For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS THOMAS E. MORGAN, Pennsylvania, Chairman CLEMENT J. ZABLOCKI, Wisconsin L. H. FOUNTAIN, North Carolina DONALD W. RIEGLE, JR., Michigan CARDISS COLLINS, Illinois GERRY E. STUDDS, Massachusetts WILLIAM S. BROOMFIELD, Michigan BENJAMIN A. GILMAN, New York ROBERT J. LAGOMARSINO, California MARIAN A. CZARNECKI, Chief of Staff (II) Chairman's Foreword to the Historical Series This is the first of a series of volumes which will present hitherto unpublished transcripts of selected hearings of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs (now the Committee on International Relations). The transcripts cover the period of the latter part of World War II and the early postwar years. They were selected for their relevance to significant foreign policy and international relations developments during that period. The committee had in mind several aims when it decided to publish the transcripts. We think they will be of interest, first, because during the period covered in these hearings, the committee. participated in such major undertakings as: The development of policy concerning the future of Palestine, extension of lend-lease, assistance to Greece and Turkey under the Truman doctrine, the Inter-American Military Cooperation Act, the Interim Aid Act of 1947, the Foreign Assistance Act of 1948 (the Marshall plan and related economic assistance programs), extension of the European recovery program, the Mutual Defense Assistance Act of 1949 and its extension, and programs of economic and military assistance to Korea and China. The committee also feels that publication of this series will constitute a significant contribution to commemoration of our Nation's bicentennial. Congress has played a major role in the development of America's foreign policy throughout the 200 years of our country's existence. During the first 13 years of our life as a Nation, first as the Continental Congress, and then under the Articles of Confederation, Congress not only determined our foreign policy but executed it. Even before the Declaration of Independence, Congress was involved in foreign affairs as the colonies sought assistance from abroad in their struggle with Great Britain to retain the rights of self-government they had long been exercising. |