Presidential Papers, Doc#280 Cable 1788 To Mohammed Ali, 29 June 1953. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower
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Doc #281

Document #280; June 29, 1953
To Mohammed Ali
Series: EM, AWF, International Series ; Category: Cable 1788
The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, Volume XIV - The Presidency: The Middle Way
Part II: Settling into "the long pull"; May 1953 to August 1953
Chapter 4: Striving for Unity

 

I appreciate the warm expression of your gratitude for the action of our people in providing wheat for your stricken country.2 Our response to your call was made in the American tradition of giving help to the best of our ability where help is needed.3 It is also a true measure of the friendly feeling and admiration which Americans have for the people of Pakistan. We are proud to count your vigorous, young nation among our friends.

1 Mohammed Ali, forty-four-year-old leader of the Moslem League party in Pakistan and former Ambassador to the United States, had become Prime Minister and Minister of Defense on April 17, 1953, succeeding Kwaja Nazimuddin. Ali had previously served as High Commissioner to Canada and as parliamentary secretary to Nazimuddin (during the latter's tenure as Chief Minister to East Pakistan).

2 Ali's message, acknowledging with thanks the grant of wheat to relieve severe grain shortages in Pakistan, is in AWF/I (Shaiqat to Eisenhower, June 26, 1953). For background see nos. 161 and 181.

3 Pakistan's food shortages resulted from the effects of a two-year drought and the alleged reduction by the government of India of irrigation waters flowing to Pakistan from rivers originating in India. A special mission sent to Pakistan early in May had documented the need for "substantial outside assistance." Secretary of State Dulles, in an address to the nation on June 1, had cited the "grave and immediate problem" and recommended prompt U.S. assistance. On June 10 Eisenhower asked Congress for a grant of up to one million long tons of wheat, and the President was able to sign the Wheat Aid Act just fifteen days later. The first shipment, ninety-six hundred tons of red winter wheat, left the port of Baltimore on June 26. The last shipment, 7 million tons, would be made on March 31, 1954 (State, Foreign Relations, l952-1954, vol. XI, Africa and South Asia, pt. 2, pp. 1137, 1822-24; U.S. Department of State Bulletin 28, no. 729 [June 15, l953], 833, 889-890; and 29, no. 732 [July 4, 1953], 15-16; New York Times, Apr. 10, May 18, 1953).

Bibliographic reference to this document:
Eisenhower, Dwight D. Cable 1788 To Mohammed Ali, 29 June 1953. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, ed. L. Galambos and D. van Ee, doc. 280. 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/280.cfm

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