REBUFF TO PRESIDENT

Press, Volume XCVI, Issue 28359, 19 August 1957, Page 11

REBUFF TO PRESIDENT

Press View Of Cuts

(Rec. 11 pjn.) WASHINGTON, August 17. The American press without exception is now describing the foreign aid vote as a political disaster for the President and his gravest challenge to date. Not since the days of the Suez crisis last October have so many black streamer headlines appeared on the front pages, proclaiming “Ike’s Appeals Ignored,*’ •president Defied,” and “Eisenhower Suffers Major Defeat.” Officials of the International Co - operation Administration (LOA-). the United States Government department which handles foreign aid, last night painted a dark picture of the effects if the Senate should fail to boost the appropriation. They said the cuts v'ould mean that the United States could not compete with Soviet offers of assistance in such vital areas as the Middle East. The entire planned aid programmes for some countries would have to be

dropped. The cuts made by the House of Representatives represented money that would be used to build air fields, maintain the existing forces of other countries, replace equipment and provide credit to some countries for military equipment It also would provide for modernising existing forces. An LCA. official said the cuts would mean that such weapons as Nike missiles, and other types of new equipment planned for N.A.T.O. and other countries would have to be dropped. The cuts made by the House, the official said, would also have one or two results in Korea, Formosa, Vietnam, Pakistan and Turkey—a substantial reduction in forces, or severe economic deterioration. The cut in special assistance funds, the spokesmen said, would hamper the LCA. in meeting special problems and emergencies in such countries as Jordan and warding off Soviet attempts to move into some countries. These funds also were designed to aid refugees and to help meet disaster emergencies in some countries.