pres. didn’t say no more decisions. He said no more gifts.”