357. Editorial Note

On October 4, 1962, the President signed Public Law 87-746, which raised the annual authorization ceiling on U.S. economic aid to the Ryukyus from $6 to $12 million. The lower ceiling, far short of the $25 million authorization ceiling that the administration had requested, came at the initiative of the Senate Armed Services Committee, which was “inclined to believe that the level of assistance [was] being accelerated too rapidly” and hoped that there would be “no [administration] proposal to increase the authorization ceiling next year.” (Quotations from the Committee’s report to the full Senate as reported in telegram 663 to Tokyo, September 21; Department of State, Central Files, 811.0094C/9-2162)

Although the administration had requested $12 million in FY 1963 appropriations for Ryukyuan aid, the House Appropriations Committee recommended only $6 million and the Senate Appropriations Committee recommended $9 million. After the respective Houses had approved these figures, a conference committee set a final total, excluding administrative expenses, of $6,95 million, only $950,000 over the previous ceiling.

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In an October 6 letter to U. Alexis Johnson, Gerald Warner, Political Adviser to the High Commissioner in the Ryukyus, stated that the congressionally approved amounts, although lower than the administration’s requests, did not necessarily mean that the President’s policy for the Ryukyus had been undercut: “For one thing the GOJ is not too anxious to have the Ryukyus revert too quickly. They know a good thing defense wise and economy wise when they see it. They don’t want to have the Okinawans living too high off the hog while we are here, and thus have the Okinawans squealing even louder after reversion than they do now. So all in all the situation does not look too bad. I think we can and should put a favorable face on it.” (Ibid., 811.0094C/10-662)

In an October 30 memorandum to the Secretary Harriman recommended that “in view of the disappointingly small aid appropriation for the Ryukyus” Rusk issue a statement stressing that there had been no change in the President’s policy as announced March 19 (see Document 352) and that U.S.-Japanese discussions on the subject would continue. (Ibid., 794C.0221/10-3062) After White House approval, such a statement was issued November 1. For text, see Department of State Bulletin, November 19, 1962, page 770.