Dwight D. Eisenhower photo

Letter to Secretary Benson in Acknowledgment of Third Annual Report on the Rural Development Program.

November 14, 1958

[ Released November 14, 1958. Dated November 6, 1958 ]

Dear Mr. Secretary:

Your third annual report on the Rural Development Program to assist small and low-income farmers is an impressive record of achievement.

I note with particular interest the continued expansion of the program to new areas of need, and its growing impact on private and government activities in rural areas throughout the Nation.

As you clearly indicate in the state-by-state summary accompanying this report, the Rural Development Program has resulted in more opportunities through the introduction of new farm crops, expanded and more efficient farm marketing, off-farm jobs in newly established or enlarged rural industries, and vocational guidance and training.

Notable in the program has been the imaginative, vigorous leadership provided by state and local leaders in the participating states. Farm, business, civic, educational and church leaders, assisted by government agencies, are contributing their time, skills and resources to this vital work.

The Rural Development Program is providing a framework for strengthening the Nation's agriculture on a long-term basis. It can help thousands of rural communities all across the land meet the challenge of the future.

Such a program deserves the awareness and support of all Americans.

Sincerely,

DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER

Note: The "Third Annual Report of the Secretary of Agriculture on the Rural Development Program," dated September 1958, was made available by the Department of Agriculture in a 51-page pamphlet.
Secretary Benson's letter of transmittal was released with the President's reply.

Dwight D. Eisenhower, Letter to Secretary Benson in Acknowledgment of Third Annual Report on the Rural Development Program. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/234348

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