A Study On Truman Administration’s Economic Aid Policy Toward Latin America

From the late of 19 th century to the early of 20 th century, the United States became the world’s top economic power. Relying on its strong economic strength, United States began to expand to other regions. As the neighbor of U.S., Latin America became the first choice of American foreign expansion. Latin America countries were self-developmental and undeveloped countries, and its economic power was unequal with U.S., so U.S. always regarded Latin America as a special sphere of influence, in order to achieve the overall goal o f ―America is American America‖, and United States hoped to dominate the Pan-American system. To achieved this goal, starting from the Monroe Doctrine, Successive US governments did anything, including the means of political, military, economic, cultural and others to control the Western Hemisphere’s strengthenedly. But as a capitalist power, it was undoubted that economic means were the most important way to control the Latin America. Undoubtedly, economic aid as the main way of economic means played an extremely important role in the process of strengthening the Inter-American system.Based on the academic works as well as many documents from the Foreign Relations of the United States series, Declassified Documents Reference System database, the Digital National Security Archive database, the U.S. Congressional Serial Set, the National Security Council documents, the Central Intelligence Agency documents, and the Joint C hiefs of Staff documents, the main purpose of this dissertation is to explore Truman Administration‘s Economic Aid Policy toward Latin America, incliding motivation of adjustment and formulation and implementation of the detailed process, meanwhile, this paper explains economic aid play a role about US economic and security interests in the Western Hemisphere. Researching U.S. economic assistance policy towards Latin America in this period can contribute to give a better understanding that United States shifted regional policy to Cold War global strategy during the Cold War. This paper, made up of the sections of the introduction, the text(5 chapters).The introduction discusses the aims and significance of the subject of the paper, analyzes the general contemporary situation of the academic achievements of the selected subject accomplished by the scholars at home and abroad. This paper thinks if fully understanding the historical evolution of relationship between the United States and Latin America, not only through macro to grasp the history, but also through the subtle details to understand history. And America’s economic aid to Latin American policy can be viewed as from subtleties research aspect in the evolution of the relationship between the United States and Latin America.The first chapter, first of all, from the perspective of diplomacy and international relations, made a redefinition of the concept of economic assistance, including the concept and types of foreign aid, then by comparing the methods, this paper specify the relationship among the concept of military aid, humanitarian aid and economic aid. It focuses on kind of American foreign economic aid, the strategic and economic self- interest, political, etc. Second, this paper reviews that U.S. foreign economic aid towards the Latin America from the 18 th century to World War II. From the perspective of the theory, in this paper refer to the America’s economic aid to Latin America that is a subsystem of American foreign economic aid policy.The second chapter discusses the outbreak of the cold war and Latin American countries‘ special position in the cold war. The United States believed that Latin American countries were not under the direct threat of communism, and their political situation was relatively stable in the early post-war. But the United States spent almost funds for the reconstruction of Europe, so first Truman‘s government betrayed the economic aid commitments during the second war, and Truman‘s government forced to the Latin American countries to agree to set up a defe nse system in the western hemisphere through promising economic aid. Then Truman administration established capital rather than aid policy, the consequences of it made the Economic Commission for Latin America began to reconsider the developing mode of Lat in American countries after the war.The third chapter has two cases, one is that Truman’s first term adjusted the coffee trade agreements that reached with Latin America during the World War II; another is that Truman’s first term strengthened economic a id to Mexico. Thhese cases can help to understand deeply the cause and the essence of adjustment of economic aid to Latin America in Truman’s first term.The fourth chapter, firstly, it analyzes briefly the process of the Point Four Program and its essence in the cold war, and the economic interests and preventing the penetration of communism are the main reason that United States implemented economic and technical assistance in Latin America. Secondly, it analyzes two way that U.S. economic and technical a id towards to Latin America. One is multilateral economic and technical assistance under the framework of the Organization of American States;Second is bilateral economic and technical assistance under the Department of States and TCA.The fifth chapter, firstly, it dicusses how the IIAA became the implementing agencies of Point Four in Latin America and dicusses its membership controversy. Secondly it discusses the overall and Country-based situation of Point Four Program in the Latin American countries, including technical personnel number, capital investment and regional differences, and the fourth. And the paper makes the summary that the Point Four Program‘s characteristics of the implementation of the plan in the region, it thought Point Four Program d idn’t succeed in Latin America.Finally, through the theory of foreign economic aid and the politics and economics knowledge, the conclusion of the paper interpreters the nature and the purpose of the America’s economic aid to Latin America, and it thinks that the purpose of aid policy was in order to strengthen position of America in Latin America, and also explains the connotation of the conflict and cooperation between the United States and Latin American countries. The conclusion also puts forward some views that C hina’s aid policy to Latin America.