President McNamara's memoranda to the Board of Executive Directors constitute this series. They are divided into the following subjects:
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I. Lending rate
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II. Profit transfer
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III. Budget proposals
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IV. Compensation
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V. Structural adjustment lending
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VI. Miscellaneous
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VII. International Development Association
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VIII. International Finance Corporation
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IX. Financial policy
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BC. Brandt Commission Pearson Commission Role of the Bank.
The first file of the series consists of 2 finding aids prepared in the President's office. The first finding aid is an annotated list of the President's memoranda to the Executive Directors from 1 April 1968 - July 10, 1980, listing the subjects discussed, the background papers distributed on the subject, the date of the discussion, and remarks. The annotations indicate the file (I through X and BC) containing the documents on the subject. The second finding aid is titled Board Actions Books I-X. It lists all documents filed within the ten numbered subject files plus the Brandt Commission file. Copies of these lists are filed in the subject files, and the lists in the subject files are annotated to show which documents have been removed from that file or have been filed in other files.
The memoranda dealing with lending rate contain the President's recommendations to the Board with regard to the Bank's interest rate policy and its annual and quarterly review. They include background material dating from 1947 and some handwritten notes by McNamara of the Executive Directors' discussions on lending rate policy (1968, 1969 and 1979).
The memoranda on profit transfer deal with the Bank's annual transfer to IDA of part of the year's income. They include some handwritten notes by McNamara of the Executive Directors' discussion on the allocation of net income for FY69. The budget proposals and related memoranda presented to the Executive Directors for review and approval are occasionally annotated by McNamara. The 1973 Review of IBRD/IDA program, FY74-78, is accompanied by the President's handwritten notes of his meetings with H. Kaufman, E. Patberg and L. Parker of Salomon Brothers, the First Boston Corporation and Morgan Stanley respectively.
The memoranda on compensation are concerned with salary policies and procedures, salary reviews, staff retirement and tax liabilities. They include McNamara's proposals of a general salary increase with his notes of the discussions of the Board, drafts and comparative figures (1968-1970), and recommendations with regard to the conclusions of the McKinsey study on staff compensation (1972) and the Report of the Joint Bank-Fund Committee on Staff Compensation Issues (Kafka Committee 1979). There are also notes taken by the President of discussions on tax liabilities (1979).
The miscellaneous memoranda deal with Board procedures, IBRD borrowing, lending policies, procurement practices, operations evaluation, work arrangements with other agencies, the Bank research program, international agricultural research, and office space. They contain McNamara's handwritten notes on the Executive Directors' discussions of his recommendations regarding subscriptions to the capital stock of the Bank (1969, 1970), Board procedures (1971), and the financing of tea (1973). The memoranda relating to IBRD borrowing and bonds issues are heavily annotated by the President (1978-1980), as is a memorandum on development policy for countries dependent on exports of primary products (1973).
The memoranda regarding IDA concern IDA policies, financing and international agricultural research. They bear no annotations by the President.
The memoranda regarding IFC contain some notes by McNamara of the discussion by the Executive Directors of papers on operating policies (1973), as well as personal comments by R. L. Knight regarding IFC policies (1973).
The memoranda on financial policy contain McNamara's papers to the Board on the Bank's borrowing program, financial policies and capital increase, and the establishment of the Third Window. They include the President's drafts of statements and closing remarks for the Executive Directors' discussions of memoranda on the scale of financial operations FY74-78 (1972) and IBRD financial policies (1973) and notes accompanying his 1976 memorandum on IBRD capital increase.
The memoranda on the recommendations of the Pearson and Brandt Commissions relating to the Bank bear some annotations by McNamara.
A set of documents concerning the discussions of memoranda to the Board on the future role of the Bank and its associated capital requirements was put together by President McNamara. It contains summaries of informal meetings with the Directors, technical notes, memoranda and handwritten notes of the discussions, and correspondence. An index to the documents in the file Role of the Bank, both in McNamara's handwriting and in typescript, is included in the file.
