Special Message to the Congress Transmitting Bill Extending the Institute of Inter-American Affairs.

To the Congress of the United States:

I commend to the favorable consideration of the Congress the enclosed letter from the Under Secretary of State and the accompanying draft legislation to make possible the continuation and expansion of the cooperative programs in public health, sanitation, education and agriculture that this Government is carrying on, through The Institute of Inter-American Affairs, in partnership with the governments of other American republics.

The conditions of modern life are drawing the American republics together in an increasingly close community of neighbors. It is a basic and enduring purpose of the foreign policy of the United States to play the part of the good neighbor in that community.

The United States and the other American republics have repeatedly proclaimed their common purpose to promote by cooperative action their economic, social and cultural development, and to work with one another to achieve just and decent living conditions for all their peoples. The United States has given tangible proof of its desire to cooperate in the realization of these aims by assisting its neighbor republics in the development of their basic economies. Our relations have constituted friendly, constructive and effective partnerships which it is our aim to extend and strengthen.

Since the early part of 1942, this Government has, through the Institute of Inter-American Affairs and its predecessor agencies, entered into bilateral arrangements with the governments of other American republics under which we have worked with them on programs in public health, sanitation, agriculture, education and related fields--programs designed to promote the development of the basic economies of the cooperating republics. The present Institute of Inter-American Affairs was chartered by the Congress as a wholly-owned Government corporation in an Act approved on August 5, 1947 and authorized to continue this cooperative program through the end of the fiscal year 1950. Its exceptional success in realizing this Government's objectives in an increasingly effective manner leads to the conclusion that we should continue it, as a vital instrument of our long-range policy, beyond that limited period. These are programs that, over the years, have been tried, tested, and found good. I therefore request that the Congress authorize a continuation of these programs on a scale that will enable us, more effectively, to help our neighbors help themselves.

I stated recently that we must embark on a program for making the benefits of our scientific advances and industrial progress available for the improvement and growth of underdeveloped areas. Within the Western Hemisphere we have already built firm foundations for this program, and have already begun to demonstrate the benefits that can flow from such a program. The continuing growth of solidarity, friendship and close cooperation among the republics of the Western Hemisphere benefits us as well as our neighbors. Each of the American republics, the United States included, is helped in its own progress by the improvement of economic, social and cultural conditions in the others. By continuing this international cooperation for raising the standard of living of all the peoples in the Americas, the United States can give further, practical form to the high purposes of our policy.

HARRY S. TRUMAN