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President Harry S. Truman. Source: Truman Library. |
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The Public Papers of Harry S. Truman contain most of President Truman's public messages, statements, speeches, and
news conference remarks. Documents such as Proclamations, Executive Orders, and similar documents that are published in the Federal Register
and the Code of Federal Regulations, as required by law, are usually not included. The documents within the Public Papers
are arranged in chronological order. President Truman delivered the remarks or addresses from Washington, D. C., unless
otherwise indicated. The White House in Washington issued statements, messages, and letters unless noted otherwise.
(Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States, Harry S. Truman, 1945-1953. Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, 1966)
The Public Papers contain items such as the Statement by the President Announcing the Use of the A-Bomb at Hiroshima
(August 6, 1945), the Special Message to the Congress on Greece and Turkey: The Truman Doctrine (March 12, 1947),
the White House Statement Announcing Recognition of the Government of Israel (January 31, 1949), the Statement and
Order by the President on Relieving General MacArthur of His Commands (April 11, 1951), and The President's Farewell
Address to the American People (January 15, 1953).
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219.
Statement by the President Making Public a Report "European Recovery and American Aid" |
November 8, 1947
LAST JUNE I appointed a committee of 19 distinguished private citizens to determine the facts concerning the kinds and amounts of our resources available for economic assistance to foreign countries, and to advise me on the limits within which, in the opinion of the committee, the United States might safely and wisely 'plan to extend such aid. I asked the Secretary of Commerce to serve as chairman of the committee. The members of the committee were drawn from the ranks of American business, finance, labor, agriculture, and educational and research institutions.
During the intervening months, the members of this committee of private citizens have been diligently studying the many aspects of this complicated problem, particularly as it relates to Western Europe. They have carefully examined the analysis, by a committee of Government officials under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior, of the adequacy of our national resources to support a foreign aid program; the analysis by the Council of Economic Advisers of the impact of a substantial aid program upon our national economy; the report of the representatives of the 16 nations who met in Paris, and other data available from various sources.
This committee has now submitted to me its report, "European Recovery and American Aid." The report contains a careful discussion of the problem of European recovery and our interest therein: the requirements of the countries involved; the supplies available; the size of an effective aid program and the feasibility of its being met; the problems of finance and administration; and the effects of a foreign aid program on our own economy. In addition, the committee's report contains detailed discussions of problems presented by specific commodities, food, raw materials, and manufactured goods that are needed.
The members of the committee have fulfilled their task without partisanship, and with no other purpose than to further the best interest of their country, and to aid in securing the peace and well-being of the world. I am deeply grateful to each member of the committee for putting aside so many other pressing duties in order to bring this difficult assignment to completion in so short a period. The committee's report should prove of great help in the prompt formulation of a program of sound assistance to Western Europe. I commend this report to the careful attention of Members of the Congress, officials of the executive branch, and all citizens concerned for our country's welfare.
NOTE: The report of the President's Committee on Foreign Aid is dated November 7, 1947 (Government Printing Office, 286 pp.). |
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