FOREIGN RELATIONS OF THE UNITED STATES: DIPLOMATIC PAPERS, 1945, THE NEAR EAST AND AFRICA, VOLUME VIII
883.001 Farouk/2–2045
Extract From Letter of February 20, 1945 from the Minister in Egypt (Tuck) to the Under Secretary of State (Grew)9
On March 3, 1945, President Roosevelt informed Lieutenant Colonel Hoskins, the Adviser on Economic Affairs assigned to the Legation at Cairo and other Missions in the Near East, that during his conversation with King Farouk he had suggested that many of the large landed estates in Egypt be broken up and made available for ownership by the fellaheen who worked them, and that at least 100,000 additional acres be placed under irrigation annually as a continuing program (867N.01/3–545).↩
. . . Whilst the 1952 Coup saw an enactment of this recommendation, Helen4: it is clear that little was done to effectively capitalise the new owners (through schemes of government-sponsored/supported district co-operatives or suchlike). And so? A short term popularity was falsely engendered.
And today? Egypt languishes.