Presidential Papers, Doc#75 To Clarence Belden Randall, 17 March 1957. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower
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Doc #76

Document #75; March 17, 1957
To Clarence Belden Randall
Series: EM, AWF, Administration Series
The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, Volume XVIII - The Presidency: Keeping the Peace
Part I: A New Beginning, Old Problems; January 1957 to May 1957
Chapter 1: The Mideast and the Eisenhower Doctrine

 

Dear Clarence:2 I agree with your recommendations on each point.3

So far as the letters were concerned I found something interesting in each, but believe I was more in accord with State and Committee of Economic Advisers than with the others.4

Gene Black made some pungent comments.5 However I think that, in a way, he was unfair to Fairless Committee. That committee undoubtedly assumed--possibly too much so--a rather extensive knowledge of problems involved on the part of readers of the report.6 This gives validity to Mr. Black's criticisms, and frankly, I'd like to see more analysis of the several problems in the different countries.

This gives me the idea that, for our Congressional presentations, we should attempt short, succinct descriptions of each country or area in which we have a major interest. These could form part of the raw material out of which we fashion our recommendations. I would avoid, like the plague, long dissertations. I'm thinking of something like 150 words in each important case.

Thanks for a fine job of pointing up the questions.

With warm regard. Sincerely

1 Eisenhower noted that this handwritten letter had been composed "Sunday--(at sea)." The President was aboard the U.S.S. Canberra, en route to the conference in Bermuda (for background see no. 78).

2 Randall, Special Assistant to the President on foreign economic policy since July 10, 1956, had served as Chairman of the Commission on Foreign Economic Policy in 1953 - 54. For background see Galambos and van Ee, The Middle Way, nos. 170 and 1307.

3 Eisenhower was referring to Randall's March 14 report on the work of a special advisory group on foreign aid and collective security. The President's Citizen Advisors on the Mutual Security Program, chaired by former president and chairman of the board of the United States Steel Corporation, Benjamin Franklin Fairless, had presented its report to Eisenhower on March 1, 1957 (ibid., no. 1849). Randall's report, presenting the twenty-three recommendations of the Fairless Committee, the position of ten concerned government agencies, and Randall's own recommendation on each point, can be found in State, Foreign Relations, 1955 - 1957, vol. X, Foreign Aid and Economic Defense Policy, pp. 146 - 70. In general, the Fairless report (see n. 6 below) had recommended that the United States should be more businesslike and less liberal in providing assistance to foreign countries. Randall, in most cases, had concurred. He had disagreed, however, with a few of the most restrictive provisions, including one calling for a fixed limit on the total amount of collective security expenditures abroad.

4 Randall had obtained written statements from such concerned agencies as the State, Defense, Treasury, and Commerce Departments, the Bureau of the Budget, and the Council of Economic Advisors (CEA). For a summary of their positions see ibid., pp. 147 - 70. Both State and the Council of Economic Advisors had taken a position strongly supporting mutual aid.

5 Eisenhower was referring to Eugene Robert Black, president and chairman since 1949 of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (the World Bank). In a March 11 letter to Randall, Black had criticized the Fairless Committee for failing to consider the purposes of foreign aid, for neglecting the differing development needs of various countries and regions, and for overemphasizing the strategic necessity of all aid (see ibid., pp. 141 - 44; and Burton I. Kaufman, Trade and Aid: Eisenhower's Foreign Economic Policy, 1953 - 1961 [Baltimore, 1982], p. 99. See also Jochen Kraske, Bankers with a Mission: The Presidents of the World Bank, 1946 - 91 [New York, 1996], pp. 75 - 112, and Louis Galambos and David Milobsky, "Organizing and Reorganizing the World Bank 1946 - 1972: A Comparative Perspective" in Business History Review 69 [Summer 1995], 156 - 90.

6 The Fairless Committee had released its report on March 5. Although it had called for limits on the amount of assistance given, the committee had also concluded that both military and economic aid programs had been successful in countering Soviet expansion and should be continued. The current level of overseas economic support were seen as adequate. While the group expressed the hope that foreign aid spending might decline over time, it warned that the United States "must resolve to stay the course and must abandon the false hope that collective security costs are temporary" (see Report to the President by the President's Citizen Advisers on the Mutual Security Program, Mar. 1, 1957, AWF/A: Mutual Aid 1957; New York Times, Mar. 6, 1957; and Russell Edgerton, Sub-Cabinet Politics and Policy Commitment: The Birth of the Development Loan Fund [Syracuse, 1970], pp. 67 - 114).

Bibliographic reference to this document:
Eisenhower, Dwight D. To Clarence Belden Randall, 17 March 1957. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, ed. L. Galambos and D. van Ee, doc. 75. 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/second-term/documents/75.cfm

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