Presidential Papers, Doc#129 To Queen Juliana, 4 April 1953. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower
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Doc #130

Document #129; April 4, 1953
To Queen Juliana
Series: EM, AWF, Dulles-Herter Series
The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, Volume XIV - The Presidency: The Middle Way
Part I: Charting a New Course; January 1953 to April 1953
Chapter 2: "A number of misunderstandings": Party and International Struggles

 

My dear Queen Juliana:1 Prince Bernhard has given me your letter of March 18, 1953 and an accompanying memorandum concerning the plight of refugees throughout the world.2 Your preoccupation with the challenge which refugees present to the free world at a time when your own country and people are facing so nobly the burdens of over-crowding and the disastrous effects of the recent floods, demonstrates again the compassion which Your Majesty has always shown for those in distress beyond her own borders.3 I share this concern with you. The United States Government stands ready at any time to consider constructive international measures to alleviate the problems presented so sympathetically in your letter and memorandum.4

The refugees in Germany constitute a substantial proportion of the German population. The United States Government, in planning economic measures of assistance with the authorities of the German Federal Republic, has always taken the refugees into account. Along with the indigenous population, they have in large part contributed to and benefited from the rising level of the German economy. The achievement of economic balance and the expansion of employment opportunities in Germany have been primary objectives of United States measures of assistance to the German economy. The United States Government will persist in these efforts in collaboration with the German Federal authorities. This collaboration has been particularly close and continuous in recent months since the flow of refugees into Berlin has increased.5

Your letter points out that emigration may also play a role in relieving population pressures in Germany and other countries whose governments also provide asylum for refugees. To provide opportunities for decent livelihood in countries of immigration for migrants and refugees, the United States Government has given active support to the Intergovernmental Committee for European Migration. At its forthcoming session in Geneva, the Migration Committee will give further attention to ways and means of expanding opportunities for emigration overseas.

The United States Government, under its Escapees Program, is also providing assistance in assimilation and resettlement for those who are currently fleeing from Eastern European countries into Germany, Trieste, Austria, Turkey, Italy and Greece. This assistance is supplementary to that provided by these countries of first asylum and the voluntary agencies which provide the essential human touch in their services to refugees.

Present efforts to re-establish refugees either through integration in their present countries of residence or emigration, should be intensified. I am confident that the free world will respond to meet the challenge which the refugees present not only because they are human beings whose dignity and self-respect are at stake, but because they desire with us to play their part in achieving peace and order in the world.6

With expressions of great respect and warm personal esteem,7 Sincerely

1 Queen Juliana of the Netherlands, born in 1909, had ascended the throne in 1948 (see Galambos, NATO and the Campaign of 1952, nos. 541 and 675).

2 On Juliana's husband and Eisenhower's longtime friend see ibid. Bernhard, who headed the Dutch National Disaster Fund, had arrived in the United States on March 19 to make several public appearances and accept American contributions toward flood relief in Holland. He had visited the White House on March 27 and handed Eisenhower the Queen's letter (which the Dutch Foreign Ministry made public the following day).

3 In her message (AWF/D-H; we could not locate the cover memorandum in EP) Juliana had appealed to the President personally to take the lead in solving the increasing problem of refugees from Eastern Europe (for background see no. 101). Noting that four hundred thousand refugees lived in European camps and tens of thousands more were fleeing into West Berlin, she called for a new approach that would open "large opportunities for immigration" and create the economic conditions necessary to assimilate those refugees who remained in Europe. "The free world," she observed, "cannot tolerate so much suffering in its midst without having to suffer itself."

4 The Queen had sent a similar plea to President Truman in September 1951.

5 Under Secretary of State Walter Bedell Smith drafted this reply (ibid.) and enclosed it with a memorandum in which he wrote: "United States experience is that each refugee problem is different and calls for different measures of treatment. . . . As a result of negotiations underway in Bonn, it is apparent that the emergency aspects of the Berlin situation are being adequately met. Plans for longer term measures have not yet crystallized."

6 During the week of April 12 Eisenhower would write Hugh Gibson, Director of the Intergovernmental Committee for Migration from Europe, pledging U.S. support for a larger international program to aid migrants (New York Times, Apr. 23, 1953).

7 Although it was dated April 4, this letter would not reach Queen Juliana until late in the month, after the White House had released its text to the press. In mid-April reports would appear that the Queen had been "keenly disappointed about the White House's chilly reception" of her plea for refugee aid. At that time the U.S. Ambassador to the Hague, Selden Chapin, would attempt unsuccessfully to present this message to Juliana in person. On April 23, when the Eisenhower Administration suddenly released the letter, Ambassador Chapin left the message with the Dutch Foreign Ministry "with the air of a man washing his hands of a wearisome business" (New York Times, Apr. 17, 23, 24, 1953). More than a year later, when the Dutch President and Ambassador to the United States visited with Eisenhower, again to discuss the refugee problem, an internal memorandum would inform the President that after "considerable difficulty in reaching agreements with foreign governments and voluntary sectarian agencies, and in recruiting, screening, appointing, training, transporting, and housing the necessary personnel which will function under our consular offices abroad, we are at last beginning to turn out visas. Approximately 100 visas have been issued under the Refugee Relief Act and we have approximately 17,000 cases in the visa pipeline" (Robert C. Alexander to John F. Simmons, May 5, 1954, AWF/D-H).

Bibliographic reference to this document:
Eisenhower, Dwight D. To Queen Juliana, 4 April 1953. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, ed. L. Galambos and D. van Ee, doc. 129. World Wide Web facsimile by The Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial Commission of the print edition; Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996, http://www.eisenhowermemorial.org/presidential-papers/first-term/documents/129.cfm

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