U.S. Should Enlarge Foreign Assistance, Dean Mason Claims

Since the period of the Marshall Plan, "our diagnosis of the need for foreign aid has been fumbling, our means inappropriate, and our results doubtful," Edward S. Mason, Dean of the Graduate School of Public Administration, charged last night.

The Korean War caused an abrupt change and enormous complication in our foreign aid program, he stated. From economic aid to the temporarily destroyed nations of Europe, we changed to military and economic aid for the underdeveloped nations of Asia.

Dean Mason asserted that our economic aid to the crucial areas of South and Southeast Asia and the Middle East cannot be attributed to humanitarian ideals or the interests of our economy, although these elements are present. He said that the purpose of the aid was to protect security interests.

"The security of the U.S.," Dean Mason said, "is affected by the types of government which held power in other countries." He asserted that aid for the economic development of non-Communist countries enhances the stability of their governments.

"We may make loans, give technical assistance and agricultural surpluses, or make grants. But whatever form our economic aid takes," Dean Mason stated, "it is in the interest of our security to make a substantial increase."

Dean Mason was the final speaker of the International Development Society's fall lecture series on "Foreign Policy in the Nuclear Age." He spoke on "Economic Aid as an Instrument of Foreign Policy." Dean Mason recently returned from a six-month tour of South and Southeast Asia.