Memoranda on Combined Production and Resources Board and Combined Food Board

Memorandum to Mr. Donald Nelson:

In order to complete the organization needed for the most effective use of the combined resources of the United States and the United Kingdom for the prosecution of the war, there is hereby established a Combined Production and Resources Board.

1. The Board shall consist of the Chairman of the War Production Board, representing the United States, and the Minister of Production, representing the United Kingdom.

2. The Board shall:

(a) Combine the production programs of the United States and the United Kingdom into a single integrated program, adjusted to the strategic requirements of the war, as indicated to the Board by the Combined Chiefs of Staff, and to all relevant production factors. In this connection, the Board shall take account of the need for maximum utilization of the productive resources available to the United States, the British Commonwealth of Nations, and the United Nations, the need to reduce demands on shipping to a minimum, and the essential needs of the civilian populations.

(b) In close collaboration with the Combined Chiefs of Staff, assure the continuous adjustment of the combined production program to meet changing military requirements.

3. To this end, the Combined Chiefs of Staff and the Combined Munitions Assignments Board shall keep the Combined Production and Resources Board currently informed concerning military requirements, and the Combined Production and Resources Board shall keep the Combined Chiefs of Staff and the Combined Munitions Assignments Board currently informed concerning the facts and possibilities of production.

4. To facilitate continuous operation, the members of the Board shall each appoint a Deputy; and the Board shall form a combined staff. The Board shall arrange for such conferences among United States and United Kingdom personnel as it may from time to time deem necessary or appropriate to study particular production needs; and utilize the Joint War Production Staff in London, the Combined Raw Materials Board, the Joint Aircraft Committee, and other existing combined or national agencies for war production in such manner and to such extent as it shall deem necessary.

Memorandum to Secretary Claude Wickard:

By virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and as President of the United States, and acting jointly and in full accord with the Prime Minister of Great Britain, I hereby authorize, on the part of the Government of the United States, the creation of a joint Great Britain-United States board to be known as the Combined Food Board.

In order to coordinate further the prosecution of the war effort by obtaining a planned and expeditious utilization of the food resources of the United Nations, there is hereby established a Combined Food Board.

The Board will be composed of the Secretary of Agriculture and of the Head of the British Food Mission who will represent and act under the instruction of the Minister of Food.

The duties of the Board shall be:

To consider, investigate, inquire into, and formulate plans with regard to any question in respect of which the Governments of the U.S.A. and the U.K. have, or may have, a common concern, relating to the supply, production, transportation, disposal, allocation, or distribution, in or to any part of the world, of foods, agricultural materials from which foods are derived, and equipment and non-food materials ancillary to the production of such foods and agricultural materials, and to make recommendations to the Governments of the U.S.A. and the U.K. in respect of any such question.

To work in collaboration with others of the United Nations toward the best utilization of their food resources, and, in collaboration with the interested Nation or Nations, to formulate plans and recommendations for the development, expansion, purchase, or other effective use of their food resources.

The Board shall be entitled to receive from any agency of the Government of the United States and any department of the Government of the United Kingdom any information available to such agency or department relating to any matter with regard to which the Board is competent to make recommendations to those Governments, and in principle, the entire food resources of Great Britain and the United States will be deemed to be in a common pool, about which the fullest information will be interchanged.