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Statement by the President on the Economic Effects of Foreign Aid.

June 22, 1947

THE IMPACT upon our domestic economy of the assistance we are now furnishing or may furnish to foreign countries is a matter of grave concern to every American. I believe we are generally agreed that the recovery of production abroad is essential both to a vigorous democracy and to a peace founded on democracy and freedom. It is essential also to a world trade in which our businessmen, farmers, and workers may benefit from substantial exports and in which their customers may be able to pay for these goods. On the other hand, the extent to which we should continue aiding such recovery is less easy to ascertain, and merits most careful study.

Much attention has already been given to these questions by various agencies of the Government, as well as by a number of well-informed and public-spirited citizens. The results of current study and discussion have not, however, been brought together and objectively evaluated in a form suitable for guidance in the formulation of national policy.

Accordingly, I am creating immediately three committees to study and report to me within the shortest possible time on the relationship between any further aid which may be extended to foreign countries and the interests of our domestic economy. Two of these studies will be conducted within the Government; the third will be conducted by a nonpartisan committee of distinguished citizens headed by the Secretary of Commerce.

Of the two studies to be conducted within the Government, one will deal with the state of our national resources, and will be made by a committee of specialists under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior. The other governmental study will deal with the impact on our national economy of aid to other countries, and will be conducted by the Council of Economic Advisers.

The nonpartisan committee will be requested to determine the facts with respect to the character and quantities of United States resources available for economic assistance to foreign countries, and to advise me, in the light of these facts, on the limits within which the United States may safely and wisely plan to extend such assistance and on the relation between this assistance and our domestic economy. This committee will be drawn from representatives of American business, finance, labor, agriculture, and educational and research institutions. In carrying out its work this committee will have the benefit of the studies which are to be made within the Government, as well as the materials already prepared by various Government agencies.

The names of those being asked to serve on the committee are as follows:

Hiland Batcheller, President, Allegheny-Ludlum Steel Corp., Pittsburgh, Pa.

Robert Earle Buchanan, Dean, Graduate College, Iowa State College, Ames, Iowa.

W. Randolph Burgess, Vice Chairman, National City Bank of N.Y., New York, N.Y.

James B. Carey, Secretary-Treasurer, CIO, Washington, D.C.

John L. Collyer, President, B. F. Goodrich Co., Akron, Ohio.

Granville Conway, President, The Cosmopolitan Shipping Co., Inc., 42d and Broadway, New York, N.Y.

Melville F. Coolbaugh, 1700 Maple Street, Golden, Colo.

Chester C. Davis, President, Federal Reserve Bank, St. Louis, Mo.

R. R. Deupree, President, Procter & Gamble Co., Cincinnati, Ohio.

Paul G. Hoffman, President, The Studebaker Corp., South Bend, Ind.

Calvin B. Hoover, Dean, Graduate School, Duke University, Durham, N.C.

Robert Koenig, President, Ayrshire Colliers Co., Big Four Building, Indianapolis, Ind.

Robert M. La Follette, Jr., Barr Building, Washington, D.C.

Edward S. Mason, Dean, School of Public Administration, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.

George Meany, Secretary-Treasurer, American Federation of Labor, Washington, D.C.

Harold G. Moulton, President, The Brookings Institution, Jackson Place, Washington, D.C.

William I. Myers, Dean, College of Agriculture, Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y.

Robert Gordon Sproul, President, University of California, Berkeley, Calif.

Owen D. Young, Honorary Chairman of the Board of Directors, General Electric Co., Van Hornesville, N.Y.

Note: Statements by the President making public the requested reports of the Secretary of the Interior, the Council of Economic Advisers, and the President's Committee on Foreign Aid appear below as Items 212, 217, and 219.

Harry S Truman, Statement by the President on the Economic Effects of Foreign Aid. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/231939

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