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Statement by the President Upon Signing Bill Relating to the Inter-American Development Bank.

March 25, 1965

I HAVE signed the bill, H.R. 45, under which the Congress has authorized appropriations over the next 3 years of $750 million as the United States share in an increase in the resources of the Fund for Special Operations of the Inter-American Development Bank.

This bill is another important milestone in continuing United States support for the Alliance for Progress. Since it began operation in 1960, the Inter-American Development Bank has made an ever-increasing contribution to this common effort. In 1964 it made loans totaling $286.4 million which represent a significant percentage of all the loans made by public financial institutions participating in the alliance. The bank's role as the bank of the alliance will be strengthened by this further addition to its resources, and its multilateral character will be enhanced because all members will contribute to the increase.

Along with other member governments, the United States has agreed to make this contribution to the bank's Fund for Special Operations in three equal installments in 1965, 1966, and 1967. I am asking the Congress to act promptly on a 1965 supplemental request to pay our first installment; provision for the second has been made in my 1966 budget.

In taking this further step, we are reminded that the Alliance for Progress is more effective every day. For Latin America, the alliance offers hope instead of despair, growth and advancement rather than deterioration and destruction. It unites rather than divides and seeks to conquer, not people and nations, but those ancient enemies of mankind--poverty, ignorance, hunger, and disease. In short, it represents the means by which free men of all the Americas have joined together in a peaceful effort to win a better life for themselves and their children.

Looking to the future, we expect the heartening accomplishments of the Alliance for Progress in 1964 to be continued and even surpassed. Dedication and hard work through this hemisphere have been the key to the success of our efforts. But the struggle has not been an easy one, and many difficult obstacles remain to be surmounted before our goal is within reach. This year and the years ahead summon us all to even greater effort in our quest for a better life in freedom and dignity.

NOTE.: As enacted, H.R. 45 is Public Law 89-6 (79 Stat. 23). It was approved by the President on March 24, 1965.

Lyndon B. Johnson, Statement by the President Upon Signing Bill Relating to the Inter-American Development Bank. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/242123

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