Letter Accepting Resignation of Chester Bowles as Director of Economic Stabilization.

Dear Chet:

Now that the Senate has taken the legislative action which you forecast in your letter of this date I have no alternative but to accept your resignation as Director of the Office of Economic Stabilization, effective at the close of business on July tenth next.

Deeply as I regret to see you leave the Administration I can sympathize heartily with the reasons which impel you to this step. I accede to your request most reluctantly. I am mindful of your desire to leave Washington, often expressed since V-E Day, and appreciate your self-sacrifice in remaining at your difficult post as long as you did.

Your action in submitting your resignation before the Senate had acted is an emphatic answer to the fantastic charge of spokesmen for selfish interests that you sought extension of the Price Control Bill in order to perpetuate yourself in office.

In expressing my deep regret at your leaving the Government, I know that I am merely adding my voice to one much greater--the voice of the American people. The people of this country know how conscientiously and faithfully you have worked to protect their interests both during the war and during the transition from war to peace.

They know that under your leadership, the Office of Price Administration and the Office of Economic Stabilization have been a powerful bulwark against the forces in our economy which might long since have destroyed the security and the hopes of millions of workers and their families. They know your personal fearlessness and integrity, which time and again you demonstrated in speaking out vigorously for the basic principles of this Administration.

In accepting your resignation I want to assure you, and at the same time every American, that this Administration will never give up the fight. We shall continue the battle against inflation with every weapon at our disposal, and shall not rest until this country has reached permanent high levels of production, prosperity and employment.

The hope that you may remain in public life as a champion of the principles of this Administration, and the assurance that I may continue to call upon you from time to time for counsel, will be some consolation for the loss of so tireless and effective a public servant as you have been over a period of more than three difficult years.

With every good wish.

Very sincerely yours,

HARRY S. TRUMAN

[Honorable Chester Bowles, Director, Office of Economic Stabilization, Washington, D.C.]