I HAVE just been informed by American officials in Rumania that 500,000 people are now starving in Moldavia, the Northern Province of Rumania. Thousands have already died, hundreds are dying daily, and conditions are steadily worsening.
In the circumstances, I have asked the American Red Cross to finance and supervise distribution of 4,500 tons of 10-in-1 rations and 2,500 tons of beans to these starving people. These supplies, already on the water, will be diverted by the United States Army and should reach Constanza, Rumania, within 10 days. They are sufficient to provide 1,000 calories per day for 500,000 people for approximately 16 days. The Rumanian Government is being requested to make available transportation and other facilities to enable the Rumanian Red Cross, under supervision of the American Red Cross, to distribute this food without charge and with guarantees against discrimination on political, racial, religious, or social grounds.
At the same time, despite the magnitude of world demands on existing stocks and transportation facilities, urgent attention is being given to the possibilities of providing additional food supplies, in the form of cereal grains, for purchase by Rumania, and in that connection the Rumanian Government has been asked to give immediate assurances that measures will be taken so that food thus furnished, as well as remaining indigenous food, will be utilized effectively to prevent the recurrence of such an emergency situation as has now arisen. Among the assurances desired are guarantees that, so long as the present famine continues, (1) Rumania will not employ any grain for the payment of reparations, (2) Rumania will not export or permit the export of any grain from Rumania for the repayment of grain loans from other countries, for trade purposes, or for any other reasons, and (3) United States representatives in Rumania will be free to observe, in such manner as they see fit, the distribution within Rumania of grain from United States sources, which distribution will likewise be effected without political, racial, religious, or social discrimination.
I have taken this action on humanitarian grounds. It is in the tradition of the American people to take all possible steps to alleviate the present suffering of the people of Rumania, no matter what may be the cause of the dire emergency in which these people now find themselves.
Note: On March 26 the White House released a message to the President from Brig. Gen. Cortlandt V. Schuyler, U.S. Military Representative, Allied Control Commission in Rumania, who had just returned from a 6-day inspection trip through the famine area. General Schuyler reported that he was convinced "that this program has been highly successful, that the food was distributed quickly and efficiently to those who needed it most without regard to political, racial, or religious considerations." He also stated that he believed the prompt action by the American relief agencies had saved many thousands who would otherwise have died of starvation.
Harry S Truman, Statement by the President on the Famine in Rumania. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/232675