Truman's Point Four

By Daniel Hamon

"More than half the people of the world are living in conditions approaching misery. Their food is inadequate. They are victims of disease. Their economic life is primitive and stagnant. Their poverty is a handicap and a threat both to them and to more prosperous areas. For the first time in history, humanity possesses the knowledge and skill to relieve the suffering of these people," said President Truman in his inaugural address in 1949.

The fourth major point in the address read: "We must embark on a bold new program for making the benefits of our scientific advances and industrial progress available for the improvement and growth of underdeveloped areas," thus stating a national goal for the U.S. to "make available to peace-loving peoples the benefits of our store of technical knowledge in order to help them realize their aspirations for a better life." This program became known as Truman's Point Four.

Historian Paul Johnson in A History of the American People describes what happened next:

Truman encountered remarkably little opposition from Congress for his plans. The original appropriation was only $34.5 million. In the fiscal year 1952 its budget was increased to $147.9 million. The federal government's generosity was matched by that of many big companies.  Westinghouse operated 'its own private Point Four' by licensing foreign manufacturers to use its techniques and processes, helping them to design their plants, and training their operatives. Sears, Roebuck become 'one of Point Four's most aggressive if unofficial vessels' by teaching industrial techniques and merchandising to the Brazilians and others. But taxpayers' money provided the main effort. By 1953 there were 2,445 US technicians working in thirty-five countries, engaged in assisting with food production, railroad efficiency, modern mining techniques, public health, central banks and government administration, every conceivable kind of industrial process, and services ranging from housing to meteorological forecasts...By the 1970s, when the quantity of US foreign aid began to decline, over $150 billion had been spent, two-thirds of it outside western Europe. 

Johnson concludes that "this effort, in absolute or relative terms and from whatever viewpoint it is regarded, was wholly without precedent in human history, and is likely to remain the biggest single act of national generosity on record."

Comments

[Dana Borowka]

Wow - that is very worthy of sharing with the world! Thank you...