"Machiavelli with a Heart": The Johnson administration's food for peace program in India, 1965-1966

Diplomatic History

Volumn 31, Issue 4, 2007, Pages 665-701

  Ahlberg, Kristin L ^a  

^a NONE

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[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 34548775210     PISSN: 01452096     EISSN: 14677709     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-7709.2007.00642.x     Document Type: Article

References (248)

1. Randall B.Woods, ed., Vietnam and the American Political Tradition: The Politics of Dissent (Cambridge, England, 2003)
2. Mitchell B. Lerner, ed., Looking Back at LBJ: White House Politics in a New Light (Lawrence, KS, 2005), especially the essays focusing on domestic issues authored by Julia Kirk Blackwelder, Michael Flamm, Thomas Clarkin, David Shreve, and Robert David Johnson
3. and Thomas Alan Schwartz, Lyndon Johnson and Europe in the Shadow of Vietnam (Cambridge, MA, 2003).
4. Lyndon B. Johnson, The Vantage Point: Perspectives on the Presidency, 1963-1969 (New York, 1971), 223, 226.
5. See also Dennis Merrill, "Indo-American Relations, 1947-50: A Missed Opportunity in Asia," Diplomatic History 11 (Summer 1987): 203-26.
6. For more detailed discussions of American foreign aid and economic history, see Robert A. Packenham, Liberal America and the Third World (Princeton, NJ, 1973)
7. Richard J. Barnet, Intervention and Revolution: The United States in the Third World (New York, 1968)
8. Kimber Charles Pearce, Rostow, Kennedy, and the Rhetoric of Foreign Aid (East Lansing, MI, 2001)
9. Thomas W. Zeiler, American Trade and Power in the 1960s (New York, 1992)
10. and Diane B. Kunz, ed., The Diplomacy of the Crucial Decade: American Foreign Relations during the 1960s (New York, 1994). For a historiographical overview of economic diplomacy, see Diane B. Kunz, "The Power of Money: The Historiography of American Economic Diplomacy," in America in the World: The Historiography of American Foreign Relations since 1941, ed. Michael J. Hogan (Cambridge, England, 1999), 536-61.
11. For overviews of agricultural innovations, see Randal S. Beeman and James A. Pritchard, A Green and Permanent Land: Ecology and Agriculture in the Twentieth Century (Lawrence, KS, 2001)
12. R. Douglas Hurt, Agricultural Technology in the Twentieth Century (Manhattan, KS, 1991)
13. and Wayne D. Rasmussen and Gladys L. Baker, The Department of Agriculture (New York, 1972) and Agriculture in the United States: A Documentary History, 4 vols. (New York, 1975).
14. See Raymond F. Hopkins and Donald J. Puchala, Global Food Interdependence: Challenge to American Foreign Policy (New York, 1980), 78. George McGovern also describes the "economic self-interest" accruing from PL 480 in War against Want: America's Food for Peace Program (New York, 1964), The Third Freedom: Ending Hunger in Our Time (New York, 2001), and The Essential America: Our Founders and the Liberal Tradition (New York, 2004).
15. Humphrey chronicles his efforts in creating the Food for Peace program in his autobiography entitled The Education of a Public Man: My Life and Politics (New York, 1976).
16. See also Carl Solberg, Hubert Humphrey: A Biography (New York, 1984).
17. Dwight D. Eisenhower, "Special Message to the Congress on Agriculture, January 11, 1954," in Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1953-1961 (Washington, DC, 1960), 2: 29-30.
18. See also Burton I. Kaufman, Trade and Aid: Eisenhower's Foreign Economic Policy, 1953-1961 (Baltimore, 1982).
19. Congress amended PL-480 in 1957, creating Title IV, allowing the United States to barter with Soviet satellites. U.S. Congress, Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, Subcommittee on Foreign Agricultural Policy, Food for Peace, 1954-1978-Major Changes in Legislation, report prepared by the Congressional Research Service of the Library of Congress, 96th Cong., 1st sess., 26 April 1979, Committee Print, 1; U.S. Congress, Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry, American Foreign Food Assistance: Public Law 480 and Related Materials, report prepared for the Committee on Agriculture and Forestry, 94th Cong., 2d sess., 13 August 1976, Committee Print, 15
20. Hopkins and Puchala, Global Food Interdependence, 72.
21. See also U.S. Department of State, Compilation of Information on the Operation and Administration of the Agricultural Trade Development and Assistance Act of 1954 (Washington, DC, c.a. 1960), 4-33.
22. The most comprehensive works to date on the history of PL-480 include Peter Toma, The Politics of Food for Peace (Tucson, AZ, 1967)
23. and Mitchell Wallerstein, Food for War-Food for Peace: United States Food Aid in a Global Context (Cambridge, England, 1980). For India, see James Warner Bjorkman, "Public Law 480 and the Politics of Self-Help and Short-Tether: Indo-American Relations, 1965-1968," in The Regional Imperative: The Administration of U.S. Foreign Policy towards South Asian States under Presidents Johnson and Nixon, ed. Lloyd I. Rudolph and Susanne Hoeber Rudolph (Atlantic Highlands, NJ, 1980).
24. Hubert Humphrey to constituents, Senatorial Papers, Box 101, Folder-Agricultural Food Surplus, Papers of Hubert H. Humphrey, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul, Minnesota (hereafter cited as Humphrey Papers, MHS); "Food and Fiber as a Force for Freedom, Report by Hubert H. Humphrey to the Committee on Agriculture and Forestry, United States Senate, 21 April 1959" (Washington, DC, 1958).
25. "Summary of Senator Humphrey's Food for Peace Act," Senatorial Papers, Box 424, Folder-Food for Peace 1959 HHH Releases on S. 1711, Humphrey Papers, MHS.
26. See U.S. Congress, Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, International Food for Peace: Hearing before the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate, 86th Cong., 1st sess., 7-8, 10 July 1959, Committee Print.
27. Congressional Quarterly Almanac, 86th Cong., 1st sess., 1959 (Washington, DC, 1960), 15: 43 contains the law's provisions.
28. Frank Ninkovich, "Anti-Imperialism in US Foreign Relations," in Vietnam and the American Political Tradition, ed. Randall B. Woods (Cambridge, England, 2003), 36.
29. Memorandum, "Crucial Issues in Foreign Aid," Walt Rostow to John F. Kennedy, 28 February 1961, U.S. Department of State, Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963: Foreign Economic Policy (Washington, DC, 1995), 9: 205 (hereafter cited as FRUS, followed by appropriate year).
30. See also memorandum, "Food for Peace through Development," Manning H. Williams to Bromley Smith, 25 January 1961, ibid, 192-93.
31. Walt Rostow, The Stages of Economic Growth: A Non-Communist Manifesto (Cambridge, England, 1960).
32. For additional discussions of modernization and development theory, see Walt Rostow, Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Foreign Aid (Austin, TX, 1985)
33. Michael E. Latham, Modernization as Ideology: American Social Science and "Nation Building" in the Kennedy Era (Chapel Hill, NC, 2000).
34. See also Nick Cullather, "Damming Afghanistan: Modernization in a Buffer State," Journal of American History 89, no. 2 (September 2002) and "Miracles of Modernization: The Green Revolution and the Apotheosis of Technology," Diplomatic History 28, no. 2 (April 2004)
35. Michael Latham, "Ideology, Social Science, and Destiny: Modernization and the Kennedy-Era Alliance for Progress," Diplomatic History 22, no. 2 (Spring 1998)
36. David Engerman, "The Romance of Economic Development and New Histories of the Cold War," Diplomatic History 28, no. 1 ( January 2004): 24-26
37. and Nick Cullather, "Development? It's History," Diplomatic History 24, no. 4 (Fall 2000).
38. See also Thomas G. Paterson, ed., Kennedy's Quest for Victory: American Foreign Policy, 1961-1963 (New York, 1989).
39. McGovern admitted in a 1964 oral interview for the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library that Kennedy "was a little bit bored" talking about farm prices and parity. George McGovern Oral History Interview, 24 April 1964, by John Newhouse, John F. Kennedy Library, Boston, Massachusetts (hereafter cited as JFKL) and McGovern, The Third Freedom, 50. Humphrey, too, recounted that he had tried to get Kennedy to "think more seriously" about agriculture while they were Senate colleagues, to which Kennedy responded: "Hubert, you are causing me nothing but trouble. We don't have many farmers in Boston and they don't understand all this price-support stuff that you are trying to get me to vote for." As quoted in Humphrey, The Education of a Public Man, 230.
40. See also James N. Giglio, "New Frontier Agricultural Policy: The Commodity Side, 1961-63," Agricultural History 63, no. 3 (Summer 1987) and The Presidency of John F. Kennedy (Lawrence, KS, 1991).
41. "Executive Order 10915," U.S. Department of State Bulletin 44 (13 February 1961): 217
42. John F. Kennedy, "Memorandum to Federal Agencies on the Duties of the Director of the Food-for-Peace Program," 24 January 1961, Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: John F. Kennedy, 1961-1963 (Washington, DC, 1962), 1: 6.
43. See also Willard W. Cochrane, "Public Law 480 and Related Programs," Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, vol. 331, Agricultural Policy, Politics, and the Public Interest (September 1960), 14-19, for an analysis of PL-480's shortcomings and potential from an academic standpoint. Thomas Knock asserts that the Peace Corps notwithstanding, McGovern's tenure as Food for Peace director had produced "the greatest humanitarian achievement of the Kennedy-Johnson era," in "Come Home America: The Story of George McGovern," in Woods, ed., Vietnam and the American Political Tradition, 82-120.
44. See also Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., A Thousand Days: John F. Kennedy in the White House(Boston, 1965), 170, 604-5.
45. Food for Peace: Nineteenth Semiannual Report on Activities Carried on under Public Law 480, 83d Congress, as Amended, Outlining Operations under the Act during the Periods July 1 through december 31, 1963, House Document no. 294-88/2 (Washington, DC, 1964).
46. Knock, "Come Home America," 97.
47. Agency for International Development, U.S. Department of State, Food for Peace: The Creative Use of America's Abundance in International Development (Washington, DC, 1963).
48. Bureau of Public Affairs, U.S. Department of State, The Making of Foreign Policy - An Interview with Secretary of State Dean Rusk (Washington, DC, 1964), 32.
49. Emmette S. Redford and Richard T. McCulley note that Johnson's aides Harry McPherson and James Gaither reached a similar conclusion. According to Gaither, Johnson favored the "idea of opportunity," that people needed "a chance to help themselves." Quoted in White House Operations: The Johnson Presidency (Austin, TX, 1986), 50-51.
50. See also Thomas W. Zeiler, Dean Rusk: Defending the American Mission Abroad (Wilmington, DE, 2000), 30-31.
51. Randall B. Woods, "Fulbright, the Vietnam War and the American South," in Woods, ed., Vietnam and the American Political Tradition, 153.
52. Robert Dallek, Flawed Giant: Lyndon Johnson and His Times 1961-1973 (Oxford, 1998), 61.
53. Lyndon B. Johnson, "Remarks at the University of Michigan," 22 May 1964, Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Lyndon B. Johnson, Book I, 1963-1964 (Washington, DC, 1965) (hereafter cited as Public Papers: Johnson, followed by volume and year), 1: 704-7
54. memorandum, David Bell to Johnson, "New Directions in Foreign Aid," 8 December 1964, transmitted under a 9 December covering memorandum to Bill Moyers, White House Central Files (WHCF) Confidential Files (CF) Foreign Affairs (FO) 3-2 Mutual Security 1963-1964, Box 46, Lyndon Baines Johnson Library, Austin, Texas (hereafter cited as LBJL).
55. Memorandum for the Record, "The President's Meeting with Indian Ambassador B. K. Nehru, 6 pm. 9 September 1965 (off the record)," FRUS, 1964-1968: South Asia Washington, DC, 2000), 25: 375.
56. Memorandum, David Bell to Johnson, "New Directions in Foreign Aid," 9 December 1964, FRUS, 1964-1968: International Development and Economic Defense Policy; Commodities (Washington, DC, 1997), 9: 73.
57. See especially Robert J. McMahon, "Food as a DiplomaticWeapon: The India Wheat Loan of 1951," Pacific Historical Review 56, no. 3 (August 1987)
58. "Too Many People, Too Little Food," Time, 31 July 1964, 29
59. "India: Fear of Famine," Newsweek, 10 August 1964, 38.
60. For historiographical views of U.S.-South and Southeast Asian relations, see Gary R. Hess, lobal Expansion and Regional Balances: The Emerging Scholarship on United States Relations with India and Pakistan," Pacific Historical Review 56, no. 2 (May 1987)
61. Ruth McVey, "Change and Continuity in Southeast Asian Studies," Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 26 (March 1995)
62. Robert J. McMahon, "The Cold War in Asia," in America in the World: The Historiography of American Foreign Relations since 1941, ed. Michael J. Hogan (Cambridge, England, 1999) and The Limits of Empire: The United States and Southeast Asia sinceWorld War II (New York, 1999).
63. See also Nick Cullather, Illusions of In.uence: The Political Economy of the United States-Philippines Relations, 1942-1960 (Stanford, CA, 1994)
64. Dennis Merrill, Bread and the Ballot: The United States and India's Economic Development, 1947-1963 (Chapel Hill, NC, 1990)
65. and Andrew J. Rotter, Comrades at Odds: The United States and India, 1947-1964 (Ithaca, NY, 2000).
66. Robert J. McMahon, "Toward Disillusionment and Disengagement in South Asia," in Lyndon Johnson Confronts the World: American Foreign Policy, 1963-1968, ed. Warren I. Cohen and Nancy Bernkopf Tucker (Cambridge, England, 1994), 167.
67. Administrative History of the Department of Agriculture, Special Files, Box 1, Administrative Histories, Department of Agriculture, LBJL.
68. Memorandum, Freeman to Johnson, 23 November 1964, WHCF, CF, Agriculture (AG) 1963-1964, Box 1, LBJL. Freeman devotes an entire chapter to the Indian food crisis in World Without Hunger(New York, 1968), 145-66.
69. "Answers to Hard Problems," Newsweek, 23 August 1965, 66.
70. Treaties and Other International Acts Series (TIAS) 5669, 30 September 1964, U.S. Department of State, Treaties in Force: A List of Treaties and Other International Agreements of the United States in Force on January 1, 1965 (Washington, DC, 1965), 90 (hereafter cited as Treaties in Force followed by the year).
71. Howard Schaffer, Chester Bowles: New Dealer in the Cold War (Cambridge, MA and London, 1993), 281. Bowles to Dean Rusk, 20 August 1965, National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), Record Group (RG) 59, Central Files 1964-1966, AID (US) 1, College Park, Maryland.
72. See also Chester Bowles, Promises to Keep: My Years in Public Life 1941-1969 (New York, 1971).
73. TIAS 5793, 16 United States Treaty (U.S.T.) 664, 21 April 1965, U.S. Department of State, United States Treaties and Other International Agreements, vol. 16, pt. I: 1965 (Washington, DC, 1965), 100 (hereafter cited as United States Treaties followed by volume and year). Memorandum, Robert Komer to Johnson, 9 September 1965, National Security File (NSF), National Security Council Histories Indian Famine, August 1966-February 1967, vol. I: Background Tabs 1-1B, Box 25, LBJL. Komer became deputy special assistant to the president for national security affairs in October 1965.
74. Transcript, Robert W. Komer Oral Interview, January 1970, by Joe Frantz, LBJL.
75. Memorandum of Conversation between B. K. Nehru and Thomas Mann, 1 June 1965, NSF Country File, India, Box 129, India Memos and Misc., vol. V, 1 of 2
76. Lal Bahadur Shastri to Johnson, 9 July 1965, ibid., Box 136, Folder - India Shastri Correspondence; memorandum for the record, 16 July 1965, ibid.
77. Box 129, India Memos and Misc., vol. V, 1 of 2
78. TIAS 5846, 26 July 1965, U.S. Department of State, United States Treaties, vol. 16, pt. II, 1965 (Washington, DC, 1965), 1064-65.
79. For an excellent treatment of the Johnson administration's agricultural policy, see Robert David Johnson, "Politics, Policy, and Presidential Power: Lyndon Johnson and the 1964 Farm Bill," in Lerner, Looking Back at LBJ, 153-80.
80. See Paul Hammond, LBJ and the Presidential Management of Foreign Relations (Austin, TX, 1992) for additional information on Freeman as an agricultural "innovator."
81. Working paper, "Proposed Legislation on Food Aid," 4 January 1965, Secretary of Agriculture Files, Chronological File 1964-1966, Box 11, Papers of Orville L. Freeman, Minnesota Historical Society (hereafter cited as Freeman Papers, MHS)
82. memorandum, "Report," Freeman to Johnson, 9 June 1965
83. memorandum, "World Food Peace Offensive," Freeman to Johnson, 30 August 1965, both ibid.
84. memorandum, "A Strategy for Using P.L. 480 for World Development," Freeman to Johnson, 2 July 1965, transmitted under covering memorandum and with attached livestock income report, WHCF, CF, FO 3-2, Mutual Security April-July 1965, Box 47, LBJL
85. draft message to Congress, "War on Hunger: A Challenge and a Commitment," 24 July 1965, transmitted under cover of a 20 August 1965 memorandum from Komer to Califano, ibid.
86. and memorandum, Freeman to Califano, 31 August 1965, ibid., AG Agriculture 3/4/65-11/18/65, Box 1, LBJL.
87. "Address at Johns Hopkins University: 'Peace without Conquest,'" 7 April 1965, Johnson Papers, 1965 I: 3: 394-99.
88. See also David Ekbah, "'Mr. TVA': Grass-Roots Development, David Lilienthal and the Rise and Fall of the Tennessee Valley Authority as a Symbol of U.S. Overseas Development, 1933-1973," Diplomatic History 26, no. 3 (Summer 2002).
89. For evidence of this point, see Robert J. McMahon, The Cold War on the Periphery: The United States, India and Pakistan (New York, 1994), 317
90. and H. W. Brands, The Wages of Globalism: Lyndon Johnson and the Limits of American Power (New York and Oxford, 1995), 141.
91. Memorandum, "Meeting on Pak/Indian Aid Decisions, Noon, 9 June 1965," Komer to Johnson, FRUS, 1964-1968 25: 272-73
92. memorandum, Komer to Bundy, 18 June 1965, NSF National Security Council Histories Indian Famine, August 1966-February 1967, vol. I., Background Tabs 1-1B, Box 25, LBJL.
93. Robert J. McMahon, "Ambivalent Partners: The Lyndon Johnson Administration and Its Asian Allies," in Beyond Vietnam: The Foreign Policies of Lyndon Johnson, ed. H. W. Brands (College Station, TX, 1999), 171
94. memorandum of conversation, "US Military Assistance to India," 7 July 1964, FRUS, 1964-1968 25: 133
95. memorandum of conversation, "President's Conversation with Amb. McConaughy," 15 July 1964, ibid., 137.
96. Shastri to Johnson, 23 May 1965, ibid., 264.
97. Memorandum for the Record, "President's Talk with Ambassador B. K. Nehru, July 13, 1965," FRUS, 1964-1968 25: 300-303. Drafted by Komer.
98. U Thant, "The Situation in Kashmir," report presented to the United Nations on 3 September 1965, in U.S. Department of State, Of.ce of the Historian, American Foreign Policy: Current Documents, 1965 (Washington, DC, 1968), Document IX-64, 797-801.
99. Telegram 390/322 from the Department of State to the Embassies in India and Pakistan, 8 September 1965, FRUS, 1964-1968 25: 372
100. Richard Halloran, "U.S.Weighs Pressure on Kashmir Foes," Washington Post, 15 September 1965.
101. Editorial Note, FRUS, 1964-1968 25: 407-9.
102. Report, "PL 480 for India and Pakistan," Ball to Johnson, 19 September 1965, NSF, Robert Komer Name File, Komer Memos, vol. II (2), Box 6, LBJL
103. memorandum, Komer to Johnson, ibid.
104. memorandum for the record (prepared by Rusk), 27 October 1965, FRUS, 1964-1968 25: 455. TIAS 5875, 16 U.S.T. 1257, 29 September 1965 and TIAS 5895 16 UST 1707, 4 November 1965, Treaties in Force, 1966 (Washington, DC, 1966)
105. memorandum, "India and Pakistan," Bundy and Komer to Johnson, 5 October 1966, FRUS, 1964-1968 25: 444-47
106. memorandum, Komer to Bundy and Moyers, 20 October 1965, NSF, Bundy Papers, Chronological File 1-20 October 1965, 1 of 3, Box 12, LBJL.
107. Special National Intelligence Estimate, SNIE 31-1-65, "India's Nuclear Weapons Policy," 21 October 1965, FRUS, 1964-1968 25: 451.
108. Food for Peace: 1964 Annual Report on Public Law 480 (Washington, DC, 1965), 100
109. memorandum, "The Status of Non-Military Actions in Vietnam," Chester Cooper to Johnson, 10 September 1965, NSF, Country File, Vietnam, Box 198, 41 Pt. Program in Non-Military Sphere in SVN, LBJL
110. memorandum, "Tanks for Israel," Myer Feldman to Johnson, 14 March 1964, FRUS, 1964-1968, Arab Israeli Dispute 1964-67 (Washington, DC, 2000), 18: 71
111. memorandum, "FY-1965 Help to Israel," Rusk to Johnson, NSF, Country File, Israel, Box 139, vol. III, Memos and Misc., 9/64-2/65, LBJL.
112. Memorandum, "India and Pakistan," Bundy and Komer to Johnson, 5 October 1965, FRUS, 1964-1968 25: 446.
113. On 23 September, Johnson authorized a one-month extension of the existing PL-480 agreement and made a similar decision on 27 October 1965. Memorandum, "Shastri Visit and the Indian Food Pipeline," Bundy to Johnson, 19 October 1965, and memorandum for the record, 27 October 1965, both ibid., 451, 455.
114. Telegram 531 from the Embassy in India to the Department of State, 9 September 1965, FRUS, 1964-1968 25: 378-79
115. Bowles to Bill Moyers, 1 October 1965, WHCF, Peace (PC) 2 Food for Peace, Box 75; Bowles to Johnson, 2 October 1965, Box 16, Correspondence Ambassador Bowles, Bundy Papers, LBJL.
116. Information Memorandum, "PL 480 Problems for Your Discussion with the President," William Handley to Rusk, 31 August 1965, reproduced in Declassified Documents Reference System (Farmington Hills, MI, 2005)
117. Telegram 531 from the Embassy in India to the Department of State, 9 September 1965, FRUS, 1964-1968 25: 378-79
118. memorandum, Komer to Bundy, 13 September 1965, 393
119. Editorial Note, 12 September 1965, 392
120. Telegram 655 from the Embassy in India to the White House, 16 September 1965, 399-400
121. all are ibid.
122. Memorandum, Komer and Bundy to Johnson, "India and Pakistan," 5 October 1965, ibid., 444-47; "Memorandum for the President 12 September 1965 11 AM Meeting on Monday with Rusk, McNamara, Ball, Raborn, and Bundy," NSF, Bundy Papers, Chronological File 1-15 September 1965, Box 11, LBJL.
123. Komer to Bundy, 18 June 1965, NSF National Security Council Histories Indian Famine, August 1966-February 1967, vol. I., Background Tabs 1-1B, Box 25, LBJL
124. memorandum, Komer to Johnson, 21 June 1965, FRUS, 1964-1968 25: 281-82.
125. See Rodney E. Leonard, Freeman: The Governor Years 1955-1960 (Minneapolis, 2003).
126. Orville L. Freeman, "The Public Philosophy of the Kennedy/Johnson Presidencies," in The Virginia Papers on the Presidency (1984), 16: 112
127. Freeman diary entry, 18 February 1964, Secretary of Agriculture Files, USDA Diaries, vol. 3, November 1963-25 May 1964, Box 14, Freeman Papers, MHS.
128. Memorandum, Freeman to Johnson, "A Strategy for Using P.L. 480 forWorld Development," 2 July 1965, WHCF, CF, FO 3-2 Mutual Security, April-July 1965, Box 47, LBJL. Transmitted to Johnson under a covering memorandum. Another copy of the memorandum is in Box 11, Freeman Papers, MHS.
129. "Memorandum for the Files: Phone Call from the President, November 17, 4:30 p.m. Just Completed," 17 November 1965, Secretary of Agriculture Files, USDA Notebook 1965 (7), Box 11
130. Freeman diary entry, 18 November 1965, USDA Diaries, vol. 6, 28 August 1965-18 May 1966, Box 15, both ibid.
131. Ibid., memorandum, Freeman to Johnson, 20 November 1965, "1965 India," Subject File, USDA Federal Records, Box 2, LBJL.
132. Ibid.
133. Telegram 1381 from the Embassy in Italy to the Department of State, 26 November 1965, FRUS, 1964-1968 25: 476-79. AID's India director in New Delhi, John Lewis, suggested that the short tether was congruent with Johnson's overall approach to foreign policy, as it demonstrated "hard headed, economizing toughness and far sighted, risk taking expansiveness." "Our Chance of a Rousing Success in India," 28 December 1965, NSF National Security Council Histories Indian Famine, August 1966-February 1967, vol. I, Background Tabs 1-1B, Box 25, LBJL.
134. See also Leonard A. Gordon, "Wealth EqualsWisdom? The Rockefeller and Ford Foundations in India," Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 554 (November 1997): 108
135. and Gary R. Hess, "The Role of American Philanthropic Foundations in India's Road to Globalization during the Cold War," in Globalization, Philanthropy and Civil Society, ed. Soma Hewa and Darwin W. Stapleton (New York, 2005).
136. Freeman diary entry, 24 November 1965, Secretary of Agriculture Files, USDA Diaries, vol. 6, Box 15, Freeman Papers, MHS.
137. Freeman diary entry, 2 December 1965, ibid. The Department of State pressed Johnson to amend the current agreement, especially in light of reports from Bowles, Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs Raymond Hare, Freeman, and Brown that the fall harvest would come in at anywhere from twelve to twenty million tons less than the previous year. As Hare concluded, "While it is dif.cult to gauge the point at which the pressures generated by our current stance on food will become uncontrollable in a democratic India, obviously the risks we run increase as India nears the razor's edge in grain stocks." See memorandum, Rusk to Johnson, 26 November 1965, NSF, Country File, India, Box 134, India's Food Problem, vol. I, LBJL; action memorandum, "Memorandum for the President on PL-480 for India and Pakistan," Raymond Hare to Rusk, 24 November 1965, National Archives, RG 59, Central Files 1964-1966, AID (US) 18-8 INDIA
138. information memorandum, "Prospective Food Crisis in India," Hare to Rusk, 1 December 1965, ibid., SOC 10 INDIA
139. memorandum, "India - Food and Agriculture," Freeman to Johnson, 1 December 1965, FRUS, 1964-1968 25: 481-82
140. memorandum, Komer to Johnson, ibid., 484-86.
141. Letter, Alan Berg to Komer, 3 December 1965, NSF Subject File, US Food for Peace, Box 15, LBJL.
142. Transcript of telephone conversation between Johnson and Goldberg, 1 December 1965, 1:10 p.m., 9303, "December 1965," Recordings and transcripts of conversations and meetings, WH Series, Box 7, LBJL.
143. Recordings and Transcripts, Recording of a telephone conversation between Johnson and Goldberg, 1 December 1965, 1:10 p.m., WH 6512.01, Citation 9303, LBJL. Transcribed by author
144. Telegram Aidto 747 from the Department of State to the Embassy in India, 9 December 1965, FRUS, 1964-1968 25: 498-99; "U.S. Stepping up Food Aid to India: Move Is First since Freeze during Kashmir Fighting," New York Times, 10 December 1965.
145. Sharokh Sabavala, "U.S. Aid Reviewed: Go It Alone Mood Detected in India," Christian Science Monitor, 20 November 1965.
146. Too Little, Too Late?" Newsweek, 20 December 1965, 40.
147. John Hughes, "India Disillusioned with U.S. Attitude," Christian Science Monitor, 27 November 1965.
148. TIAS 5913, 16 U.S.T. 1833, 10 December 1965, Treaties in Force, 1966, 90.With regard to the fertilizer loan, the Indian Government subsequently encouraged foreign forms, among them the Phillips Petroleum Company, to construct fertilizer processing plants. Time magazine reported that "American forms are hurrying to get in on the ground floor. "India: Fertilizer to Fight Hunger," Time, 27 May 1966, 93.
149. "Famine in India," Christian Century, 29 December 1965, 159.
150. National Security Action Memorandum 339, "Critical Indian Food Situation," 17 December 1965, FRUS, 1964-1968 25: 513-14. Within the text of the NSAM, Johnson indicated his deep concern "on humanitarian grounds" toward the disaster and noted that he "would like personally to review" Freeman;s recommendations "before deciding what action I will take."
151. Handwritten note, Rostow to Valenti, 10 December 1965, Legislative Background, Food for India 1966, Box 1, LBJL. Representative H. B. Cooley (D-TX) also encouraged Johnson in this direction, fearing that without an immediate response, the United States might do "too little, too late" in averting famine. Cooley to Johnson, 3 February 1966, ibid.
152. Memorandum for the Record, "President's Meeting with Indian Food Minister Subramaniam," 20 December 1965, FRUS, 1964-1968 25: 517.
153. Telegram 1041 from the Department of State to New Delhi, 11 December 1965, ibid., 499-500.
154. "The Folly of Others," Time, 31 December 1965, 22-23.
155. Telegram 1124 to the Embassy in India from the Department of State with attached memorandum of conversation, 23 December 1965, National Archives, RG 59, Central Files 1964-1966, AID 10 INDIA
156. Telegram 1041 to the Embassy in India from the Department of State, 11 December 1965, ibid., AID (US) 15-18 INDIA
157. memorandum, Bundy and Komer to Johnson, 22 December 1965, NSF National Security Council Histories Indian Famine, August 1966-February 1967, vol. I, Background Tab 3, Box 25, LBJL
158. Johnson, The Vantage Point, 226. Several weeks before, Bundy had offered his letter of resignation to the president in order to assume the presidency at the Ford Foundation. Upon Bundy's resignation on 28 February 1966, Komer became the acting president's assistant for national security affairs.
159. See Memorandum, Bundy to Johnson, 4 December 1965 and Editorial Note, FRUS, 1964-1968: Organization and Management of U.S. Foreign Policy; United Nations (Washington, DC, 2004), 33: 370-71, 373-74.
160. "Annual Message to the Congress on the State of the Union," 12 January 1966, Public Papers: Johnson, 1966, I(Washington, DC, 1967), 5: 7
161. "Special Message to the Congress on the Foreign Aid Program," 1 February 1966
162. and "Special Message to the Congress: Food for Freedom," 10 February 1966, both ibid., 117 and 163.
163. Memorandum, Komer to Johnson, 8 January 1966, NSF Robert Komer Name File, Komer Memos, vol. II (1), Box 6, LBJL.
164. Memorandum, Saunders to Komer, 18 January 1966, India Economic, March 1965-1966 (1 of 4), NSF, Files of Robert W. Komer, Box 22 (1 of 2), LBJL.
165. Minister of Home Affairs G. L. Nanda served as interim prime minister until Indira Gandhi, the daughter of former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, assumed the office.
166. See J. Anthony Lukas, "Mrs. Gandhi Calls Food Major Issue: In First Talk to Nation, She Vows to Combat Shortage," New York Times, 27 January 1966.
167. Telegram 1795 from the Embassy in India to the Department of State, 14 January 1966, FRUS 1964-1968 25: 538-41.
168. Memorandum, "India," Freeman to Johnson, 18 January 1966
169. note, Johnson to Komer, 18 January 1966, both NSF Country File, India, Box 134, India's Food Problem, vol. 1 (2 of 2), LBJL
170. memorandum, Freeman to Johnson, 3 February 1966, USDA Federal Records, Subject Files, 1966 India, Box 4, LBJL, quoted in Califano, The Triumph and Tragedy of Lyndon Johnson: The White House Years (New York, 1991), 155.
171. Memorandum, Komer to Johnson, "Pak/Indian Interim Steps," 1 February 1966, NSF, Files of Robert W. Komer, Box 22 (1 of 2), LBJL.
172. Recordings and Transcripts, Recording of conversation between Johnson and Freeman, 2 February 1966, 10:01 a.m. WH 6602.01, Citation 9610. Transcribed by author. Freeman diary entry, 18 January 1966, Secretary of Agriculture Files, USDA Diaries, vol. 6, Box 15, Freeman Papers, MHS. Johnson did authorize the release of three million tons of wheat and maize for India in early February, commenting at a cabinet meeting that this decision was necessary, as "more people will die this year from hunger in India and Pakistan than all of the people now living in North and South Vietnam." "The President's News Conference of February 4, 1966," Public Papers: Johnson, 1966 I: 5: 143
173. "Notes of a Meeting," FRUS, 1964-1968, Vietnam 1966 (Washington, DC, 2000), 4: 256.
174. Richard Reuter to Johnson, 12 August 1965, WHCF, PC 2 Food for Peace 5/ 65-11/65, Box 4, LBJL
175. memorandum, "World Food Peace Offensive," Freeman to Johnson, 30 August 1965, Secretary of Agriculture Files, USDA Notebook 1965 (1), Box 11, Freeman Papers, MHS
176. "Annual Message to the Congress on the State of the Union," 12 January 1966, Johnson Papers, 1966 I: 7
177. "Special Message to the Congress on the Foreign Aid Program," 1 February 1966, 117
178. and "Special Message to the Congress: Food for Freedom," 10 February 1966, 163, both ibid.
179. Austin C.Wehrwein, "Birth Control Aid AbroadWins First Approval by Congress Unit," New York Times, 7 May 1966
180. "Food Aid Policy," New York Times, 1 September 1966
181. U.S. Department of Agriculture, The New Food Aid Program (Washington, DC, 1966)
182. "Statement by the President upon Signing the Food for Peace Act of 1966," 12 November 1966, Public Papers: Johnson, 1966, II, 1373. The text of the Food for Peace Act is printed as Public Law 89-808, approved 11 November 1966, in U.S Department of State, Office of the Historian, American Foreign Policy: Current Documents, 1966 (Washington, DC, 1969), Document XII-16, 1076-86.
183. Freeman diary entry, 3 February 1966, Secretary of Agriculture Files, USDA Diaries, vol. 6, Box 15, Freeman Papers, MHS
184. Recordings and Transcripts, Recording of conversation between Johnson and Freeman, 2 February 1966, 10:01 a.m., WH 6602.01, Citation 9607-8, LBJL. Transcribed by author. Freeman indicated in his diary that the conversation lasted almost an hour and that he was "a bit shaken up because on the one hand I've had the mission of being sure that we succeed in moving food to people in India as needed, turning loose all American ingenuity necessary to accomplish that purpose. On the other hand, every move I've taken has gotten resistance and increasing charges that I have gone soft on India."
185. Recordings and Transcripts, Recording of conversation between Johnson and Rusk, 2 February 1966, 5:29 p.m., WH 6602.02, Citation 9610, LBJL. Transcribed by author.
186. Recordings and Transcripts, Recording of conversation between Johnson and Humphrey, 5 February 1966, 10:15 a.m., WH 6602.02, Citation 9624-5, LBJL. Transcribed by author. Johnson valued the assistance provided by the Vatican, theWorld Council of Churches, the United Nations, and nations such as The Netherlands and Italy, but commented to Pope Paul VI that other "major producers of wheat" had disappointed the United States by their limited contributions. Telegram 1793 from the Department of State to the Embassy in Italy, 26 February 1966, National Archives, RG 59, Central Files 1964-1966, SOC 10 INDIA.
187. Recordings and Transcripts, Recording of conversation between Johnson and Rusk, 2 February 1966, 5:29 p.m., WH 6602.02, Citation 9610, LBJL. Transcribed by author.
188. Congressional Record, 89th Cong., 2d sess., 1965, pt. 10: 13998
189. "US Farms' Help Urged for Needy: Senate PlanWants Surplus Food forWorld's Hungry," New York Times, 29 August 1965
190. Congressional Record, 89th Cong., 1st sess., 1965, pt. 14: 18870
191. Saville R. Davis, "U.S. Urged to Declare World War on Famine," Christian Science Monitor, 4 October 1965.
192. Freeman diary entry, 27 March 1966. Secretary of Agriculture Files, USDA Diaries, vol. 6, Box 15, Freeman Papers, MHS. The omission is in the original text.
193. Memoranda, "Indira Gandhi Visit," Komer to Johnson, 10 March 1966
194. and "Gandhi Visit," 21 March 1966, both NSF, Files of Robert W. Komer, Box 22 (1 of 2), LBJL
195. Telegram 1751 from the Department of State to the Embassy in India, "Indian Food Crisis," 18 March 1966, National Archives, RG 59, Central Files 1964-1966, SOC 10 INDIA. Also repeated to the embassy in France as Paris 44.
196. Memorandum, "The Economic Bargain with Mrs. Gandhi," Rusk to Johnson, 26 March 1966, FRUS, 1964-1968 25: 588-89
197. memorandum, "Final Notes on Gandhi Visit," Komer to Johnson, 27 March 1966, ibid., 593.
198. Recordings and Transcripts, Recording of conversation between Johnson and Rusk, 28 March 1966, 4:44 p.m., WH 6603.09, Citation 9918, LBJL. Transcribed by author.
199. Memorandum, "Proposed Message on Coping with Hunger in India," Reuter to Mann, 25 March 1966, National Archives, RG 59, Central Files 1964-1966, SOC 10 INDIA
200. memorandum, "Indian Food Crisis," Reuter to Rusk, 21 March 1966, Box 12, Correspondence and Memoranda, State Department 1966, Richard W. Reuter Papers, JFKL
201. memorandum, "Food for India," Mann to Rusk, 26 March 1966, National Archives, RG 59, Central Files 1964-1966, AID (US) 1508 INDIA
202. memorandum, "Proposed Message on India's Food Needs," Gaud to Califano, 25 March 1966, WHCF, CF FO 3-2 Mutual Security January-March 1966, Box 48, LBJL
203. "Special Message to the Congress Proposing an Emergency Food Aid Program for India," 30 March 1966, Public Papers: Johnson, 1966 I: 5: 366-69
204. Congress and the Nation, vol. II, 1965-1968, Congressional Quarterly (Washington, DC, 1969), 72, 570.
205. "United States Participation in Relieving Victims of Hunger in India," 19 April 1966, published as Document IX-53, U.S. Department of State, Of.ce of the Historian, American Foreign Policy: Current Documents 1966 (Washington, DC, 1969), 688
206. Circular Telegram from the Department of State to All Embassies and Legations, 30 March 1966, FRUS, 1964-1968 25: 608
207. memorandum, Rostow to Johnson, 3 April 1966, ibid., 608-9
208. memorandum, "President Johnson's Food for India Message," Benjamin Read to Rostow, 2 April 1966, National Archives, RG 59, Central Files 1964-1966, SOC 10 INDIA.
209. Weekly Report, Freeman to Johnson, 1 June 1966, Secretary of Agriculture Files, USDA Notebook, 1966 (1), Box 11, Freeman Papers, MHS
210. confidential memorandum, Robert Kintner to Rostow, 23 June 1966, WHCF, CF, FO 3-2 Mutual Security April-December 1966, Box 48, LBJL
211. "'Two Threats to World Peace'-Remarks in Omaha on the Occasion of Sending the Five-Millionth Ton of Grain to India," 30 June 1966, Johnson Papers, 1966 I: 5: 679-80.
212. Bruce E. Altschuler, LBJ and the Polls (University of Florida Social Sciences Monograph 77) (Gainesville, FL, 1990), 84.
213. "Memorandum for the Record, Summary Record of the President's Meeting with Indian Planning Minister Asoka Mehta, 4 May 1966, FRUS, 1964-1968 25: 637.
214. Warren Unna, "Mrs. Gandhi Meets the Press and Takes It Like a Pro," Washington Post, 20 April 1966
215. Anthony Lukas, "Menon Attacks India's Premier," New York Times, 27 April 1966.
216. Bowles to Johnson, 5 May 1965, FRUS, 1964-1968 25: 640-41.
217. Memorandum for the Files, 25 July 1966. Freeman drafted the memorandum and asked that a copy of it be placed in his diary for that time period. Secretary of Agriculture Files, USDA Diaries, vol. 7, Box 15, MHS.
218. "Food: An All-Consuming Opportunity," Time, 1 July 1966, 74.
219. Summary Notes of the 562d Meeting of the National Security Council, 19 July 1966, FRUS, 1964-1968 25: 700-701.
220. Report, "The President and Indian Famine: August 1966-February 1967, Volume I," NSF National Security Council Histories Indian Famine, vol. I. Narrative and Guide to Documents, Box 25, LBJL
221. memorandum, "Next PL 480 Agreements for India and Pakistan," Howard Wriggins to Johnson, 24 August 1966, NSF, Country Files, India, Box 134,
222. "India's Food Problem," vol. I (1 of 2), LBJL
223. memorandum, Saunders to Rostow, 15 September 1966 and memorandum, Wriggins to Rostow, "Indian PL 480," 22 September 1966, both NSF National Security Council Histories Indian Famine, August 1966-February 1967, vol. III, Guide to Documents Tabs 6-25, Box 26, LBJL.
224. Freeman diary entry, Secretary of Agriculture Files, USDA Diaries, vol. 7, Box 15, Freeman Papers, MHS
225. memorandum, "Effect of P.L. 480 sales on domestic wheat prices," Charles Zwick to Rostow, 1 September 1966
226. memorandum, "Effect on domestic wheat prices of the pending P.L. 480 agreement with India," Zwick to Rostow, 12 September 1966
227. and memorandum, "Amending the Current India and Pakistan Agreements," John Schnittker to Johnson, 14 October 1966, all NSF National Security Council Histories Indian Famine, August 1966-February 1967, vol. III, Guide to Documents Tabs 6-25, Box 26, LBJL.
228. Memorandum, "Indian Agricultural Performance," Gaud to Rostow, 8 October 1966, ibid.
229. Telegram 80047 from the Department of State to the Embassy in India, 7 November 1966, National Archives, RG 59, Central Files 1964-1966, AID (US) 15 INDIA. Quoted in H. W. Brands, India and the United States: The Cold Peace, (Boston, 1990), 121.
230. Editorial Note, FRUS, 1964-1968 25: 758.
231. Selig S. Harrison, "LBJ Delays India's New Food Pact: Apparent Move to Speed Reforms Alarms New Delhi," Washington Post, 21 November 1966.
232. Memorandum, "Evaluation of Agricultural Self-Help Efforts and Review of Food Situation in India," Martin Abel and Arthur Thompson to Freeman, 27 November 1966, NSF National Security Council Histories Indian Famine, August 1966-February 1967, vol. III, Guide to Documents Tabs 26-46, Box 26, LBJL
233. Editorial Note, FRUS, 1964-1968 25: 763-66
234. memorandum, "India-Analysis Team Report-Recommendation," Freeman to Johnson, 28 November 1966, ibid., 770-72.
235. Nick Cullather, "Lyndon Johnson, Indira Gandhi, and the Political Dramatics of Famine," paper presented at the U.S. Department of State "South Asia in Crisis: U.S. Policy 1961-1972" International Conference, 29 June 2005. Paper is in the possession of the author.
236. Editorial Note, FRUS, 1964-1968 25: 763-66.
237. "Gambling with Famine," New York Times, 12 December 1966.
238. See also Selig S. Harrison, "LBJ Delays India's New Food Pact," Washington Post, 21 November 1966
239. J. Anthony Lukas, "U.S. Delay on Food Puzzles Hungry India," New York Times, 4 December 1966
240. Carroll Kilpatrick, "Delay on Food Aid for India Designed as Shock Therapy," Washington Post, 5 December 1966
241. "Food for India," Washington Post, 11 December 1966
242. Johnson, The Vantage Point, 228
243. "Diplomacy: Foodmanship," Newsweek, 19 December 1966.
244. Memorandum for the Record, 28 November 1966, FRUS, 1964-1968 25: 772-73. Drafted by Francis Bator, who later became Rostow's deputy.
245. Freeman diary entry, 19 December 1966, Secretary of Agriculture Files, USDA Diaries, vol. 7, Box 15, Freeman Papers, MHS.
246. William Robert Poage, Jack Miller, and Robert Dole to Freeman, 20 December 1966, NSF National Security Council Histories Indian Famine, August 1966-February 1967, vol. III., Guide to Document Tabs 47-70, Box 26, LBJL.
247. The Food Aid Program 1966: Annual Report on Public Law 480, 90th Cong., 1st sess., House Document no. 179, 16.
248. Wriggins provided this quotation within the context of his larger remarks concerning U.S.-South Asian relations during the Johnson administration, which he delivered at the Department of State's "South Asia in Crisis: U.S. Policy 1961-1972" conference, 29 June 2005. Comments are in the possession of the author.