Лизе no.19 The Program Of the Department of State Reprinted from the "Department of State Appropriation Bustin, Taxe The Program of the Department of State I. DIRECT ACTIVITIES The direct activities of the Department's program of cultural relations have been centered on three principal objectives: The administration of travel grants; the carrying out of the provisions of the Buenos Aires Convention for the Promotion of Inter-American Cultural Relations; and the organization of a system of interchange of educational motion pictures. A. TRAVEL GRANTS Travel grants were made possible through the approval by the President, on June 27, 1940, of the Second Deficiency Appropriation Act, fiscal year 1940. A fund of $69,000 was set aside to be used for the traveling expenses of advisory committees in connection with the work of the Division of Cultural Relations, and for travel grants to distinguished leaders and to professors and students coming to the United States from the other American republics, and vice versa. When the Congress approved the appropriation for travel grants, a comprehensive memorandum of the expenditure of the sum appropriated was drawn up with suggestions for the allocation of funds. This memorandum was submitted to the other interested divisions of the Department and was also submitted for consideration to the General Advisory Committee on Cultural Relations of the Department. The allocation of these grants falls into four categories: (1) Travel grants to leaders from the other American republics. The purpose of these travel grants has been to enable approximately 30 outstanding persons from the other American republics to come to the United States for a period of travel and observation of from 2 to 3 months. In preparing the lists of persons to whom the grants were to be awarded, preference was given to individuals who had either never been in the United States or who had visited this country some years ago; to those whose primary interests lay in the fields of the humanities and social sciences; and to persons who, in all probability, would, upon their return to their own countries, engage in writing and speaking on the basis of their experience and work in the United States. The list of persons to whom grants were to be offered was prepared by the Division of Cultural Relations, in collaboration with American diplomatic missions in the other American republics, with the Committee on Latin-American Studies of the American Council of Learned Societies, and with the General Advisory Committee. The method employed for preparing the list of possible grantees was as follows: The Division of Cultural Relations drew up a tentative list of persons from each of the other American republics. This list was modified and changed after consultation with the Division of the American Republics and was subsequently transmitted to the American diplomatic missions for their suggestions and recommendations. Finally, the list of names thus obtained was submitted for the consideration of the General Advisory Committee and the Committee on Latin-American Studies, with the request that they give their recommendations as to the order in which the persons selected should be invited. After all of these preliminary steps had been taken, the American diplomatic missions in the other American republics were requested to approach the persons listed to ascertain whether or not they would be able to accept the invitation to visit the United States. When the grantees had been chosen and had accepted, it was then necessary to make arrangements for them to visit the universities and organizations which offered the best opportunities for study in the particular field of the individual grantee. Furthermore, it was necessary to obtain the cooperation of these universities and organizations in order to assure the success of the project. In this connection officers of the Division of Cultural Relations were assigned to visit universities throughout the Middle West and South for consultation with (1) |