ALIEN GIVEWAY IN MANEUVERED

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP68-00046R000200020036-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 23, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 19, 2014
• Sequence Number: 36
• Publication Date: July 12, 1956
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

3TAT A cuTtvarON POS1
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release @ 50-Yr 2014/03/19: CIA-RDP68-00046R000200020036-7
he Washington Merry.Go.Round
?
?
Alien Giveaway
Maneuvered
By Drew Pearson
Some of the cleverest back-
stage lobbying in this session
of Congress has maneuvered a
bill for the, return of Germau
property , out ?
of the Senate.
Judiciary Corn-
itittee onto the
Senate consent
'calendar where
it inay sneak
by the entire
Senate.
It means a
?giveaway of
: half a billion
dollars, with
the. ?big Ger-
Man. cartels who manufactured
arms for Hitler being the chief
'beneficiaries:United States tax-
payers Will have ? to Make up
,the half billion.
In order to camouflage the
1German giveaway, the bill is
dressed ?up in some high-flown
language abaut compensating
nationals of the United States
who have war-damage claims.
And while farmer POWS do
get some _ benefit, the chief
benefit goes to I. G. Farben,
the giant Nazi "cartel, and the
former owners of American
Bosch, Schering, North Amer-
ican Rayon, and so folth.
Pearson
Declassified in Part
Polish Revolt ,
Here is some unwritten 'his-
tory regarding a previous revolt
behind the Iron Curtain which
may point to ways of helping
the people of Poland today. '
In June, 1953, immediately
after East Berlin" Workers
tackled Red' tanks with bottles
and bare hands, crying for food,
I suggested to Jimmie Riddle-
berger,? then in charge. of the
State Department's German
desk now, Arnbassador to Yugo-
slavia, and Gen. Beetle
Sinith?then Under Secretary of
ate, that/United States food
surpluses be given the hungry
rioters by private American
service groups.
The Lions, ICiwanis, Rotary
Clubs, I suggested, together
with the American ? Legion,
VFW, AMVETS, Junior Cham-
bers of Commerce, would prob-
ably, be delighted to help fi-
nance the purchase and dis-
tribution of surplus fOod.- If
the offer was turned down, then
East Berliners; with no bound-
ary to worry about, couldtome
across to'West Berlin and pick
up the rood themselves.
I also figured, this proposal
would be right down the Eisen-
hower Administration alley be-
cause it had been talking so
much about private enterprise
and keeping the Government
out of private enterprise.
Lions Clubs Beady
It so happened that the Inter-
national Lions Clubs were hold-
ing-their annual cOnVerition in
Chicago at that time and they
authorized the to make a con-
crete propoSal for the plirchase
of' surplus wheat and butter
which Secretary Benson had
running out of his ears.
So I wed down to see Secre-
tary Benson. He brought in
five ef his top executives. They
were polite, cordial, noncom-
mittaL
"The exeeative. nf flies T
- Sanitized Copy Approved
International," I explained
"are ready .to buy. your wheat
at the same support price you
paid for it?$2.60 a bushel?and'
butter for the support price
you paid-60 cents a *pound.
They would like to take deliv-
ery immediately?this week MI
West Berlin. The State De-
partment informs me that you
already have ? a large supply
there so that.all you need do is
to send a cable to' release it
there."
I stressed the need for speed,
the fact that now was the
psychological time to show that
individual Americans were
eager to help individual rebels
against communism. I suggested
that it was much better to
have groups of Americans oper-
ate than the Government, be-
cause East Germans distrusted
governments. They did not
distrust people.
"Will you write me a letter
about this?" requested- Seemary Benson.
"I have already written one,"
I said, and pulled it out of my
pocket.
Days passed?a total of three
weeks. No word from Benson.;
Finally, ?Riddleberger phoned
to. say that he had taken $15
million out of the State Depart-1
rnent budget to ,offer food ' to
the 'East Berliners.
The State Department drafted
an official announcement' and!
President Eisenhower signed it.'
It was 'a fine gesture, and good
politics here at home. But part
of the bloom was off the rose.
By that time it was July. The
riots were over. And the of-
ficial announcement 'by. the
United States Government was
interpreted abroad as a pure
propaganda gesture. It won us
no friends.
Balloons to Poland.
This unwritten history
told now for one reason only?
the recent revolt in Poznan,
Poland. .
This ,fime .the _State Depart-
ment, acting more wisely, had,
the American Red Cross offer!
to send food to the Poles. The
Red Cross, though organized
under the wing of the United
States Government, is-viot the
Government. The offer ' was
-
turned down.- -
However; it is still .not too
late for groups of patriotic
Americans to offer food td the
Poles. If the offer is turned
down, it is still not toe late
to send the food in small 'pack-
ages by balloon. The Crusade
for Freedom has been sending
balloon messages into Poland
ever since we inaugurated the
idea from West Berlin in the
summer of 1951.
(Copyright. 1956. Bell Syndicate. Inc.)
?
for Release @ 50-Yr 2014/03/19: CIA-RDP68-00046R000200020036-7