Foreign Assistance Act of 1962

(noun)

A United States Act of Congress that reorganized the structure of existing U.S. international aid programs, separated military from non-military aid, and created a new agency, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to administer those non-military, economic assistance programs.

Related Terms

Examples of Foreign Assistance Act of 1962 in the following topics:

  • A Growing War in Vietnam

    • The U.S. framed the war as part of its policy of containment of communism in south Asia; however, the war was met with significant protests at home on American soil.
    • The Kennedy administration remained essentially committed to the Cold War foreign policy of containment practiced by the Truman and Eisenhower administrations.
    • In February of 1962, Kennedy created The Military Assistance Command Vietnam (MACV), and in August of 1962, Kennedy signed the Foreign Assistance Act of 1962, which provides "…military assistance to countries...on the rim of the Communist world and under direct attack."
    • General Paul Harkins, the commander of U.S. forces in South Vietnam, confidently predicted victory against the insurgents by Christmas of 1963.
    • The CIA was less optimistic, however, warning that "the Viet Cong by and large retain de facto control of much of the countryside and have steadily increased the overall intensity of the effort."

  • The Promotion of Global Human Rights

    • In the early 1970s, Congress concluded the Vietnam War and passed the War Powers Act.
    • Subsection (a) of the International Financial Assistance Act of 1977: ensured assistance through international financial institutions would be limited to countries "other than those whose governments engage in a consistent pattern of gross violations of internationally recognized human rights. "
    • Section 116 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as amended in 1984: reads in part, "[n]o assistance may be provided under this part to the government of any country which engages in a consistent pattern of gross violations of internationally recognized human rights. "
    • Section 502B of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as amended in 1978: "No security assistance may be provided to any country the government of which engages in a consistent pattern of gross violations of internationally recognized human rights. "
    • Foreign Policy towards the inclusion of Human Rights concerns.

  • New Approaches to the Developing World

    • The foreign policies of the John F.
    • During his presidency, Kennedy established the Agency for International Development to oversee the distribution of foreign aid.
    • Between 1962 and 1967, the U.S. supplied $1.4 billion per year to Latin America.
    • In June of 1962, Nasser wrote Kennedy a letter, noting that though Egypt and the United States had their differences, they could still cooperate.
    • By the spring of 1962, American aid made its way to Guinea.

  • Interventions in Latin America and the Middle East

    • defense treaty called the Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance of 1947, or the "hemispheric defense" treaty, was the formalization of the Act of Chapultepec, adopted at the Inter-American Conference on the Problems of War and Peace in 1945 in Mexico City.
    • It was one of the first defeats of the US foreign policy in Latin America.
    • Relations between the U.S. and Cuba culminated in the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.
    • When leftists were involved in unsuccessful revolts at navy bases in 1962, Betancourt suspended civil liberties.
    • The departure of the European powers from direct control of the region, the establishment of Israel, and the increasing importance of the oil industry, marked the creation of the modern Middle East.

  • Federal Intervention

    • Asked in May of 1962, "What do you see as the big problem ahead for you, is it crime or internal security?"
    • President Kennedy feared the loss of support from southern white Democrats and the impact a struggle over civil rights could have on his foreign policy agenda as well as on his reelection in 1964.
    • It passed both houses of Congress and was sent to the states for ratification in September 1962.
    • In September of 1962, a student named James Meredith enrolled at the University of Mississippi but was prevented from entering.
    • On September 30, 1962, Meredith entered the campus under their escort.

  • The John F. Kennedy Administration

    • Kennedy's foreign policy was dominated by American confrontations with the Soviet Union, manifested by proxy wars in the early stage of the Cold War and coming to the brink of nuclear war with the Cuban Missile Crisis.
    • As one of his first presidential acts, Kennedy asked Congress to create the Peace Corps.
    • President Kennedy initially proposed an overhaul of American immigration policy that later became the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965.
    • On June 10, 1963, Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act of 1963, a federal law amending the Fair Labor Standards Act and aimed at abolishing wage disparity based on sex.
    • On November 21, 1962, in a cabinet meeting with administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) James E.

  • American Indian Relocation

    • The resolution established that Congress would pass termination acts on a tribe by tribe basis.
    • Most such acts included the cessation of federal recognition and all the federal aid that came along with that designation.
    • The termination of these tribes ended federal government guardianship of and recognition of those tribal governments and US jurisdiction of tribal lands.
    • The final termination (the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska) began legally in 1962—after Kennedy signed the order (at the bequest of Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall)—and culminated in 1966.
    • In 1975, Congress had implicitly rejected the termination policy by passing the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act, increasing tribal control over reservations and assisting with funding to building schools closer to the reservations.

  • Indochina: The Background to War

    • In spite of military resistance, by 1888 the area of the current-day nations of Cambodia and Vietnam was made into the colony of French Indochina (Laos was later added to the colony).
    • Control of the north was given to the Viet Minh under Ho Chi Minh, and the south continued under Emperor Bao Dai (former Emperor of Vietnam and at the time the chief of state of the State of Vietnam or South Vietnam).
    • Then the U.S. government gradually began supporting the French in their war effort, primarily through Mutual Defense Assistance Act, as a means of stabilizing the French Fourth Republic in which the French Communist Party was a significant political force.
    • In September, Truman sent the Military Assistance Advisory Group (MAAG) to Indochina to assist the French.
    • The original caption of this photo reads: "A French Foreign Legionnaire goes to war along the dry rib of a rice paddy, during a recent sweep through communist-held areas in the Red River Delta, between Haiphong and Hanoi.

  • Intervention in Latin America

    • By using U.S. armed forces in Brazil and in the Dominican Republic to overthrow communist and socialist leadership and institute governments that were more favorable to the U.S., Johnson's administration continued a long legacy of United States control in foreign affairs.
    • The coup d'état and civil war in the Dominican Republic was rooted in the election of Juan Bosch as president in 1962, following a period of political instability after the assassination of long-time dictator Rafael Trujillo in 1961.
    • Opposition groups, known as Loyalists, launched a military coup d'état in 1963, effectively negating the 1962 elections by installing a civilian junta dominated by former members of the Trujillo regime and headed by Donald Reid Cabral, an American-educated businessman.
    • By April 29, 1966, a cease-fire was negotiated, and on May 5 the Act of Santo Domingo was signed by Colonel Benoit (a Loyalist), Colonel Caamaño (a Constitutionalist) and the Organization of American States (OAS) Special Committee.
    • After the Coup of 1965, Jaquin Balaguer became president of the Dominican Republic.

  • Conclusion: Truman and the Beginning of the Cold War

    • The expansion and escalation sparked more crises, such as the Suez Crisis (1956), the Berlin Crisis of 1961, and the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962.
    • The Truman Doctrine became the foundation of American foreign policy, and led, in 1949, to the formation of NATO, a military alliance that is still in effect.
    • The act also created the CIA and the National Security Council.
    • The Berlin Airlift was one of Truman's great foreign policy successes; it significantly aided his election campaign in 1948.
    • President Truman signs the National Security Act Amendment of 1949 with guests in the Oval Office.