Mr. Ambassador, I am very happy that this ceremony has taken place today, because it is our theory always that wherever it is possible, we don't want to see any people go hungry.
We have been watching the situation in your country ever since we heard that your crops were short over there, and the arrangement of this loan and the signing of these documents makes us just as happy as I am sure it will make those people happy who would otherwise have gone hungry.
It is a pleasure to do that in this case.
Note: The President spoke at 3:27 p.m. in his office at the White House. His Excellency Mohammed Ali, Pakistani Ambassador to the United States, responded as follows:
"On behalf of the Government and the people of Pakistan, I thank Your Excellency's Government for this offer of help and assistance to my people.
"I think this is a practical and actual demonstration of the sincere desire on the part of the American Government and people to help the development of countries and people who are in need of assistance, and on behalf of my Government and people, six, I thank you and your Government."
On the same day the White House announced that the $15 million loan to Pakistan for the purchase of wheat was being made by the Export-Import Bank, using funds made available under the authority of the Mutual Security Act of 1951, as amended. The release also stated that the shortage was a result of a severe drought in the winter of 1951-52 in western Pakistan, the country's wheat producing area.
Harry S Truman, Remarks at the Signing of the Pakistan Wheat Loan Documents Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/230476
