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Letter to the Chairman of the United States Shipping Board Proposing a Committee To Review Policies in Merchant Marine Organization.

June 06, 1930

My dear Mr. Chairman:

The Board has had under consideration the bids for disposal of the Black Diamond and Cosmopolitan Lines. I understand it has also before it proposals which would lead to the lending of some $60,000,000 of federal funds to the United States Line for new ship construction.

I have received many representations pro and con upon the merits of rival bids and protests at the character of ships which it is proposed to construct under government loans. The disposal of these questions will have a profound effect upon the future of our Merchant Marine and upon the policies involved therein. Obviously I cannot personally pass judgment upon highly controversial questions.

While Congress has provided no authority to the President over the policies of the Shipping Board, yet these matters are of great importance to the future of the Merchant Marine, in which I am deeply interested. I propose, therefore, to appoint a committee of outstanding men who would review these questions and advise upon them, and on the broader policies in merchant marine organization. If the Board finds itself in agreement with this proposal it would be necessary to withhold action in the disposal of these questions.

I do not believe that more than sixty days would be involved in such an inquiry, and I hope the Board would feel that it would be valuable to all parties and to the Board itself to have such an independent report.

Yours faithfully,

HERBERT HOOVER

[Honorable T. V. O'Connor, Chairman, U.S. Shipping Board, Washington, D.C.]

Herbert Hoover, Letter to the Chairman of the United States Shipping Board Proposing a Committee To Review Policies in Merchant Marine Organization. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/210691

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