840.50 Recovery/5–1348

The Secretary of State to the Chief, Civil Affairs Division, Department of the Army ( Noce )

My Dear General Noce: The Foreign Assistance Act of 1948, Title I, Section 103 (b) provides that until such time as the Free Territory of Trieste or either of its Zones become eligible for assistance as a [Page 562] participating country, assistance is authorized under the Foreign Aid Act of 1947 until June 30, 1949, and the said Foreign Aid Act of 1947 is amended accordingly, and not to exceed $20,000,000 out of funds authorized to be advanced by the Reconstruction Finance Corporation or under Subsection (d) of Section 11 of the Foreign Aid Act of 1947 may be utilized for the purposes of this subsection, subject to certain provisions as set forth in Section 103 (b) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1948.

Neither the Free Territory of Trieste nor either of its Zones is as yet eligible for assistance as a participating country. In order to enable the Administrator to make assistance available to the Free Territory of Trieste or either of its Zones, it will be necessary for the United States Government to receive assurance from the Combined Chiefs of Staff that the Commander, British-United States Forces, Free Territory of Trieste, as the responsible governing authority of the Zone, will undertake to comply with the provisions of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1948 and the Foreign Aid Act of 1947 as cited in the foregoing paragraph.

The conditions of assistance to the U.S.–U.K. Zone of Trieste under the Act have been set forth in the attached proposed “Message for the Commander, British-United States Forces, Free Territory of Trieste”,1 which is respectfully submitted herewith for consideration by the Combined Chiefs of Staff.

Upon notification to the Department by the Combined Chiefs of Staff that the Commander has been directed to comply with the conditions set forth in the proposed directive, the Administrator of the Economic Cooperation Administration2 will be apprised and thereby enabled to initiate assistance to the U.S.–U.K. Zone of the Territory under the Act.3

Sincerely yours,

For the Secretary of State:
John D. Hickerson
  1. Not printed.
  2. Paul G. Hoffman.
  3. A letter sent by Paul H. Nitze, Special Assistant to the Under Secretary, to Wayne C. Taylor, Director of the Office of Financial Operations, E.C.A., May 26, 1948, not printed, stated that the CCS had on May 25 sent a message to General Airey directing him to insure compliance with the relevant provisions of the Foreign Assistance and Foreign Aid Acts (840.50 Recovery/5–1348).

    A memorandum of June 2 from James R. Brooks of ECA to Wayne G. Jackson of the Department of State, not printed, stated that the British-United States Zone of the F.T.T. had been qualified for assistance under section 103 (b) of the Economic Cooperation Act as of that date (860S.00/6–248).