PREFACE

In the Fall of 1948, anticipating final settlement of Federal Estate matters and the probable receipt during 1949 and 1950 of income from the gifts of Mr. Henry Ford and Mr. Edsel Ford in amounts sufficient to permit The Ford Foundation to undertake a greatly expanded program, the Trustees asked Mr. H. Rowan Gaither, Jr. to organize and direct a planning study of policy and program for the Foundation.

On November 22, 1948, the Chairman of the Trustees wrote Mr. Gaither as follows:

"The Foundation was established for the general purpose of advancing human welfare, but the manner of realizing this objective was left to the Trustees. Now that the time is near when the Foundation can initiate an active program, I think that its aims should be more specifically defined.

"The people of this country and mankind in general are confronted with problems which are vast in number and exceedingly disturbing in significance. While important efforts to solve these problems are being made by government, industry, foundations, and other institutions, it is evident that new resources, such as those of this Foundation, if properly employed, can result in significant contributions.

"We want to take stock of our existing knowledge, institutions, and techniques in order to locate the areas where the problems are most important and where additional efforts toward their solution are most needed.

"You are to have complete authority and responsibility in this undertaking, and you are to have a high degree of discretion, subject, of course, to general policy approval of the Trustees, in the means you