FITZGERALD, DENNIS A.: Papers, 1945-69

DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER LIBRARY ABILENE, KANSAS FITZGERALD, DENNIS A.: Papers, 1945-69 Processed by: DJH/KR Date Completed: March 1992, November 1995 and May 1997 On May 29, 1973 Dennis A. FitzGerald agreed to donate his personal papers to the Eisenhower Library and on that date signed an instrument of gift for his papers. The Eisenhower Library received the FitzGerald Papers on August 17, 1973. On November 9, 1994, the Library received an accretion to these papers totaling almost 10,500 pages. One additional published report was received on May 19, 1997. Linear feet of shelf space: 17 Approximate number of pages: 40,700 Approximate number of items: 30,000 Mr. FitzGerald assigned literary property rights in his unpublished writings in these papers and in other collections of papers in the Eisenhower Library to the people of the United States. By agreement with the donor the following classes of documents will be withheld from research use: 1. Material relating to the personal, family and confidential business affairs of the donor or of persons who have had correspondence with him. 2. Material relating to investigations of individuals and organizations, to proposed appointments to office, or to other personnel matters. 3. Material containing statements made by or to the donor in confidence, unless in the judgment of the Director the reason for the confidentiality no longer exists. 4. All other material which contains information or statements that might be used to embarrass, damage, injure, or harass any living person. 5. Material containing statements or information the divulgence of which might prejudice the conduct of foreign relations of the United States of America. 6. Materials which are security classified pursuant to law or executive order, or which contain information the public release of which would adversely affect the security of the United States of America. SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE The Papers of Dennis A. FitzGerald, agricultural economist and marketing specialist, food consultant, United States Government official, and research scholar with Brookings Institution, span the period from 1940 to 1969 but the bulk of the collection falls into the years from 1951 to 1966. Dennis Alfred FitzGerald was born on January 1, 1903 in Grenfell, Saskatchewan, Canada. After attending various grade schools in Saksatchewan and British Columbia FitzGerald graduated from Grenfell High School in 1919. He received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Saskatchewan in 1924 before coming to the United States and receiving a Master’s Degree from Iowa State College of Agriculture in 1925. For the next few years FitzGerald remained on the staff at Iowa State College as an agricultural economist and marketing specialist. He married Ina E. Burns in 1928 and in 1932 he took time off to work on his doctorate at Harvard University. At Harvard FitzGerald participated in a Brookings Institution sponsored study of agriculture during the New Deal, (he would have more contacts with Brookings in the future), and three years after becoming a naturalized citizen in 1935, FitzGerald received his Ph.D. from Harvard University. FitzGerald began his service with the United States Government in 1935 when he became head of the Economic and Research Section, North Central Division, Bureau of Agricultural Economics, U.S. Department of Agriculture. For the next several years FitzGerald held many positions within the Department of Agriculture and gained administrative experience plus exposure to the problems of food distribution in a war ravaged world. In 1946 he accompanied former President Herbert Hoover on a world trip to survey the food situation in various countries. Upon his return, FitzGerald served for the next couple of years as Secretary General, International Emergency Food Council, a United Nations agency composed of representatives of 32 countries interested in dealing with worldwide food shortages during the years following World War II. In 1948 the United States began implementing a massive program of economic assistance to Europe in order to support European recovery from the losses of World War II. This program, popularly known as the Marshall Plan, impacted significantly on Dennis FitzGerald’s career. Paul Hoffman, Director of the Economic Cooperation Administration, the agency established to administer Marshall Plan programs, asked FitzGerald to help organize the Agricultural Division of the Economic Cooperation Administration. Thus began FitzGerald’s 16 year career as an administrator of United States Government foreign assistance programs. Over the years the name of the agency responsible for these programs changed from Economic Cooperation Administration to the Mutual Security Administration; then it became the Foreign Operations Administration followed by the International Cooperation Administration until finally, in 1961 the Kennedy Administration established the Agency For International Development which currently administers foreign economic assistance programs. FitzGerald served in important positions through all of these changes in agency name and presidential administrations until the fall of 1961 when he was removed by Fowler Hamilton, President Kennedy’s first head of the Agency for International Development. During these years FitzGerald was primarily an administrator who from 1955 on had the operational responsibility of his agency. In this capacity he exercised broad supervision of United States overseas missions and instructed each mission to submit draft programs for each fiscal year. He provided continuity within an agency characterized by frequent changes at the top level. Although a professionally trained agricultural economist with years of administrative experience with foreign aid programs, FitzGerald was also a political appointee and thus subject to the fate of holdover political appointees who are normally replaced by an incoming presidential administration wanting to pick its own people to carry out its policies and programs. While he was shuffled out of his position as Deputy Director of Operations after the creation of the new Agency for International Development in 1961, FitzGerald retained his connections with the Agency as a consultant to Fowler Hamilton until December, 1962. Meanwhile, in September 1962 he joined the Senior Staff of Brookings Institution as a research scholar and remained at Brookings until 1966. While at Brookings FitzGerald conducted research on issues involving foreign economic assistance, participated in Council on Foreign Relations discussions and in the spring of 1963 served as a consultant for the United Nations Special Fund which provided development assistance to Indonesia. In July 1966 FitzGerald became Vice President of Checci and Company in Washington, DC. He retired in June 1972 and moved to Tarpon Springs, Florida. On September 15, 1994 FitzGerald died in Tarpon Springs at the age of 91. In summary, Dennis A. FitzGerald was a professional agricultural economist whose knowledge of food distribution gave him the opportunity to serve the United States Government in many capacities. He assisted Herbert Hoover in surveying economic conditions in 38 countries and reported to Secretary of War James Forrestal on the food situation in Germany. After working for the International Emergency Food Council, FitzGerald was one of the first people selected by Paul Hoffman to start the Marshall Plan programs. As a top administrator in the United States Government’s agency responsible for foreign aid, FitzGerald contributed continuity, experience and a practical approach in developing assistance programs. He insisted that money and other assistance be provided countries only if they needed it and then, be spent for economically sound projects and not merely to maintain “good” relations with various countries. He criticized the Department of State for spending money for foreign relations purposes without having economic justification for doing so. He thought that countries’ wants often differed from their needs and that less developed countries needed to work on basic education and agricultural development. Such countries should not be deluded by the lures of “instant modernization.” The Papers of Dennis A. FitzGerald are organized into ten series and consist of approximately 40,000 pages. The papers contain little information on FitzGerald’s personal life or on his activities prior to 1946 and after 1968. There are gaps in the record of his official career as well. For example, FitzGerald’s role in the early days of the Marshall Plan (1948-50) is covered primarily in his file of public statements and news clippings and the chronological reading file spanning the period from 1951 to 1961 is missing a few folders. Nevertheless, this detailed series of memoranda along with the extensive file of memoranda of telephone conversations covering the period from 1951-1961 provide a record of the daily “nuts and bolts” operations of the United States Government’s foreign assistance programs. The small but significant file of materials covering his famine relief activities during the post-World War II period should be useful to anyone studying European recovery and its background during these years. FitzGerald’s collection of radio broadcast and press conference transcripts, speeches, newsclippings, and his memoranda on foreign assistance program organization should be examined by anyone researching the Marshall Plan. Finally, the numerous studies, reports, Council on Foreign Relations study group

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