Setting the Stage

1. Setting the Stage Truman Administration Foreign Aid Programs

2. The Truman Doctrine “Saving” Greece and Turkey

3. Context • Focus was Greece • Uncertainty; despair • Need for stability to make U.S. aid effective • Emphasis on “self-help” and responsibility • British withdrawal

4. Message • Principle, not specifics • Economic disorder and its consequences • Bipolar worldview • Cost small compared to return • Only U.S. in position to step in

5. Mechanics • $400 mil ($341 bil) • “Detail of American civilian and military personnel” • Support for U.S. way of life elsewhere • Activist foreign policy

6. Outcomes

7. The Marshall Plan “Saving” Western Europe

8. Context • “The recovery of Europe has been far slower than had been expected. Disintegrating forces are becoming evident. The patient is sinking while the doctors deliberate.” • “Hopeless and hungry people often resort to desperate measures.”

9. Message • Combat “hunger, poverty, desperation, and chaos.” • “Permit the emergence of political and social conditions in which free institutions can exist.” • “A cure rather than a mere palliative.”

10. Mechanics • Economic resources to support U.S. foreign policy • $13 bil • Built on Truman Doctrine • National security measure

11. Outcomes

12. Point Four “Saving” Asia, Africa, and Latin America

13. Context • Cold War focus shifting away from Europe • Poverty, disease, hunger, illiteracy, lack of skills and capital • Continuing recognition of importance of fostering hope

14. Message • Economic realities • Relied on U.S. superiority • Shift from East-West to North-South • Built on Marshall Plan • “We cannot live isolated in relative wealth and abundance.”

15. Mechanics • Multi-faceted internal bureaucracy • Work with UN • Private entity involvement • Move away from direct assistance • Country-specific projects based on need

16. Outcomes