<--PREV Doc #397  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  First Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #399 Document #398; September 2, 1953 To Harry Amos Bullis Series: EM, AWF, Name Series The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, Volume XIV - The Presidency: The Middle Way Part III: The Space Age Begins; October 1957 to January 1958 Chapter 6: Building strength when there is "no perfect answer"   Dear Harry: In connection with your recent letter concerning American reserve supplies of wheat, I have wanted to tell you that the estimates of our authorities here closely parallel those you offered.1 The several pieces of legislation enacted towards the close of the past session provide considerable authority for the Administration to put agricultural surpluses to advantageous use overseas. You are undoubtedly familiar with the provisions of the Pakistan wheat grant, the 1953 Mutual Security Act, and Public Law 216 in this respect. Although the latter two deal with surpluses in general, it can be expected that wheat will be a major item in them.2 Such measures as these provide, of course, only a partial solution to the problem of surpluses. Their full solution is a real challenge to all who are concerned with the welfare of our farmers and the national economy, particularly when there are still large unsatisfied needs of our population at home and of large numbers of people abroad. Secretary Benson has been at work on these problems, and soon will have the assistance of the recently created National Agricultural Advisory Commission.3 Something can be accomplished through improvements in marketing and distribution; but new legislation may be necessary in other respects. Recommendations for any changes needed should be forthcoming early next year. Again my thanks for your keen interest and helpfulness. With warm regard, Sincerely 1 Assistant Staff Secretary L. Arthur Minnich, Jr., drafted this reply (see Brief, L. A. Minnich to Eisenhower, n.d., AWF/N). Bullis, writing on July 15, had warned that acreage controls and marketing quotas for 1954 would not greatly relieve the problem of growing reserve supplies of wheat (AWF/N). Increased grain acreage and above-average crop yields, he wrote, had resulted in a wheat carryover that would probably total more than 800 million bushels by July 1954. Bullis proposed that the United States find ways to rid itself of some 450 million bushels of wheat, possibly by selling 250 million bushels in world markets and giving away 200 million more. Eisenhower, in an acknowledgement of July 17 (AWF/A), told Bullis that he would refer the letter to Secretary of Agriculture Benson. On the same day Eisenhower sent Benson a copy of Bullis's letter and asked for Benson's "thinking" on the situation. Benson, in a reply of August 24, briefed the President on the agricultural-surplus problems with wheat and described the steps his department planned to take to reduce surpluses (both letters in AWF/A). 2 In June 1953 the Congress had authorized the Commodity Credit Corporation to deliver 1 million tons of price-support wheat to drought-stricken Pakistan (PL 77). For background on this grant see no. 280. Under the Mutual Security Act of 1953 the Congress had also authorized in June nearly $5 billion in foreign aid appropriations for 1954 (see "Mutual Security Program for 1954 Presented to Congress," U.S. Department of State Bulletin 28, no. 726 [May 25, 1953], 735-42; and "FOA Announces Plans for Buying Surplus Commodities for Overseas," ibid. 29, no. 750 [November 9, 1953], pp. 638-40). Meanwhile, the President had signed Public Law 216, known as the Famine Relief Bill, on August 7, 1953. This measure authorized the Commodity Credit Corporation to provide $100 million in agricultural products through March 15, 1954, to aid in famine or relief needs in countries friendly to the United States (Congressional Quarterly Almanac, vol. IX, 1953, pp. 232-33. 3 During his campaign for the presidency Eisenhower had pledged that he would create a bipartisan commission to advise the Secretary of Agriculture on farm problems. On July 20 he had established, by executive order, the National Agricultural Advisory Commission, an eighteen-member group to replace an interim commission that had functioned since January. For further background on the commission see Public Papers of the Presidents: Eisenhower, 1953, pp. 28, 530; Benson, Cross Fire, pp. 30, 61, 593-95; New York Times, July 21, 1953. For developments see no. 453. Bibliographic reference to this document: Eisenhower, Dwight D. To Harry Amos Bullis, 2 September 1953. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, ed. L. Galambos and D. van Ee, doc. 398. 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/398.cfm <--PREV Doc #397  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  First Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #399

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