For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office
Washington, D.C. 20402

JOHN J. BRADY, Jr., Chief of Staff
(II)

1956.

Foreword

12th in a series of volumes based on transcripts of xecutive sessions of the House Committee on Foreign g the period beginning in 1943 and dealing with storical interest. The first eight volumes in this series eriod 1943-50. The succeeding volumes, IX through ich this is the fourth, will carry the series through

The hearings in this volume continue the committee's discussion of the Mutual Security Program. The first group took place in June 1954 and were "markup" sessions on the Mutual Security Act of 1954. In the foreword to volume XI, I noted that to the reader markup sessions may appear to be complex, and even tedious, and include references, sometimes obscure, to previous, related legislation. They not only indicate the complexity of the legislative process, however, but also the fundamental cooperative attitude which has been a hallmark of American legislative procedures. There is a great deal of give-and-take in the sessions and clear evidence of differences, but there is little of the pervading obstructionism which has contributed to the stagnation or downfall of attempts at representative government in so many other parts of the world.

Volume XII also includes two conference committee sessions (meetings of Senate-House conferees to reconcile differences between the two bodies on the language of the legislation), pertinent supporting documents, and the first group of the committee's executive session hearings on the Mutual Security Act of 1955. As I indicated in forewords to the previous volumes, I see the materials presented in the historical series as reflecting an important segment of the experiences which have helped give Congress-during a period of crucial changes throughout the world—the requisite background for increasingly effective participation with the Executive in development of our Nation's foreign policies.