National Committee on Food for the Small Democracies.

Historical Note

The presidential election over, we determined that the only way relief could be brought to the women, children, and destitute in the small democracies was to awaken public opinion in the neutral countries to the inconsequential dangers from our proposals. Both the British and Germans were sensitive to neutral opinions. They needed actual support from the neutrals, or at least the continued neutrality of these nations.

To the end that the lives of millions of children, women and men can be saved from the inevitable famine and pestilence which confront them, and that renewed hope may be given to them in the ideals of mankind.

I was asking for no gifts, no government appropriations, no use of American ships.

The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, brought the United States into the war. Our relief organization had been repudiated by the exiled governments. Now at war, we could not act without the approval of our own government. Our National Committe on Food for the Small Democracies decided to suspend activities, but to resume if opportunity came. We sent word to the exiled governments that, now free from any embarrassment from us, they should secure permission directly to relieve their people at home.

But they got no relief.

It was not until three and one-half years later, when Mr. Truman became President in April, 1945, that American Government policies changed and became compassionate about relief of famine. From Herbert Hoover, An American Epic, Vol. IV)

From the guide to the National Committee on Food for the Small Democracies Records, 1939-1946, (Hoover Institution Archives)