Office of the Historian

811.42700/179b: Telegram

The Acting Secretary of State to the Diplomatic Agent and Consul General at Beirut (Wadsworth)

Washington, June 9, 1944—8 p.m.

77. Department has approved grant of $45,000.00 to American University Beirut and International College for each country named below five full 2-year scholarships or eight partial scholarships, approximately $900 per year maximum plus travel, to be awarded to students from Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Ethiopia.1 Students will be chosen by national ministers of education in consultation with American ministers and in accordance with University requirements. University will have privilege of final choice. Staub2 has accepted and countries have been informed.

Please ask Dodge3 to send missions above countries necessary information about requirements, qualifications and needs of students of American University Beirut and International College.

Letter with details will follow.

Stettinius
  1. This was in pursuance of a program of cultural relations and technical assistance for the countries of the Near East and Africa, which was being organized by the Department of State from late 1942, and which represented an extension to the Moslem world of a program already successfully established with respect to the American Republics in 1938–1941 and China in 1941–1942. Focus of the program was centered mainly on American-founded schools in the area, the Department, via the Near East College Association of New York City, making grants-in-aid for special projects in education, health, engineering and agriculture, and sponsoring the exchange of professors and students. Throughout 1943 and 1944 this program was financed from the Emergency Fund for the President, as the Act of Congress approved August 9, 1939 (53 Stat. (pt. 2) 1290), which provided the legal basis for the American Republics program, had not yet been extended to include such activities conducted by the Department outside the Western Hemisphere. (811.42700/7–1344, 132)↩
  2. Albert W. Staub, American Director, Near East College Association.↩
  3. Bayard Dodge, president of the American University at Beirut.↩