An Act making appropriations for mutual security for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1956, and for other purposes
PL 84-208 (H.R.7224), enacted 08/02/1955

69 S T A T . ] 
PUBLIC LAW 208-AUG. 2, 1955 
435 
Public Law 208 
CHAPTER 491 
AN ACT 
Makiug appropriations for Mutual Security for the fiscal year ending June 30, 
1956, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted hy the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled^ That the following 
sums are appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury not other-
wise appropriated, for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1956, namely: 
August 2, 1955 
[H. R. 7224] 
Mutual 
Security 
Appropriation Act, 
1956. 
MUTUAL SECURITY 
For expenses necessary to enable the President to carry out the 
provisions of the Mutual Security Act of 1954, as amended (Public 
Law 665, approved August 26, 1954, as amended by Public Law 138, 
Eighty-fourth Congress), as follows: 
Military assistance: For assistance authorized by section 103 (a) 
(2), including not to exceed $23,250,000 for administrative expenses 
to carry out the purposes of title I, chapter 1, and section 124, 
$705,000,000, of which $122,000,000 shall be available for infrastructure 
as authorized by section 104 (a) ; and in addition not to exceed 
$33,900,000 of unobligated and unreserved funds heretofore appro-
priated under authority of section 103 (a) (1) of the Mutual Security 
Act of 1954, as amended, are continued available until June 30, 1956, 
for the purposes of section 103 (a) (2) ; 
Direct forces support: For assistance authorized by section 124, 
$305,000,000 and in addition $12,200,000 for additional assistance to 
Formosa and Thailand; 
Defense support, Europe: For assistance authorized by section 131 
(c) (1), $85,500,000: Provided, That at least $50,000,000, on a grant 
basis, shall be made aA^ailable for assistance to Spain exclusive of 
Technical Exchange: Provided further, That not less than $22,000,000 
of the amount available for Spain shall be used for agricultural 
commodities; 
Defense support. Near East and Africa: For assistance authorized 
by section 131 (c) (2), $113,700,000 including not less than $26,200,000 
for assistance to Greece; 
Defense support, Asia: For assistance authorized by section 131 
(c) (3), $800,000,000; and in addition not to exceed $25,000,000 of 
unobligated balances of funds heretofore appropriated under author-
ity of section 121 of the Mutual Security Act of 1954, as amended, are 
hereby continued available through June 30, 1956; 
Development assistance. Near East and Africa: For assistance au-
thorized by section 201 (c) for purposes of section 201 (a) (1), 
$73,000,000; 
Development assistance, Asia: For assistance authorized by section 
201 (c) for purposes of section 201 (a) (2), $51,000,000; 
Development assistance, American Republics and non-self-governing 
territories of the Western Hemisphere: For assistance authorized by 
section 201 (c) for purposes of section 201 (a) (3), $38,000,000; 
Technical cooperation, general authorization: For assistance au-
thorized by section 304 (b), $127,500,000; 
United Nations expanded program of technical assistance: For con-
tributions authorized by section 306 (a), $24,000,000, which shall con-
stitute the total United States contribution through December 31, 
1956; 
Technical cooperation programs of the Organization of American 
States: For contributions authorized by section 306 (b), $1,500,000; 
68 Stat. 832. 
22 u s e 
1 7 5 1 
note. 
Ante, 
p. 283. 
Ante, 
p. 283. 
Ante, 
p. 284. 
22 u s e 1814. 
Ante, 
p. 284. 
Ante, 
p. 284. 
Ante, 
p. 284. 
Ante, 
p. 284. 
Ante, 
p. 284. 
Ante, 
p. 285. 
Ante, 
p. 285. 
Ante, 
p. 285. 
Ante, p. 285. 
Ante, 
p. 285. 
Ante, 
p . 286. 
436 
PUBLIC LAW 208-AUG. 2, 1955 
[69 
S T A T . 
Ante, p. 286. 
Ante, p. 286. 
22 u s e 1925. 
Ante, p. 286. 
Ante, p. 286. 
Ante, p. 286. 
Ante, p. 286. 
22 u s e 1928. 
Ante, p. 286. 
Ante, p. 287. 
Ante, p. 287. 
Ante, p. 287. 
Ante, p. 287. 
68 Stat. 830. 
31 u s e 200. 
Special Presidential Fund: For assistance authorized by section 401 
(b), $100,000,000; 
Special assistance in joint control areas in Europe: For assistance 
authorized by section 403 (b), $21,000,000; 
Intergovernmental Committee for European Migration; For con-
tributions authorized by section 405 (a), $12,500,000: Provided^ That 
no funds appropriated in this Act shall be used to assist directly in the 
migration to any nation in the Western Hemisphere of any person 
not having a security clearance based on reasonable standards to in-
sure against Communist infiltration in the Western Hemisphere; 
United Nations Refugee Fund: For contributions authorized by 
section 405 (c), $1,200,000; 
Escapee program: For assistance authorized bv section 405 (d), 
$6,000,000; 
United Nations Children's Fund: For contributions authorized by 
section 406 (b), $14,500,000, which shall constitute the total United 
States contribution through December 31,1956; 
United Nations Relief and Works Agency: For contributions author-
ized by section 407 (b), $58,366,750; and in addition not to exceed 
$3,633,250 of the unobligated balances of funds appropriated under 
the head "Palestine Refugee Program" in the Mutual Security Appro-
priation Act, 1954, are continued available through June 30,1956, for 
the purposes authorized by section 407; 
North Atlantic Treaty Organization: For payments authorized by 
section 408, $3,700,000; 
Ocean freight charges. United States voluntary relief agencies: For 
payments authorized by section 409 (c), $2,000,000; 
Ocean freight charges, surplus agricultural commodities: For pay-
ments authorized by section 409 (d), $13,000,000; 
Control Act expenses: For carrying out the purposes of the Mutual 
Defense Assistance Control Act of 1951, as authorized by section 
410, $1,175,000; 
Administrative expenses: For expenses authorized by section 411, 
$33,500,000; 
President's Fund for Asian Economic Development: For the Presi-
dent's Fund for Asian Economic Development as authorized by 
section 418 (b), $100,000,000 to remain available until June 30, 1958. 
Funds appropriated under each paragraph of this Act (other than 
appropriations under the head of military assistance), including speci-
fied amounts of unobligated balances, and amounts certified pursuant 
to section 1311 of the Supplemental Appropriation Act, 1955, as having 
been obligated against appropriations heretofore made for the same 
general purpose as such paragraph, which amounts are hereby con-
tinued available during the fiscal year 1956, may be consolidated in 
one account for each paragraph. 
2 2 u s e 
1 8 3 1-
1937. 
Ante, 
pp. 284-
288. 
35 Stat. 1027. 
GENERAL PROVISIONS 
SEC. 102. Appropriations in this Act for the purposes of chapters 
2 (except for section 124) and 3 of title I and titles II, I I I , and IV 
of the Mutual Security Act of 1954, as amended, and allocations to 
the Department of State, from any other appropriations, for func-
tions directly related to the purposes of the Mutual Security Act of 
1954, as amended, or for use by the International Cooperation Admin-
istration for other purposes authorized by law shall be available for 
rents in the District of Columbia; expenses of attendance at meetings 
concerned with the purposes of such appropriations, including (not-
withstanding the provision of section 9 of the Act of March 4, 1909 
(31 U. S. C. 673)), expenses in connection with meetings of persons 
69 
S T A T . ] 
PUBLIC LAW 208-AUG. 2, 1955 
4S7 
whose employment is authorized by section 530 of the Mutual Security 
Act of 1954, as amended; employment of aliens, by contract, for 
services abroad; maintenance, operation, and hire of aircraft; pur-
chase (not to exceed two for replacement only) and hire of passenger 
motor vehicles and, in addition, passenger motor vehicles abroad 
may be exchanged or sold and replaced by an equal number of such 
vehicles and the cost, including the exchange allowance, of each 
such replacement shall not exceed $3,000 in the case of an automobile 
for the chief of any special mission or staff abroad established under 
section 526 of the Mutual Security Act of 1954, as amended; enter-
tainment within the United States (not to exceed $15,000) ; exchange 
of funds without regard to section 3651 of the Kevised Statutes (31 
U. S. C. 543); loss by exchange; expenditures (not to exceed $50,000) 
of a confidential character other than entertainment, provided that 
a certificate of the amount of each such expenditure, the nature of 
which it is considered inadvisable to specify, shall be made by the 
Secretary of State, or such person as he may designate, and every 
such certificate shall be deemed a sufficient voucher for the amount 
therein specified; insurance of official motor vehicles in foreign coun-
tries; rental of quarters outside the continental limits of the United 
States to house employees of the United States Government (without 
regard to section 322 of the Act of June 30, 1932, as amended (40 
U. S. C. 278a)), lease, necessary repairs and alterations to quarters; 
actual expenses of preparing and transporting to their former homes 
in the United States or elsewhere the remains of persons or members 
of the families of persons who may die while such persons are away 
from their homes participating in activities under the Mutual Security 
Act of 1954, as amended, or other Act directly related to the purposes 
of the Mutual Security Act of 1954, as amended; purchase of uni-
forms; employment of chauffeurs for passenger carrying vehicles 
abroad notwithstanding the provisions of any other law; medical 
examinations of dependents of overseas personnel or candidates for 
overseas positions on the same basis as for employees or candidates; 
payment of per diem in lieu of subsistence to persons participating 
in any program of furnishing technical information and assistance, 
while in countries other than their own and other than the continental 
United States, at rates not in excess of those prescribed by the Stand-
ardized Government Travel Regulations, notwithstanding section 107 
of the Department of State Appropriation Act, 1956; expenses author-
ized by the Foreign Service Act of 1946, as amended (22 U. S. C. 
801-1158), not otherwise provided for; ice and drinking water for 
use abroad; and services of commissioned officers of the Public Health 
Service and of the Coast and Geodetic Survey, and for the purposes 
of providing such services the Public Health Service may appoint 
not to exceed twenty officers in the Regular Corps to grades above 
that of senior assistant, but not above that of director, as otherwise 
authorized in accordance with section 711 of the Act of July 1, 1944, 
as amended (42 U. S. C. 211a), and the Coast and Geodetic Survey 
may appoint for such purposes not to exceed twenty commissioned 
officers in addition to those otherwise authorized: Provided, That no 
part of the administrative expenses shall be used to pay the salary 
of any civilian employee at a rate greater than that paid by the State 
Department for comparable work or services in the same area: Pro-
vided further, That appropriations made under this Act shall be avail-
able for expenses in connection with travel of personnel outside the 
continental United States, including travel of dependents and trans-
portation of personal effects, household goods, or automobiles of such 
personnel when any part of such travel or transportation begins in 
the current fiscal year pursuant to travel orders issued in that fiscal 
Ante, p. 289. 
Ante, p. 289. 
47 Stat. 412. 
22 u s e 
1 7 5 1 
note. 
Ante, p. 283. 
Ante, p. 270. 
60 Stat. 999. 
62 Stat. 47. 
S a l a r y restric-
tion. 
Travel expenses. 
438 
PUBLIC LAW 208-AUG. % 1955 
[69 S T A T . 
E n g i n e e rl n g 
f e e s ; r e p o r t to 
Congress. 
66 Stat. 662. 
31 u s e 724. 
65 Stat. 373. 
22 u s e 
165 1 
note. 
Foreign d e b t s , 
restriction. 
R e s t r i ction on 
obligations. 
A v a i l a b i l i t y of 
funds, etc. 
Funds allocated 
to Defense Depart-
ment. 
Accoimting, etc. 
year, notwithstanding the fact that such travel or transportation may 
not be completed during the current fiscal year, and cost of trans-
porting to and from a place of storage, and the cost of storing, the 
furniture and household and personal effects of any employee who is 
assigned to a post at which he is unable to use his furniture and effects, 
under such regulations as the Secretary of State, or such person as 
he may designate, may prescribe: Provided further, That no part of 
any appropriation contained in this Act shall be available for expense 
of transportation, packing, crating, temporary storage, drayage, and 
unpacking of household goods and personal effects in excess of an 
average of five thousand pounds net but not exceeding nine thousand 
pounds net in any one shipment, but the limitations imposed herein 
shall not be applicable in the case of employees transferred to or 
serving in stations outside the continental United States under orders 
relieving them from a duty station within the United States prior 
to August 1,1953. 
SEC. 103. Payments made from funds appropriated herein for en-
gineering fees and services to any individual engineering firm on any 
one project in excess of $25,000 shall be reported to the Committees on 
Appropriations of the Senate and House of Representatives at least 
twice annually. 
SEC. 104. Pursuant to section 1415 of the Supplemental Appropria-
tion Act, 1953, and in addition to other amounts made available pur-
suant to said section, not to exceed the equivalent of $25,000,000 of 
foreign currencies or credits owed to or owned by the United States 
shall remain available until June 30, 1956, without reimbursement to 
the Treasury, for liquidation of obligations incurred against such cur-
rencies or credits prior to July 1,1953, pursuant to authority contained 
in the Mutual Security Act of 1951, as amended, and Acts for which 
funds were authorized by that Act and hereafter, foreign currencies 
generated under the provisions of this Act shall be utilized only for 
the purposes for which the funds providing the commodities which 
generated the currency were appropriated. 
SEC. 105. None of the funds provided by this Act nor any of the 
counterpart funds generated as a result of assistance under this or any 
other Act shall be used to make payments on account of the principal or 
interest on any debt of any foreign government or on any loan made 
to such government by any other foreign government; nor shall any of 
these funds be expended for any purpose for which funds have been 
withdrawn by any recipient country to make payment on such debts. 
SEC. 106. Not more than 20 per centum of any funds made available 
by this Act shall be obligated and/or reserved during the last two 
months of the fiscal year. 
SEC. 107. The appropriations, authorizations, and authority with 
respect thereto in this Act shall be available from July 1, 1955, for 
the purposes provided in such appropriations, authorizations, and 
authority. All obligations incurred during the period between June 
30,1955, and the date of enactment of this Act in anticipation of such 
appropriations, authorizations, and authority are hereby ratified and 
confirmed if in accordance with the terms hereof. 
SEC. 108. Funds heretofore or hereafter allocated to the Department 
of Defense from any appropriation for military assistance (including 
funds consolidated with any such appropriation but excepting funds 
obligated directly against any such appropriation for offshore pro-
curement or other purposes) shall be accounted for by geographic area 
and by country solely on the basis of the value of materials delivered 
and services performed (such value to be determined in accordance 
with the applicable provisions of law governing the administration 
of military assistance). Within the limits of amounts available from 
69 
S T A T . ] 
PUBLIC LAW 208-AUG. 2, 1955 
439 
funds so allocated, the Department of Defense is authorized to incur, 
in applicable appropriations, obligations in anticipation of reimburse-
ment from such allocations, and no funds so allocated and available 
shall be withdrawn by administrative action until the Secretary of 
Defense shall certify that they are not required for liquidation of 
obligations so incurred. 
Unobligated amounts of such allocations 
equal to the value of orders placed with the military departments 
against such allocations shall be reserved and shall remain available 
until June 30,1958, for making such reimbursements (except in case of 
funds obligated directly against such allocations) only upon the basis 
of materials delivered and services rendered: Provided^ That reports 
of items to be delivered against funds reserved as provided herein 
shall be furnished quarterly by the Secretary of Defense to the Com-
mittees on Appropriations of the Senate and the House of Representa-
tives and, not less often than once each quarter, said Secretary shall 
make a detailed report to the Committees on Appropriations of the 
Senate and the House of Representatives, on a delivery or service-
rendered basis, on all military assistance funds allocated and avail-
able to the Department of Defense as of the end of the preceding quar-
ter : Provided further^ That no reimbursements for materials or serv-
ices shall be made after June 30, 1955, until the value of materials de-
livered and services performed shall equal the amount of expenditures 
made from all appropriations herein and heretofore made for mili-
tary assistance as of said date: Provided^ hoioever,, That not to exceed 
$302,000,000 of any reimbursement heretofore made by the Air Force 
to military assistance appropriations as of June 30, 1955, pursuant to 
the provisions of this section shall be considered null and void and 
materials and services of an equivalent amount shall be delivered or 
performed by the Air Force for military assistance purposes without 
reimbursement: Provided further^ That in the event the President 
shall determine that supplies and equipment ordered against funds so 
allocated are required for the defense of the United States, the amount 
allocated for supplies and materials required for such purpose shall be 
returned to the appropriation from which allocated: Provided 
further. 
That funds appropriated in this Act for military assistance (including 
specified amounts of unobligated balances and funds consolidated with 
any such appropriation), amounts certified pursuant to section 1311 of 
the Supplemental Appropriation Act, 1955, and, where authorized by 
the President, funds made available to the Department of Defense 
under section 401 of the Mutual Security Act of 1954, as amended, shall 
be maintained in one account which shall be used for all transactions 
involving military assistance during the current fiscal year and no 
expenditure shall be made from such account except as may be within 
the limits of the sum of the amounts mentioned in this proviso: Pro-
vided further^ That nothing in this Act shall be construed as making 
any appropriation or fund available for obligation after the end of 
the current fiscal year except as may be necessary for reimbursements 
authorized herein. 
Section 110 of the Act of September 3, 1954 (Public Law 778), is 
hereby repealed. 
SEC. 109. No part of any appropriation contained in this Act shall 
be used to pay the salary or wages of any person who engages in a ment 
strike against the Government of the United States or who is a 
member of an organization of Government employees that asserts the 
right to strike against the Government of the United States, or who 
advocates, or is a member of an organization that advocates, the 
overthrow of the Government of the United States by force or vio-
lence: Provided, That for the purposes hereof an affidavit shall be 
considered prima facie evidence that the person making the affidavit 
Reports to Con-
gress. 
R e s t r 1 ction on 
reimbursements. 
68 Stat. 830. 
31 u s e 200. 
Ante, p. 286< 
22 u s e 1819. 
Strikes or ovei^ 
t h r o w of Govem-
Affidavit. 
440 
PUBLIC LAW 209-AUG. 3, 1955 
[69 ST A T . 
Penalty. 
Short title. 
has not contrary to the provisions of this paragraph engaged in a 
strike against the Government of the United States, is not a member 
of an organization of Government employees that asserts the right 
to strike against the Government of the United States, or that such 
person does not advocate, and is not a member of an organization 
that advocates, the overthrow of the Government of the United States 
by force or violence: Provided further^ That any person who engages 
in a strike against the Government of the United States or who is a 
member of an organization of Government employees that asserts 
the right to strike against the Government of the United States, or 
who advocates, or w^ho is a member of an organization that advocates, 
the overthrow of the Government of the United States by force or 
violence and accepts employment the salary or wages for which are 
paid from any appropriation or fund contained in this or any other 
Act shall be guilty of a felony and, upon conviction, shall be fined 
not more than $1,000 or imprisoned for not more than one year, or 
both: Provided 
further^ That the above penalty clause shall be in 
addition to, and not in substitution for, any other provisions of 
existing law. 
SEC. 110. This Act may be cited as the "Mutual Security Appro-
priation Act, 1956". 
Approved August 2, 1955. 
August 3, 1955 
[S. 741] 
Public Law 209 
CHAPTER 492 
AN ACT 
To extend the provisions of title XII of the Merchant Marine Act, 1936, relating 
to war rislv insurance, for an additional five years. 
64 Stat. 777. 
46 u s e 1294. 
Be it enacted hy the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the 
United States of America in Congress OAsemhled^ That section 1214 
of title X I I of the Merchant Marine Act, 1936, is amended by striking 
out "5*" and inserting in lieu thereof "10". 
Approved August 3, 1955. 
Public Law 210 
CHAPTER 493 
August 3. 1955 
AN ACT 
[H. R. 4727] 
To permit the issuance of a flag to a friend or associate of the deceased veteran 
where it is not claimed by the next of kin. 
49 Stat. 2034. 
38 u s e ch. 12A. 
Issuance of flag 
to f r i e n d of de-
ceased veteran. 
Be it enacted hy the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled, That paragraph I of 
Veterans Regulation Numbered 9 (a), as amended, is hereby amended 
to read as follows: 
"I. Where an honorably discharged veteran of any war, or a per-
son honorably discharged from the United States Army, Navy, Marine 
Corps, or Coast Guard after serving at least one enlistment or for 
disability incurred in line of duty, dies after discharge, a flag to drape 
the casket shall be furnished in all cases; such flag to be given to the 
next of kin after burial of the veteran: Provided, That in the event no 
claim is made for the flag by the next of kin, it may be given, upon 
request, to a close friend or an associate of the deceased veteran: Pro-
vided further, That the furnishing of a flag to any person under this 
proviso will constitute final and conclusive determination of rights 
under this Veterans Regulation." 
Approved August 3, 1955.