876.00–TA/10–2050

The President of Liberia ( Tubman ) to President Truman 1

Dear President Truman: It was very gracious of you to have set the 18th of the present month as the date on which you will receive the Liberian Delegation being sent by this Government to your great Country, to discuss a Five Year Economic Expansion Program, Financial Assistance for it and a Defense Program.

The results obtained from the activities of your Health and Economic Missions in this Country for the past four years have already evidenced the vast benefits and possibilities of development that can be obtained by your liberal, farsighted and unselfish Point Four Program for which the Government and people of Liberia are profoundly grateful.

I would be remiss if I did not mention the contributions which are also being made to the Economic Development of this Country by United States private investment which for the past twenty-five years have reflected itself not only in the economic life of the nation but also in some respects in its political stability.

With further aid under the Memorandum submitted to your Department of State by this Government requesting assistance for the Expansion of her Five Year Program, undoubtedly, development in this Country will move forward by leaps and bounds.

Together with development, there must necessarily be the ability to ensure safety and security of the new conditions created thereby, especially so in these days of anxiety and uncertainties. Because of these possibilities, we are seeking assistance in the line of Defense on business principles being willing to pay for the costs involved over a period of years, but as rapidly as the resources of our Country will [Page 1730] permit and on conditions that may be agreed between the two Governments.2

I respectfully implore your reasonably sympathetic consideration of these matters.

Assuring Your Excellency again of the gratefulness and sincerity of the Liberian Government and people,

I remain,

Very sincerely yours,

William V. S. Tubman
  1. This letter was probably delivered to President Truman by the Liberian Commission during its call at the White House on October 19; see President Truman’s reply of November 3 to President Tubman, p. 1733. The source text was a copy of the letter referred to the Department of State by the White House on October 20 for the preparation of an appropriate reply.
  2. In a letter of October 5 to Assistant Secretary of State McGhee, not printed, President Tubman requested that the Liberian Commission be given a sympathetic hearing, and he set forth the arguments made in this paragraph (McGhee Files, Lot 53 D 468, File—Letters “T”). Lot 53 D 468 contains copies of memoranda and correspondence of Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern, South Asian, and African Affairs George C. McGhee for the years 1949–1951.