The Mutual Security Act of 1951 launched a major American foreign aid program, 1951–61, of grants to numerous countries. It largely replaced the
Marshall Plan
The Marshall Plan (officially the European Recovery Program, ERP) was an American initiative enacted in 1948 to provide foreign aid to Western Europe. The United States transferred over $13 billion (equivalent of about $ in ) in economic re ...
. The main goal was to help poor countries develop and to
contain the spread of
communism
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
. It was signed on October 10, 1951, by President
Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. A leader of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 34th vice president from January to April 1945 under Franklin ...
. Annual authorizations were about $7.5 billion, out of a GDP of $340bn in 1951, for military, economic, and technical
foreign aid
In international relations, aid (also known as international aid, overseas aid, foreign aid, economic aid or foreign assistance) is – from the perspective of governments – a voluntary transfer of resources from one country to another.
Ai ...
to American allies. The aid was aimed primarily at shoring up Western Europe, as the
Cold War
The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
developed. In 1961 it was replaced by a new foreign aid program, the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, which created the
Agency for International Development
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government that is primarily responsible for administering civilian foreign aid and development assistance. With a budget of over $27 bil ...
(AID), and focused more on Latin America.
The Mutual Security Act also abolished the Economic Cooperation Administration, which had managed the
Marshall Plan
The Marshall Plan (officially the European Recovery Program, ERP) was an American initiative enacted in 1948 to provide foreign aid to Western Europe. The United States transferred over $13 billion (equivalent of about $ in ) in economic re ...
and transferred its functions to the newly established
Mutual Security Agency
The Mutual Security Agency (1951–1953) was a US agency to strengthen European allies of World War II through military assistance and economic recovery.
History
The Mutual Security Agency was established by the passing of the Mutual Security Ac ...
(MSA). The Agency was established and continued by acts of October 10, 1951 (65 Stat. 373) and June 20, 1952 (66 Stat. 141) to provide military, economic, and technical assistance to friendly nations in the interest of international peace and security, but was abolished by Reorganization Plan No. 7 of 1953, effective August 1, 1953, and its functions were transferred to the
Foreign Operations Administration
The Foreign Operations Administration was created in 1953 under the directorship of Harold Stassen. Its purpose "was intended to centralize all governmental operations, as distinguished from policy formulation, that had as their purpose the coope ...
. The act however, was extended by appropriators each fiscal year until the early 1960s.
[Office of the Clerk, US House of Representative]
The Mutual Security Act of 1951
/ref>
As the Marshall Plan was ending, Congress was in the process of piecing together a new foreign aid proposal designed to unite military and economic programs with technical assistance. In the words of Secretary of State Dean Acheson
Dean Gooderham Acheson (pronounced ; April 11, 1893October 12, 1971) was an American statesman and lawyer. As the 51st U.S. Secretary of State, he set the foreign policy of the Harry S. Truman administration from 1949 to 1953. He was also Truman ...
, who testified before Congress, Western Europe needed assistance against Soviet "encroachment." The measure was intended to signal Washington's resolve to allies and to the Kremlin that the United States was capable of and committed to containing communism globally, even while it fought a protracted land war in Korea. The measure took about two months to work its way through the House, meeting resistance from fiscal conservatives along the way. Republicans were divided about the cost of the expenditures; nevertheless nearly half (80) joined the overwhelming majority of Democrats to pass the measure 260 to 101 on August 17. John M. Vorys
John Martin Vorys (June 16, 1896 – August 25, 1968) was a U.S. Representative from Ohio.
Early life
Born in Lancaster, Ohio, Vorys attended the public schools in Lancaster and Columbus, Ohio. During the First World War served overseas as a pilo ...
of Ohio summed up GOP support for the measure, noting that military aid to "nations who will fight on our side" is "sound economy." Representative James P. Richards
James Prioleau "Dick" Richards (August 31, 1894 – February 21, 1979) was a lawyer, judge, and Democratic Party (United States), Democrat United States House of Representatives, U.S. Representative from South Carolina between 1933 and 1957. H ...
of South Carolina, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, noted that the Mutual Security Act was intended "not to fight a war" but "to prevent a war."
Background and follow-on
The Mutual Security Act of 1951 was the successor to the Mutual Defense Assistance Act
The Mutual Defense Assistance Act was a United States Act of Congress signed by President Harry S. Truman on 6 October 1949. For US Foreign policy, it was the first U.S. military foreign aid legislation of the Cold War era, and initially to Eur ...
and the Economic Cooperation Act of 1949, which administered the Marshall plan. It became law on 10 October 1951, and created a new, independent agency, the Mutual Security Administration, to supervise all foreign aid programs including military assistance and economic programs that bolstered the defense capability of U.S. allies globally.
Submitted on 24 May 1951, President Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. A leader of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 34th vice president from January to April 1945 under Franklin ...
's omnibus foreign aid bill got a hostile reception on Capitol Hill. Rapid expansion of national security expenditures during the Korean War
, date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...
had produced alarm over high taxes, large deficits, government controls, and a possible "garrison state" among such prominent conservatives as Senator Robert A. Taft
Robert Alphonso Taft Sr. (September 8, 1889 – July 31, 1953) was an American politician, lawyer, and scion of the Republican Party's Taft family. Taft represented Ohio in the United States Senate, briefly served as Senate Majority Leade ...
(R‐Ohio). Truman's decision to send U.S. troops to Europe as part of a standing NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...
force further antagonized congressional conservatives and exacerbated their fears that European nations were not doing enough for their own defense. Congress thus reduced the administration's request for Mutual Security funds by 15 percent and authorized $5.998 billion and $1.486 billion, respectively, for military and economic assistance. The deepest cuts were in economic aid, thus ensuring its subordination to military assistance as "defense support."[John Whiteclay Chambers II]
Mutual Security Act
The Oxford Companion to American Military History. 2000. Retrieved January 02, 2011 from Encyclopedia.com
The Mutual Security Act was renewed each year until 1961, and it annually produced struggles over the size of the foreign aid budget, and the balance between military and economic aid. The US foreign aid program was then reorganized under new Kennedy Administration
John F. Kennedy's tenure as the 35th president of the United States, began with his inauguration on January 20, 1961, and ended with his assassination on November 22, 1963. A Democrat from Massachusetts, he took office following the 1960 p ...
legislation, with signing of the Foreign Assistance Act
The Foreign Assistance Act (, et seq.) is a United States law governing foreign aid policy. It outlined the political and ideological principles of U.S. foreign aid, significantly overhauled and reorganized the structure U.S. foreign assistance p ...
and Executive Order
In the United States, an executive order is a directive by the president of the United States that manages operations of the federal government. The legal or constitutional basis for executive orders has multiple sources. Article Two of th ...
10973 on 3 November 1961, which established the United States Agency for International Development
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government that is primarily responsible for administering civilian foreign aid and development assistance. With a budget of over $27 bi ...
(USAID).Executive Order 10973, 3 November 1961, Administration of Foreign Assistance and Related Functions
/ref>
Amendments to 1951 Act
See also
* Development Loan Fund The Development Loan Fund (DLF) was the lending arm of the United States International Cooperation Administration. It was established in 1957 as part of a revision of the Mutual Security Act. Its main purpose was extending loans to foreign nations, ...
* World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Interna ...
References
Further reading
* Morgner, Aurelius. "The American Foreign Aid Program: Costs, Accomplishments, Alternatives?," ''Review of Politics'' (1967) 29#1 pp. 65–7
in JSTOR
External links
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1951 in law
United States foreign relations legislation
1951 in international relations
82nd United States Congress