President Truman's Inaugural Address - Essay Example

Introduction In 1949, President Truman, in his inaugural address, proposed a plan whereby the Western Countries, with their technological and industrial know-how, would try to develop countries around the world by teaching them this know-how. The plan was to go to poor countries and show them how to sustainably develop their economies, and sustainably grow crops to feed themselves, etc., while also showing them how to industrialize. The experiment did not necessarily take – there are still desperately poor countries in the world, and part of the reason why is because of culture. In order for a developmental plan to truly succeed, there must be a change in society and culture, so that the people are ready to receive the knowledge and know-how that is given to them. Which brings up ethical issues in and of itself – is one culture necessarily better than another? That may be a question, but there is not a question that cultures which are less developed than other cultures might have issues with adopting new technologies and industrial techniques. Moreover, there is the problem with exploitation – in countries that have adapted, industrially, there is always the problem that the workers toil in substandard conditions, making not even enough to feed themselves, while the owners pocket the money and profits and do not make their societies any better. That said, there is still a reason why development is still a positive goal, even if there are inherent problems in achieving the goals of development. One is that hunger and poverty is still a problem in the world. Another is that overpopulation is a problem in the world, therefore, Third World countries should be privy to all the advances in birth control. A third reason, related to the second reason, is that Third World countries, without the guidance of the Western World, will strip mine their own resources, because they do not know how to do things better. The Western World should import the technologies that help the countries get better use of their own resources. Because these problems affect the entire world – overpopulation and dwindling resources in the Third World countries affect us all – there is now, more than ever, a reason for Truman’s developmental ideas to continue to be implemented around the world. President Truman’s Address and the Backdrop for the Address The analysis begins by looking at what Truman wanted to do, what he proposed to do in his 1949 inaugural address. According to Rist (2002), in 1948, the world looked different than what it looks today, because the Second World War had turned the world topsy-turvy. Europe was essentially in the hands of the United States and the Soviet Union, because this was the only way for it to free itself from Nazism. Europe needed to be reconstructed. The Marshall Plan helped this. Spearheaded by Truman, this plan was launched to help the European economy. However, there still were issues between the wartime Allies, with the Soviet Union claiming Poland, Romania, Czechoslovakia and Hungary as its own, while blockading Berlin (Rist, 2002). It was in this backdrop that President Truman proposed his Point Four. This was made during Truman’s inaugural address that he made on January 20, 1949. The three ideas behind this speech was that the United States was backing to the newly formed United Nations Organization, and would continue to do so; it would also continue the Marshall Plan, to help Europe reconstruct itself; and it would create a joint defence plan, NATO, which was made mandatory by the increasing Soviet Threat. This was the basis for the speech, but Truman also stated that he would initialize development in poor countries. According to Rist (2002), this part of the speech was not intended by Truman to be taken seriously – Rist stated that this part of the speech was only a “public relations gimmick” (p. 70). So, when the media seized upon this part of Truman’s speech, Truman was essentially caught flat-footed, as he did not really have a plan of action in mind for helping poor countries. That said, this part of his speech did become extremely important, for it was this speech that heralded the beginning of the development age (Rist, 2002). According to Rist (2002), the gist of this speech, and the development that Truman had in mind, was that the United States always led the way with scientific advances and industrial progress. The poor countries, on the other hand, had limited resources – food was scarce, disease was rampant, and the economics were stagnant. The idea was that the United States, with its technological and industrial know-how, would be able to help these poor countries by showing them how to use technology and industry to build better countries for themselves. The goal was that these countries would be able to have more food, clothing, housing and mechanical power through these efforts. Truman envisioned a partnership between business, private capital, agriculture and labor, which would show the countries how to raise their own industrial activity, thus raising the standards of living for their citizens. Truman also stated that the focus would be on helping these countries, not exploiting them, stating that “The old imperialism – exploitation for foreign profit – has no place in our plans. What we envisage is a program of development based on the concepts of democratic fair-dealing” (p. 71). During this period of time, the United States had a reason for helping these countries develop, and it was not all altruistic, according to Hunt (1989). Specifically, the fear was that these weak countries could be targets for a Soviet takeover, which would mean that Communism could spread through these underdeveloped countries. Moreover, as the United States would be the benefactors for these countries, according to Hunt (1989), the United States had a chance to put their own imprimatur on these countries. Development, according to Kim (1986), encompasses not just economic help, or help that Truman proposed, which consisted of technological and industrial help. It also focuses on changing the country as a whole - its socioeconomic, political and cultural landscape. As an example of a project which was instituted after Truman’s development speech, Escobar (1995) points to Colombia. In 1949, the South American country was the target of an economic mission which included 14 international advisors from the fields of foreign exchange; transportation; industry, fuel and power; highways and waterways; community facilities; agriculture; health and welfare; financing and banking; economics; national accounts; railroads; and petroleum refineries. This was indicative of such a project that Truman envisaged – its character was comprehensive and integrated, and was focused upon social and economic concerns. It also had goals and quantifiable targets, along with “investment needs, design criteria, methodologies, and time sequences” (p. 25). Westernization was one of the evident goals of the Point Four in Truman’s speech. However, Mehmet (1995) states that this has been a failure, as the Western ideals have failed to take root in these countries. The Western ideals to which Mehmet (1995) refers are the ideals that the Western countries wanted to spread to undeveloped countries, as part and parcel of helping them develop economically, technologically and industrially. According to Apter (1987), after the Second World War, when development was the focus for Western countries, these countries also focused upon spreading its norms and institutions, on the theory that the right norms and institutions would aid in the countries’ development programs. The logic was the much of the reason why these countries did not develop, thus far, and could not develop going forward was that the people and the countries were too backwards to be able to implement the technological and industrial lessons. Perhaps this illustrates one of the reasons why development is so difficult to sustain - if a country does not change its culture and society, then the changes that Western countries want to implement may not succeed. According to Tisch and Wallace (1994), cultural change is necessary for countries to develop but, often, these countries do not want to change its culture. The Western world wants to emphasize its social model, along with its economics and technological models, but the societies do not want this, as evidenced by these societies’ continued violence and inequalities. Moreover, according to Tisch and Wallace (1999), there is a further danger of cultural imperialism – this would be the spreading of Western media, advertising and consumer goods to the masses in these developing countries. When this occurs, one culture or society is essentially imposing its values on the other culture or society. This may be done through incentives, such as the promise of resources (Tisch & Wallace, 1999). However, it becomes clear that culture imperialism, and the attendant imposition of values from the dominant culture, go against Truman’s admonishment that imperialism was not the goal of his Fourth Point plan. The Relevance of the United States and Western Countries Helping Poor Countries Develop Today Truman’s speech, and the need for Western countries to help poor countries develop is as relevant today as it was then. For instance, one of Truman’s main ideas was that developing countries could use the technological and industrial know-how of the United States to try to solve their own problems regarding food shortages. Yet, food shortages are seemingly as prevalent today as they were in 1945. For instance, as Toye (1987) notes, countries in Africa, most notably Ethiopia and the Sudan, experience widespread famine. Toye (1987) states that a possible reason for this is ignorance – the people in these country abuse their habitat because they do not know any better. Another reason is that the governments in these countries may withhold relief supplies, because of politics. They withhold supplies as a type of political game, and this is one weapon that they use. Toye (1987) also notes that the poverty of a country, in and of itself, is not the sole cause of famine. India, which during the 1980s had less of a per capita income than Sudan, and a bit more than Ethiopia, did not have the famines that these two countries had. This analysis is seconded by Weitz (1986). As Weitz (1986) notes, the promise that Truman made for industrialization and technological advances have not lifted the poor countries out of poverty. Basically, the planet still consists of rich and poor, with the poor countries being economically underdeveloped and marked by poverty, where people live “wretched lives form birth until untimely death” (p. 5). That said, there was evidence that some progress was made between Truman’s promise and the 1980s, which is when Weitz’ book was written. As Weitz notes, in the thirty years prior to 1986, the average income in poor countries tripled, life expectancy rose from 43 to 54 years, and the proportion of adults who are literate in these countries rose from 30% to 50%. That said, the population in these countries were still struck by famine and disease, and that, at that time, 800 million people still lived in absolute poverty. 250 million people at this time subsisted on barely enough income to keep themselves alive, from week to the next. Gasper (2004) states that, as of 1995, there were 10 million children dying from preventable causes, such as pneumonia, diarrhea, and measles. Stoesz et al. (1999) states that the problems of underdevelopment are still particularly pronounced in many African countries. In fact, they state that the African countries have become even poorer than they were in the period after colonialism. Many of these countries to have valuable resource, yet, because of a multitude of factors – including “nonsensical national borders, nonexistent infrastructure, intertribal hostilities and massive poverty,” (p. 47), many countries in Africa, including South Africa, Zaire, and Kenya, are still desperately poor and undeveloped. For instance, Kenya, according to Stoesz et al. (1999), women are exploited, and only 7 percent of Kenya’s land is suitable for agriculture. It was ranked, in the mid-1990s, as the second-most corrupt nation on the globe, just below Nigeria and somewhat above South Africa. There is still war, corruption and disease in these countries, along with economic stagnation and chaos. There also appears to be a need for Truman’s development programs, because, in part, the focus was on encouraging Third World countries to not plunder their resources needlessly, through showing the countries the right technological and industrial advances that may help them get the most out of their environment, while still preserving and conserving enough so that they will have sustainability. This is discussed further below. However, as a way to show why Truman’s ideas regarding technology and industrialization are necessary in today’s world, in which the technological advances can not only show these developing countries environmentally friendly ways to harvest their resources, but may also show environmentally friendly ways to live, such as using solar panels and wind technology, one may only look at Northwest Morocco. According to Munson (1990), this country has a serious problem with deforestation and erosion. The country has tried an anti-erosion program, but did this without analyzing the ecological, economic and social structures of the Jbalan highlands and other areas which has erosion problems. Therefore, the government’s attempts to halt the deforestation and erosion has caused additional problems, such as an exodus of rural people, which has caused, in turn, a serious problem with urban congestion. (Munson, 1990). This situation perfectly shows why Truman’s programs are still necessary in today’s world – people will strip their land if they are not informed that this is not a good thing, and governments try to help, but, without the knowledge of how to help, they end up doing more harm than good, and unintended consequences are the result. These issues might end up having an environmental impact upon us all, as Third World countries strip their resources, without regard to future generations, which means that there is that much fewer resources for us all. This shows another reason why Truman’s words and plans are more important than ever to the world of today. Third World countries further have a problem with population explosion, as noted below. This also shows the need for further intervention in Third World countries, for technological advances in birth control would be one thing that should be introduced into these countries. According to Ehrlich and Ehrlich (1993), the human population is growing exponentially. As the population grows, there are increasingly problems with the environment – such as an increase in acid rain, global warming, ozone depletion, epidemics, soil and groundwater exhaustion, and the possibility that nature will take care of the excess population problem by crop failures (due to global warming), and epidemics such as AIDS. Moreover, because the population of the world continues to swell – Stoesz et al. (1999) estimate that the world’s population will be 9.4 billion by 2050, with most of this growth coming in developing nations, there must be economic growth in order for sustainable development to work. This is because, if these countries do not grow, economically, then there will never be enough food, fiber and energy production in these countries to sustain the population growth. Therefore, there is increasingly a need to export birth control technologies to these developing countries, which shows, definitively, that Truman’s ideas are more important than ever, if only to be used to halt the exploding population in these Third World countries. Therefore, the evidence is that there is still a need for Truman’s development promises, and that these poor countries still need to become more technologically and industrial savvy, so that, at the very least, the people of these countries can all get enough to eat. That said, the idea of development is not without its problems. One problem is that there is a need to temper the lessons of industrialization to the poor countries with some kind of ethical education for these countries. This is because industrialization alone is not the panacea for these countries, if the industrialization is being used for exploitation. For instance, as Toye (1987) notes, some of the Third World countries may experience economic growth, but this is separate and apart from development because much of this economic growth comes on the backs of the workers, for the benefit of the very few. In other words, while the workers toil for wages that barely allow them to subsist, in working conditions which are bad for their health and safety, the owners of these industrial complexes take all the profits and channel them into a foreign tax haven. This would understandably lead to instability and unrest in these countries. There also needs to be an emphasis on sustainable development in these countries. Sustainable development ensures that the countries which are experiencing development do not use up their resources to the point that development and progress is stunted. According to Stoesz et al. (1999), sustainable development means that there is “intergenerational equity,” (p. 156), which means that the natural resources are there for future generations to enjoy. Related to this is the vicious circle, as put forth by Ramirez-Faria (1991). This is that, as countries develop, their health problems are eased. This, however, leads to its population living longer, and this, in turn, causes other problems. One of these problems is that the health issues come back into the fore. The vicious circle also extends towards resources – resources are necessary for economic development, but they are used to combat poverty. Since the resources are not used for economic development, then this leads to low production, which, in turn, leads to more poverty. Therefore, these are issues that also must be overcome by a developmental plan – there are unintended consequences for development, which leads, ironically, right back into the original problems which are targeted in the first place. Another basic problem with developmental plans is that, as noted above, countries need to change their culture before they can truly be ready to accept the progress that is promised by development. For instance, consider the case of India. According to Simon and Narman (1999), in India, there are two image-views of society –the happy rich and the rest, who are poor. The rich in India stay that way by, basically, taking the government money that comes from other countries, and allocating it strictly amongst the upper class. The poor, being used to the caste system, which is a cultural way of life in India, accept their lot – they accept that there is corruption, inflation, and rising prices and that the dowry and caste systems are a part of their everyday culture and life. As Simon and Narman (1999) note, while the poor Indians criticize these evils, they nonetheless accept them as a part of life. In other words, the mind-set of the poor Indian is what prevents society from changing, and for true progress, as promised by development, to take hold. If the poor simply accept their lot – accept that the rich will get all the spoils of development, and they will get none, and accept that nothing can ever change this – then these countries will not benefit from development. The hearts and minds of the people must be changed before the structure of their country can be. Conclusion Our world continues to explode in population, and the natural resources are being depleted by the day. This is the main reason why Truman’s words are relevant and necessary to be heard today. With the exportation of the right technology, Third World countries may learn how to ethically and sustainably harvest their own resources, while also learning how to properly use birth control. This would go a long way towards solving at least some of the world’s problems. Of course, this is easier said than done. It always is. Countries must have their hearts and minds changed, not just their landscape. If a country has a culture which is primitive, or accepting of inequalities, then this country would have problems implementing the latest technologies and industrialization techniques. Attempting to change the culture, which is necessary for development to truly take hold, is problematic, as it necessarily means an imposition of values on the country in question. Western values. Moreover, there is always the problems with corruption, in that the rich in these countries will exploit the poor, while not sharing the resources with the poor. That said, it is an admirable goal to develop these countries, as Truman proposed to do in 1949, if for no other reason than the fact that these countries need to learn how to preserve resources. Moreover, it is a moral imperative that countries learn to feed themselves and their people, because hunger, poverty and disease are still such intractable issues. While development is not easy, and never will be, it is still an admirable goal. This means that Truman’s words are just as relevant and timely today as they were over 50 years ago. Sources Used Apter, D. (1987) Rethinking Development. London: Sage Publications. Daly, H. & Townsend, K. (1993) Valuing the Earth. London, England: The MIT Press. Ehrlich, H. & Ehrlich, A. (1993) “Why isn’t everyone as scared as we are?” In Daly, H. & Townsend, K. (1993) Valuing the Earth. London, England: The MIT Press. Escobar, A. (1995) Encountering Development. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Gasper, D. (2004) The Ethics of Development. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Hunt, D. (1989) Economic Theories of Development. New York, NY: Harvest Wheatsheaf. Kim, I. (1986) Development and Cultural Change. New York, NY: Paragon House Publishers. Mehmet, O. (1995) Westernizing the Third World: The Eurocentricity of Economic Development Theories. New York, NY: Routledge. Rist, G. (2002) The History of Development. New York, NY: Zed Books, Ltd. Ramirez, C. (1991) The Origins of Economic Inequality Between Nations. Cambridge, MA: Unwin Hyman Ltd. Salem-Murdock, M., Horowitz, M. & Sella, M. (1990) Anthropology and Development in North Africa and the Middle East. San Francisco, CA: Westview Press. Simon, D. & Narman, A. (1999) Development as Theory and Practice. Essex, UK: Addison Wesley Longman Ltd. Stoesz, D., Guzzetta, C. & Lusk, M. (1999) International Development. London: Allyn & Bacon. Tisch, S. & Wallace, M. (1994) Dilemmas of Development Assistance. Oxford, UK: Westview Press. Toye, J. (1987) Dilemmas of Development. New York, NY: Basil Blackwell, Ltd. Weitz, R. (1986) New Roads to Development. London, UK: Greenwood Press. Read More