86 



short range projects is a clear case of "haste makes waste." Revelle 

 has stated: 



The emphasis on speed has been one of the curses in recent years of something 

 we may call the black box theory of economic and social development. One did not 

 look into what was actually happening in a poor country, the real social processes 

 and forces, but one simply injected sufficient capital investment and economic 

 development would pop out * * *. It is becoming more and more clear however 

 that little can be accomplished until we obtain such understanding. * * * The 

 understanding required to make these changes does not now exist; it must be 

 obtained through research." 



Dr. Revelle also states that the development of an R. & D. capa- 

 bility would have a double effect on the ad^ ancement of the developing 

 world : 



The first is to discover the knowledge needed to carry on assistance effectively. 

 Here, the results of research are important. Second, research is a teaching tool, 

 understandable across cultural differences, and neutral with respect to previous 

 beliefs and experience. Here it is the methods of research that are important. *° 



Personnel 



During consideration of the point IV program both the President 

 and the Congress were satisfied with the abundance of ai^jn-opriate 

 technical skill ])ossessed by U.S. technicians to implement an effective 

 assistance program. In his inaugural address of 1949, the President 

 maintained that "humanity possesses the knowledge and skills to 

 relieve the suffering" of that jiart of the world still living in poverty. 

 The State Department, the ])rimary information source of the 

 Congress, assumed that a sufficient resource of technical manpower 

 existed and that their eagerness to serve would be limited only by 

 the availabilit}" of adequate compensation.^^ In testifying before the 

 Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Secretary Acheson said: "I 

 suspect we will find hundreds of good peo[)le in State and municipal 

 governments, on farms, in schools and universities, factories, and 

 private research organizations." 



The oiily problem, he said, "* * * is to seek out these people, give 

 them a little extra training and persuade them to go abroad in the 

 service of their country." ^- 



]\Iany members of the academic and scientific community, who 

 were not called upon to testify, challenged the assumption that 

 America possessed the skills and manpower needed. For instance, 

 Francis R. Valeo, a foreign affairs specialist in the Library of Con- 

 gress, A\Tote that it would be difficult to find technical assistance 

 experts with the sociological background needed to be effective: 



It will not be easy to find persons with the requisite technical and scientific 

 abilities who are willing to serve abroad. If such abihties are to be utilized effec- 

 tively * * * they must be su])plemented with an appreciation of the broad prob- 

 lems of underdeveloped cou)itries. Without this attriVou.te, regardless of their 

 technical or scientific qualifications, participants in the program are more likely 

 to hinder than to further realization of the objectives of point 4.^^ 



"9 Statement of Dr. Roger Revelle. "Can the Poor Countries Benefit From the Scientific Revolution?" In 

 U.S. Congress. House. Committee on Science and Astronautics. Panel on Science and Technology. Ninth 

 Meeting: Applied Science and World Economv. Proceedings before the Committee on Science and Astro- 

 nautics. Jan. 23. 24. 25, 1968. 90th Cong., 2d scss. No. 1 (Washington, U.S. Government Printhig Office, 

 1968), p. 243. 



^1 Ibid., pp. 60-61. 



'■ "Point 4: Cooperative Program for Aid in the Development of Economically Underdeveloped Areas." 

 (Rev. January 1950). op. cit.. p. 34. 



*2 Statement of Secretary of State Dean Acheson. In Senate. Act for International Development, hearings, 

 op. cit., p. 11. 



S3 Francis R. Valeo. Analyst in Far Eastern Affairs, Legislative Reference Service, Library of Congress. 

 "Point 4 Problems in the Far East." In Annals (March 1950), op. cit., p. 107. 



