Point Four and the National Power of the United States.

This article explores the motive of the U.S. behind its policy of assistance to underdeveloped areas of the world commonly known as Point Four. There is no intent here to belittle the altruistic or humanitarian motives that have prompted the American people to support aid to less fortunate peoples in other parts of the world through both private and governmental channels, but it would be strange indeed were Congress to support a program not deemed contributory to the national interest and power of the U.S. Self-preservation is a high-priority goal of national states. It is therefore not astonishing to discover that most of the Congressional debate concerning the Act for International Development centered bee fore its passage on its merits and demerits as an effective means for fighting Communism and that the press, both here and abroad, interpreted Point Four as a new weapon in the worldwide power conflict. Conceivably Point Four might also be considered successful if it did not stimulate the growth of the retarded economies appreciably, provided that the attempt to give economic impetus to the backward areas created a more favorable attitude on the part of their governments and their peoples toward the U.S. than otherwise would have prevailed.