78 



IV. U.S. Experience With Technical Assistance Before 1950 



When the point IV program was jiroposed to Congress, there v.as 

 high confidence on the part of the Administration that the United 

 States had the resources, the will, and the experience to accomplish it. 

 State Department literature exuded this assurance: 



A great deal of experience already has been acquired as a result of rather ex- 

 tensive activities * * * jj^ cooperation with other countries primarily in Latin 

 America, and under programs of international agencies. * * * The U.S. Govern- 

 ment has knowledge from many sources of economic conditions and primary 

 needs in the undeveloped areas of the world.^^ 



Many such statements were offered, and accepted by Congress in 

 the same spirit of confidence.*^ One notable exception among ad- 

 ministration witnesses, who did not share the prevailing optimism, 

 was Paul G. Hoffman who bluntly told the C^ongress that "you cannot 

 export know-liow." What actually took place, he said, was an ex- 

 change of technical information in order to construct workable pro- 

 gram designs in local regions. Before this could be accomplished, 

 moreover, 



* * * There has to be a good deal of preparatory work engaged in, and the 

 more specific it is the better will be the results that ensue. * * * The fewer 

 preconceived ideas you have, the better j'our program is apt to be. Because out 

 of those discussions comes a knowledge of the real needs. And then out of that 

 knowledge you set up the project and you tailor it so that it will produce that 

 knowledge.^" 



Experience of the United States with international aid to unde- 

 veloped economies had, as a practical matter, been meager. Pre-1950 

 economic assistance had taken two forms: Marshall plan assistance 

 to the war-ravaged nations of Western Europe, and a number of 

 discrete, ad hoc, and small operations mainly in Latin America. The 

 former set of operations were not really relevant to the problem of 

 development, while the latter were of small scope and impact. 



The bulk of U.S. bilateral technical assistance activities to the 

 underdeveloped world before 1950 was centered in Latin America 

 and the Philijjpines. The two major j)rograins were those of the Inter- 

 dejiartmental Committee on Scientific and Cultural Cooperation 

 (SCC), established in 1939,^^ and the Institute of Inter- American 

 Affairs (IIAA), created in 1947.^^ 



The limitations of these programs were that they were mainl}^ in 

 support of U.S. political and military operations: improving the 

 quality or procurement of rubber or other strategic raw materials; 



<9 Point 4: "Cooperative Program for Aid in the Development of Economically Underdeveloped Areas," 

 (rev. January 1950), op. cit., p. 15. 



" See, for examples, the statements by Representative Shelley, Congressional Record (Mar. 31, 1950), 

 p. 4537; and by Representative Holifleld, in Ibid. (Mar. 27, 1950), p. 4138. 



5" Statement of Hon. Paul G. Hoffman, Administrator, EGA. In House, "Act for International Develop- 

 ment," Hearings, pt. 2, op. cit., pp. 415-417. 



" A 1939 bill had authorized temporary detail of U.S. employees to governments of the American Repub- 

 lics, the Philippines, and Liberia. (Public Law 545, 75th Gong.). In May 1939, tlie act was amended to au- 

 thorize the President to detail persons to any foreign government requesting it. (PubUc Law 63, 76th Cong.) 

 Several other measures by Congress, and the Administration, enlarged the progi-am with particular respect 

 to Latin America. After World War II, this small aid program was broadened to include more general edu- 

 cational aid abroad. 



s2 The Institute was chartered by Nelson Rockefeller, Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs, in 1942. 

 In 1947, with its functions expande"d, it was chartered by act of Congress, and the following year it was 

 extended for 5 years with application to Asia as well as Latin America. However, before tliis final change 

 was implemented, the Act for International Development was passed. 



