Editorial Note
A Special Subcommittee of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, chaired by Laurie C. Battle of Alabama, held executive hearings beginning [Page 1177] in Marcii regarding various export control bills proposed in Congress. As a result of these hearings, the Special Subcommittee formulated an Export Controls Bill (H.R. 4550) which was approved by the House Foreign Affairs Committee on July 16 and referred to the Committee of the Whole House along with House Report No. 703 that same day. On August 2 H.R. 4550 was discussed in the House of Representatives and was unanimously approved. For a record of the discussion concerning H.R. 4550, see the Congressional Record, vol. 97, pt. 7, pages 9434-9446.
On August 16 the Senate Foreign Relations Committee issued Senate Report No. 698 in which it stated its recommendation that H.R. 4550 be approved. Following heated debate in the Senate on August 27 and 28, H.R. 4550 was approved by a final vote of 55 in favor and 16 opposed, with 25 Senators not voting. For a record of the debates in the Senate, see ibid., pt. 8, pages 10661–10678, 10700–10715, and 10718–10746. H.R. 4550, the Mutual Defense Assistance Control Act of 1951 (Public Law 213), was subsequently referred to President Truman for his signature which was given on October 26. H.R. 4550, commonly known as the Battle Act, superseded the export controls policy stated in the Kem Amendment which was passed by both houses of Congress on May 21. For information concerning the Kem Amendment, see the editorial note, page 1073.