An adventure in applied science - IRRI books - International Rice ...

152 History of the International Rice Research InstituteIn Washington in June 1966, I was back at USAID talking with A.H.Moseman (who by then had joined the agency as assistant administrator),Douglas Caton, Erven Long (again), and John Wilson. Discussed principallywere the terms of the agreement (described earlier) with USAID, the Governmentof India, and IRRI to place four scientists in the All India Rice ImprovementProject in Hyderabad. It was expected then that the agreement would besigned by all parties within a month (Hill to sign for IRRI in order to facilitatematters). Because of complications in getting full agreement between the twogovernments, however, it was a year later before the document was signed andbefore IRRI could hire scientists to go to India.USAID’s interest in supporting IRRI increased in 1968 after John C. Bullitt,assistant administrator for Southeast Asia, visited the Institute in April of thatyear. His enthusiasm was so keen that I wrote Hill suggesting he follow up thevisit by calling on Bullitt in Washington.As a matter of fact, special credit is due both Hill of the Ford Foundation andWortman of the Rockefeller Foundation for their determined efforts to persuadeUSAID to change its policy and provide nonproject support to IRRI.Earlier, in October 1967, at a New York conference of officers of the Ford andRockefeller Foundations, with me present, Hill had expressed the opinion thatthe director of IRRI was too busy and too far away from the source of U.S. fundsto be expected to raise new money from that direction and that he, Hill, wouldbe willing to devote considerable time to fund raising especially from USAID(Washington) and UNDP (New York).Hill pursued the matter vigorously, exploring every avenue of possibleUSAID action, and when I was in New York on 8 January 1969, I discussed withhim the draft of a letter I would write to USAID asking for a grant of $400,000for the fiscal year 1970 and, also, for a letter of intent from the agency indicatingcontinued support to IRRI for at least 5 years. Hill had already had manydiscussions with USAID officials and knew that the deadline for any proposalwas 20 January. He was also aware that there was a good chance that USAIDwould soon liberalize its policy.During the same period, Wortman was talking to USAID officials aboutcore budget support not only for IRRI but for CIMMYT as well. Both Hill andWortman were anxious to move fast, for they knew that William S. Gaud, theUSAID administrator, was about to leave office, along with many others of theoutgoing Johnson administration.In telephone conversations with USAID officials, Wortman learned thatHill had provided all the information the agency needed on IRRI but that itrequired more background on CIMMYT. Wortman canceled a trip to Nigeriafor the week of 12 January, summoned Edwin J. Wellhausen, the director ofCIMMYT, from Mexico, and the two spent 5 days in Washington working withUSAID officials preparing documents which, when signed by Gaud, wouldprovide general, nonproject support for IRRI and CIMMYT in 1969-70. Obstaclesto rapid action, such as security checks, were overcome; and on 16January, Gaud slipped out of a farewell reception in his honor and signed thedocument. So it was Gaud, the man who first used the term green revolution