Looking to the future, we believe that Britain, as the sovereign power in Southern Rhodesia, has the primary responsibility for halting the rebellion in its colony. Britain has, in fact, applied a broad range of sanctions-political, fiscal, economic against Southern Rhodesia to see if the situation can be rectified by such drastic expedients.

Speed is a critical factor in the situation, however. African nations already are impatient with Britain's choice of measures. Many of them are pressing for direct military action. And a few would consider turning to the Communists for help, on the grounds that the West is not moving fast enough. Obviously, the Communists would be happy to rush into this situation if they get a chance.

Because of our own important interests in this matter, the United States fully backs the British Government in its actions. We believe Britain will continue to apply measures that will be adequate to resolve the situation, and we will support those measures.

In conclusion, then, the continued existence of the illegal Southern Rhodesian regime is not a phenomenon isolated to a remote section of southern Africa. Important as it is, it is not solely a question of whether 220,000 whites can maintain a "Governor Wallace type" of racial supremacy over 4 million black Africans. Rather, it is a situation that can have serious repercussions for the future of freedom in Africa, for other whites in Africa, for independent African governments, for Britain, for the United States, and for the whole world.

See post, doc. VIII-51.

95 On Dec. 8 the Secretary of State announced that he would take action to recognize the U.K. Government's decision to place the official deposits of the Reserve Bank of Rhodesia in the United States under the authority of a new board of directors resident in London (Department of State Bulletin, Dec. 27, 1965, p. 1028). See also ante, docs. VIII-44, 47. 90 Ante, doc. VIII-46.

Department of State Bulletin, Jan. 17, 1966, pp. 85-86.

Actions by various nations to cooperate with the U.K. in implementing its economic measures against the rebel regime and in conformance with the November 12 and 20 resolutions as of the United Nations Security Council were reviewed. The United States Government described the details of its recent measures to apply economic sanctions to Rhodesia, especially the action being taken by American oil companies in implementing the recently announced oil embargo against Rhodesia.1

Secretary Rusk expressed the hope that the success achieved so far in obtaining broad international assistance for the U.K. economic measures and the United Nations resolutions directed against the rebellious Rhodesian authorities would soon achieve the stated U.N. objective of "bringing the minority regime in Southern Rhodesia to an immediate end" and would provide a constitutional basis for progress toward majority rule in the British colony. He expressed the willingness of the U.S. Government to consider additional measures in the event the present program should appear to need reinforcement.

Secretary Rusk reviewed the investigations made by American experts of the requirements for improving various alternative land transportation routes into Zambia and promised to examine ways by which the United States could assist in meeting these requirements. He confirmed that the United States during the first week in January, hopefully by January 2, plans to begin to make a significant contribution to the airlift of oil supplies to Zambia in cooperation with the U.K. and Canada. He agreed that the objective of the airlift should be to permit Zambia to end rationing of petroleum products as soon as possible.

ville arrangements have been made for delivery of petroleum products to the airport (Ndjili Airport), from where the cargo will be flown to Elisabethville.

At Elisabethville, under arrangements made with the British and the Zambian Governments, the local oil companies will forward the cargoes by truck and railroad the short distance (60-100 miles) to major towns in the Zambian Copperbelt, where very strict gasoline and oil rationing has had to be imposed. The U.S. aircraft will operate between Léopoldville and Elisabethville, since airports in those cities are capable of handling large jet aircraft. The Zambian airports are not. The Congolese Government has promised complete cooperation in this airlift.

AID is currently engaged in arrangements to augment the U.S. airlift by procuring further aircraft sufficient to lift approximately 6,000 tons of gasoline, oil, and lubricants during the months of January and February. A further announcement will be made when these plans have been completed.

The U.S. airlift is a part of an overall effort to move 14,000 tons of petroleum products into Zambia during January and a higher amount during February. By March 1 it is expected that alternative overland supply routes through neighboring countries will have been sufficiently developed to terminate the airlift.

Part IX

Document IX-1

Message From the President (Johnson) to the Congress, June 1, 19651

Request for an Appropriation of $89 Million for a Southeast Asia Aid Program

The American people want their government to be not only strong but compassionate. They know that a society is secure only where social justice is secure for all its citizens. When there is turmoil anywhere in our own country, our instinct is to inquire if there is injustice. That instinct is sound. And these principles of compassion and justice do not stop at the water's edge. We do not have one policy for our own people and another for our friends abroad.

A vast revolution is sweeping the southern half of this globe. We do not intend that the Communists shall become the beneficiaries of this revolt against injustice and privation. We intend to lead vigorously in that struggle. We will continue to back that intention with practical and concrete help.

In southeast Asia today, we are offering our hand and our abundance to those who seek to build a brighter future. The effort to create more progressive societies cannot wait for an ideal moment. It cannot wait until peace has been finally secured. We must move ahead now.

I know of no more urgent task ahead. It requires more of us, more

1 Department of State Bulletin, June 28, 1965, pp. 1055-1056. For the text of a statement by President Johnson read at a news conference at the White House on June 1 in reference to the message to Congress, see ibid., pp. 1054-1055.

of other prosperous nations, and more of the people of southeast Asia.

For our part, I propose that we expand our own economic assistance to the people of South Vietnam, Thailand, and Laos.

I propose we start now to make available our share of the money needed to harness the resources of the entire southeast Asia region for the benefit of all its people. This must be an international venture. That is why I have asked Mr. Eugene Black to consult with the United Nations Secretary General and the leaders of the poor and advanced nations. Our role will be vital, but we hope that all other industrialized nations, including the Soviet Union, will participate.

To support our own effort, I ask the Congress to authorize and appropriate for fiscal year 1966 an additional $89 million for the Agency for International Development for expanded programs of economic and social development in southeast Asia.

This money will serve many purposes:

1. Approximately $19 million will provide the first installment of our contribution to the accelerated development of the Mekong River Basin. This is an important part of the general program of regional development which I outlined at Johns Hopkins University on April 7. This money will enable us to meet a request for half the cost of building the Nam Ngum Dam, which the international Mekong Committee' has marked "Top Priority" if the Mekong River is to be put to work for the people of the region. This will be the

first Mekong power project to serve two countries, promising power to small industry and lights for thousands of homes in northeast Thailand and Laos. The funds will provide also for

powerlines across the Mekong, linking Laos and Thailand;

extensive studies of further hydroelectric, irrigation, and flood control projects on the Mekong main stream and its tributaries;

expansion of distribution lines in

Laos.

2. Five million dollars will be used to support electrification cooperatives near three provincial townsLong Xuyen, Dalat, and Nha Thang-in South Vietnam. Co-ops, which have been so important to the lives of our rural people, will bring the benefits of low-priced electricity to more than 200,000 Vietnamese. We hope this pattern can be duplicated in towns and villages throughout the region. I will ask that we provide further support if the pattern meets the success we believe possible.

3. Seven million dollars will help provide improved medical and surgical services, especially in the more remote areas of Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand. South Vietnam is tragically short of doctors; some 200 civilian physicians must care for a population of 15 million. In Laos the system of AID-supported village clinics and rural hospitals now reaches more than a million people. But that is not enough. We propose to extend the program in Laos, assist the Thailand Government to expand its public health services to thousands of rural villages, and to organize additional medical and surgical teams for sick and injured civilians in South Vietnam.

Better health is the first fruit of modern science. For the people of these countries it has far too long been an empty promise. I hope that when peace comes our medical assistance can be expanded and made available to the sick and wounded of the area without regard to political commitment.

the chance of the villager for markets, education, and access to public services depends on his getting a road. A nearby water well dramatically lightens the burdens of the farmer's wife. With these tools and skills local people can build their own schools and clinics-blessings only dreamed of before.

5. Approximately $45 million will be used to finance increasing imports of iron and steel, cement, chemicals and pesticides, drugs, trucks, and other essential goods necessary for a growing civilian economy. This money will allow factories not only to continue but, through investment, to expand production of both capital and consumer goods. It will provide materials for urgently needed low-cost housing. And it will maintain production incentives and avoid inflation. It is not easy for a small country, with a low income, to fight a war on its own soil and at the same time persist in the business of nation-building. The additional import support which I propose will help Vietnam to persevere in this difficult task.

6. An additional $7 million will supplement the present program of agricultural development and support additional government services in all three countries, and will help in the planning of further industrial expansion in the secure areas of Vietnam.

Much of the additional assistance I request is for Vietnam. This is not a poor and unfavored land. There is water and rich soil and ample natural resources. The people are patient, hard-working, the custodians of a proud and ancient civilization. They have been oppressed not by nature but by man. The failures of man can be redeemed. That is the purpose of the aid for which I now ask additional authorization.

We are defending the right of the people of South Vietnam to decide their own destiny. Where this right is attacked by force, we have no alternative but to reply with strength. But military action is not a final solution in this area; it is only a partial means to a much larger goal. Freedom and progress will be possible in Vietnam only as the people are assured that history is on their side that it will give them a chance to make a living in peace, to educate

4. Approximately $6 million will be used to train people for the construction of roads, dams, and other small-scale village projects in Thailand and Laos. In many parts of Asia