The Transformation Of USAID's Foreign Assistance During The Johnson Administration

Since the cold war,the United States and the Soviet Union have engaged in all-out confrontation in various fields.The United States adopted an all-round containment strategy against the Soviet Union.Foreign aid was not only an important part of its economic diplomacy,but also a means of containment against the Soviet Union.USAID,as an important institution of American foreign aid,is of great significance for us to study American foreign aid.In the Kennedy administration,USAID,which was led by Kennedy,was established by Foreign Aid Act of 1961.It is the executive agency of American foreign aid and an important symbol of American foreign aid system.tUSAID developed a large number of foreign aid programs during the Kennedy administration.Owing to the assassination,many of USAID's aid programs could not be implemented.Johnson,the successor as president,who is known as a member of hawks,produced the Great Society reform internally,and dealt with the changing international situation,especially the escalation of the Vietnam War.Accordingly,USAID made the adjustment of foreign aid plans and gradually completed of the transition of the foreign aid policy which made a huge impact on foreign economic strategies in the 1970 s.This paper will study the causes and effects of the transition of USAID by interpreting the original documents and investigating the foreign aid plan of USAID.This paper is divided into five parts:The introduction that defines the concepts of foreign aid and USAID analyses the present conditions of the study both at home and abroad and expounds the research ideas,innovations and shortcomings.The first chapter traces back to the overview of U.S.foreign aid and the dawn of USAID during the early years of the cold war.It involves the containment strategies of the United States against the Soviet Union,the foreign aid policies of Truman and Eisenhower,the changing world situation in the late 1950 s and the establishment and initial policies of USAID.In my opinion,at the beginning of the cold war,American foreign aid was gradually institutionalized,with a strong sense of US-centric.The policies during the early period of the agency also laid the foundation for the transition of its policies during the Johnson administration.Chapter two describes the transition of USAID and the changing of the aid policies during the Johnson administration.It involves the domestic and foreign factors which influenced the adjustment of USAID during the early years of the Johnson administration,the adjustment to the areas receiving assistance of USAID,and the adjustment of military aid to Vietnam and Israel.Chapter Two also summarizes the characteristic of the transition of USAID's policies,organizing the transition of foreign aid policies and military aid policies separately,and using specific data tables to explain the changing tendency of this period: the total sum of aid shrunk and the proportion of military aid decreased.I think that the transition of USAID during this period is not the simple inheritance of the Kennedy administration,but the specific consideration based on the domestic and foreign changing situations.No matter development or military aid adjustments,are closely related to America's own interests.The policies are fully implemented than the Kennedy administration,and it made certain achievements.The third chapter analyzes the transition of USAID in the Johnson administration from multiple angles.It involves direct economic benefit of USAID,the realization of political goals,and various factors affecting the transition.In my opinion,although USAID's foreign aid is fundamentally to protect its own interests,it has played a certain role in promoting the world economic development.Meanwhile,during the period of the transition of USAID,the game between USAID and the parliament is more obvious.Causing the agency which is leaded by the president,parliament and director-general of USAID plays full role in its own function and maintains the diversity of its capacities,which promotes the transform and improvement of USAID.The conclusion makes a further summary of the above and points out the important influence of the transition of USAID on the development of American foreign aid during the Johnson administration.