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Special Message to the Congress Concerning Increased Aid for the Republic of Korea.
July 27, 1953

To the Congress of the United States:

The signing of the truce in Korea makes it imperative that the United States immediately initiate a program of expanded aid to the Republic of Korea to assist in its rehabilitation and economic support. Such a program, affecting the whole future of the Republic of Korea, must extend over several years, and I shall make further recommendations concerning that program to the Congress at its next session.

At this time I urge upon the Congress the passage of interim legislation which will authorize the President to use, for the rehabilitation and economic support of the Republic of Korea, a sum up to 200 million dollars from the savings in expenditures inthe Department of Defense that result from the cessation of hostilities.

The need for this action can quickly and accurately be measured in two ways. One is the critical need of Korea at the end of three years of tragic and devastating warfare. The second is the opportunity which this occasion presents the free world to prove its will and capacity to do constructive good in the cause of freedom and peace.

The extent of devastation suffered by the people and the economy of Korea is staggering. Since the outbreak of war in 1950, 1 million South Koreans have been killed. More than 2½ millions have become homeless refugees. Five million depend in whole or in part upon relief to stay alive. Property destruction exceeds 1 billion dollars. This colossal economic disaster has made all the more remarkable the courage and magnitude of the Republic of Korea’s military effort.

This government has been constantly aware that all that has been won by this valiant struggle could be imperilled and lost by an economic collapse. Poverty and despair could inflict wounds beyond the power of enemy guns. Knowing this, we and our allies, throughout the period of hostilities, took necessary measures to keep the Korean economy from buckling under the strain. We were able, through Defense appropriations, to meet minimum relief needs and to contain the threats of disease and unrest. We contributed important support to the program of the United Nations Korean Reconstruction Agency. We provided important incidental benefits to the Korean economy through payments to the Republic of Korea for the local currency requirements of our military forces.

But these measures cannot suffice. They were necessarily designed to meet the immediate exigencies of fighting a war. They cannot be expected either to meet the huge total cost of this effort or to set the foundation for a healthy peacetime economy.

The facing of these needs has been the subject of the most careful study. I directed that a first-hand survey of them be undertakenin Korea more than three months ago. The completed survey has been reviewed by the National Security Council. On the basis of its analysis and recommendation, I am convinced that the security interests of the United States clearly indicate the need to act promptly not only to meet immediate relief needs but also to begin the long-range work of restoring the Korean economy to health and strength.

While this program is geared to meeting simply indispensable needs, its precise shape in the future must to some extent be governed by future events. It must take account of the fact that our objectives in Korea are not completely attained so long as Korea remains divided; and the assistance now proposed is carefully designed to avoid projects which would prove valueless in a united country. The implementation of the program will depend upon the continued cooperation of the Government of the Republic of Korea with the United States and the United Nations Command.

There is, as I have said, a second fact beyond the desperate need of Korea which, I believe, must govern our action at this time. It is the chance—and the need—for the free peoples to give clear and tangible testimony to their awareness that true peace means more than the simple absence of war. It means moral and material health. It means political order and economic progress. It means the living hope, in the hearts of all peoples, that tomorrow can bring a more just, a more free, a more productive life than today.

No people on earth has proved more valiantly than the people of Korea their right to hold and cherish this hope. Ours is the task to help and nourish this hope—for the sake of one brave people, and for the sake of all peoples who wait and watch to see if free men can be as wise in the ways of peace as they have proved courageous in the ways of war.

DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER

NOTE: The interim legislation requested by the President was authorized by the act approved August 7, 1953 (67 Stat. 425)