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The Institute on world affairs the Institute on world affairs held each year on the San Diego State campus brings together statesmen scholars military leaders and businessmen from all over the world. The purpose of this institute is the understanding of the problems and challenges that face man gain through knowledge and discussion. This year's theme was toward a new world. And here to introduce the session speaker professor is Zygmunt Nagorski. Ladies and gentlemen with great reluctance I have to introduce my distinguished opponent. Again born in California. And again in California. And. Now in lower than our city area he has an ad from Stanford. And it has been a university graduate fellow. Later I taught at Princeton
Stanford University of Virginia where he was director of the School of Foreign Affairs. At Heidelberg Germany. And now at the University of Oregon is the director of the Institute of International Studies and overseas operations. He has also lectured at several European universities and colleges was a Ford Foundation faculty fellow Fulbright lecturer and also lectured in the University of Madrid. I. Would give the very distinguished scholar lastic background of our speaker. He's going to talk to us. Today on the subject of some reflection on the Truman Doctrine the under development of human resources. And I want simply to remind him that the Truman Doctrine was one of the specific tangible manifestations of American nationalism.
Mr. Chairman. I've. Observed that you're very media man you couldn't even wait for my talk before you started to need to discuss it. As a matter of fact he has been reluctant to introduce me. Ever since I came down here even before he discovered that I disagree with him on a lot of his observations about last it was because last night he tried to talk me into a deal whereby I would limit myself to a half an hour. And WAY that come in the first period. He said sort of in passing out talk for an hour or so and you can have the rest of the time and he came awfully close to that 15 minutes this morning so I can see where I would have come out in this all day although the reluctance is very
deep rooted. He also said he was going to introduce me this morning since I said I was a slow starter and I preferred to come late he said he would introduce me as being asleep here on the stage. Which I was prepared to say better that I'd be asleep before he talks and after a tough. Lesson Augusta is quite right that I have on and I am a fan and academic institution but I have an honorary Ph.D. from you know is generalised. He gives it to me every year and I'm always grateful I think that's one of the reasons I come here because it's very reassuring. This is my fourth year here. I don't you think that it's time now that I got to be a leader I've been here I've been here for years. And. I work as hard as some of you I'm sure. You. Have.
I think personal done well unlike Anthony who said to Clay Proctor that he had not climbed the hill to make a speech to her. I did climb the hill to make a speech and now I am. Ready to talk to two audiences. The audience in front of me which I find very friendly and sympathetic. And the audience behind me which I already know is not so sympathetic friend. My topic is some reflections on the Truman Doctrine. My plan begins with that. Some reflections on the Truman Doctrine the under development of human resources. This is a somewhat more mundane topic than the rather. Elevated and time talk of presentation of a previous speaker. I'm going to come right down to earth and talk mainly about one country
focus my remarks particularly on Greece. And. Like the Roman deity although I claim no. Deity Janos I will look both ways I'm going to look back on the early years of an American foreign aid program. Which I think was a command and its scope and not just national. And look ahead to the clearly emerging needs for the development of nations that are still living below their realizable potential. That said I will speak mainly about Greece in terms of applying this concept but certainly some of my remarks illustrate situations in many other countries and I hope that some of you will apply these as you think about other developing countries. Briefly by way of background with the end of World War Two others in mid 1945 Greece which had been a battlefield for many years.
Was a prostrate country. More than a thousand villages have been burned cities had been heavily damaged transportation facilities were virtually destroyed. Emergent and leaving even fishing fleets were almost totally destroyed. Port installations current can now were in shambles. Livestock poultry draft animals that almost disappeared. Food stocks were dangerously low. Children of Greece 85 percent to break this staggering figure or country in. The middle of the 20th century. And inflation had wiped out practically all savings. Besides what the Germans have done to destroy Greece that was further great destruction by the Greek communist guerrillas who began in December 1944 to ravage the already battered country in the name of liberation. The first use of a term which we have now come to here.
Despite the abundant relief and rehabilitation efforts by something over four hundred million dollars. And by the British government and then by the United States. Greece was still in a desperate condition in late 1946. Only British intervention military intervention for the military forces. And U.S. aid had kept Greece from a communist takeover. But in early 1947 the British found themselves unable to continue their military and economic aid to Greece as the United Kingdom itself was in the throes of an unprecedented drain on their meager resources. So again Greece called for outside help through repeated appeals to the United States and to the United Nations. In late February 1947 United States government faced a crisis of major proportions. For by this time Turkey was also a target for communist pressure. And
combine this threatened the loss of eastern Mediterranean to expanding Stalinist communism. A wide ranging effort within the American government. Almost every department of the government seemed to me at times that everybody except the writer of the time aboard was in the act. Concentrated on. How the American government should deal with this crisis. And on March 12th President Harry Truman appeared before a joint session of the U.S. Congress. To deliver this very carefully and very urgently policy message. The heart of his message which constitutes a genuine watershed in American foreign relations. It was a sequence of three short paragraphs of enormous portent for the future of the world. In these paragraphs President Truman declared and I quote. I believe that it must be the policy of the United States to support free
peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures. I believe that we must assist free peoples to work out their own destinies in their own way. I believe that our help should be primarily through economic and financial aid which is essential to economic stability and orderly political processes. Since the promulgation of this message which immediately was labeled the Truman Doctrine and the supporting yearly legislation 20 years now by the Congress of the United States. The United States has poured out. Well over one hundred billion dollars of assistance. To over 100 countries in the form of economic aid military aid and training technical assistance and educational
programs of many kinds. In the 20 years since President Truman's historic message Greece has received from the United States one point two billion. In U.S. economic assistance. And one point nine billion in military assistance. Turkey in the same 20 years has received 2.3 billion. In economic assistance and two point eight billion in military aid. These amounts combined of three point five billion for economic aid and 4.7 billion for military aid. You can see represent a grand total of over 8 billion dollars for the two countries. And we are still sending aid to both countries. In March 1947 President Truman asked for 400 million dollars for the combined program of aid to Greece and Turkey. Those of us who worked on the message and on the estimate of figures had really nothing to go by. The figure
for Turkey of one hundred million was simply drawn out of the air at midnight one night because we had to have a figure by the next morning. Had anyone then dreamed that the bill for aid to these two countries say nothing of the grand total. Would exceed 8 billion dollars and we are still supplying As I said aid to both. I'm sure that President Truman would not have had a favorable congressional response as promptly as it was given. And it might not have been a sponsor if at all. Well we're not only grossly underestimated the amount and duration of the need for US assistance in Greece and Turkey. As in some other underdeveloped countries. But we also miscalculated the kind of assistance that would be needed. As I noted potent German he stated that our help should be primarily through economic and financial aid. Which is essential to economic stability and orderly processes. But it may be seen from the figures cited above the military aid program came to be
the predominant part of our assistance in both Greece and Turkey. Perhaps it is symbolic in this connection that the Greek government. Part of March of this year presented an ancient helmet of a great warrior alleged to be from the Battle of Marathon. To Mr. German to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the German doctor. I can't think of a better gift for Captain Harry. And perhaps as I say symbolic as well as a touching recognition of his role in this whole period. Of miscalculations in U.S. foreign military assistance needs are not there for what appear new to the present administration. The explanation of course is that our enemies abroad are never reluctant about upsetting our plans calculations or budgets. Whenever they can do so and whenever plans quiet. Five
rather long on this background it's because I know that. Most of the students. I've had only Vietnam to cloud your days. The fact of your youth you know. Little certainly nothing by experience was World War 2 and its aftermath. Including the Korean War as well as the Greek Civil War which lasted. Almost. To the time that the Korean War began. But this is something that I think needs to be brought back into. Brought first perhaps into your minds because you carry a good share of the burden of those earlier wars. As well as the wars which are now in your own time. Well given this massive input of U.S. aid. To Greece and focus mainly on peace one might in fact one should ask if it is achieved its intended goal of economic stability
and orderly political process. It's obvious to all who read The world knows. That Greece recently experienced a military coup and is now governed by a military. Junta regime they have taken the offices of the constitutional. And duties of minister prime minister and minister of economics etc. but it is a military regime. Constitution has been set aside. The commission is now to work drafting a new constitution. But for the time being this is a military government and of course it should be noted that Turkey also in 1960 experienced a military coup. Meeting subsequently the execution of a former president. A former prime minister and. Still has something less than my fully stable government.
There's instability in the Greek economy despite some notable improvements in recent years. And I. Think that it's accurate to say that tensions in all sectors of the society the leg quite close beneath the surface. Seem to me that this was so and I was in Greece in May. Perhaps of the atmosphere of the military regime but yet one sensed very much. The. Nearness to civil war the kind of tension that surely would have exploded into violence had they marred a leftist part of the center Union Party won the elections which had been scheduled for May 25th. So one of them should ask the second question I think. What is the reason. For the limited success in achieving the goals set in 1947. Well we should note
first of all that even the massive foreign aid from the US and elsewhere has been coming in from European. Organizations and European countries. At this massive aid has been only a small part of the Greek requirements for new capital for equipment for goods of all kinds for training and technical assistance needed to replenish the wartime and the post-war losses in Greece. No outside country or any international agency regardless of its input of resources and services could repair quickly the havoc of war occupation and internal strife that Greece had experience. Secondly. One should note that only about one quarter of Greece is suitable for cultivation or other productive agriculture. There's been a major problem for Greece for decades to provide adequate food for her growing population. In
1939 just before the war produced about 70 percent of our food requirements. By 1965. And even in the sixty six. Figures are not all together. Greece was still importing food. There do you at the beginning of World War 2 Greece had a very modest industrial establishment. Whose production or output represented only about 15 percent. Of the gross national product. Industry was concentrated in textiles food processing a few chemical industries metalworking paper tending and building materials essentially. Consumer requirements. Since. 1953 with the. Creation of some
instruments of stabilisation. Industrial production has improved. It has come up slowly but steadily. It is now. Producing a substantial part of the national income of Greece. In fact it has risen to a level three times that of just before World War 2. But still it is decidedly below the agricultural output and therefore Greece remains essentially an agrarian. Country. Production of energy especially electrical power. Has enjoyed a phenomenal increase. And perhaps in this area we see the beginnings of what may be the way out for Greece and the further expansion of our industry and also in agriculture. National and per capita production of risen studly in recent years. And in fact in
the last two years has had an overall growth rate of somewhat better than 6 percent. This rate compares favorably with those of the West European countries. With which Greece is now allied as a member of NATO. And more recently as an associate member of the European Economic Community. It's a good growth rate. But the starting point was very low. And hence the per capita income of grace. Is only five hundred forty five dollars. Which puts her well below. The level of her associates in the European Economic Community. A closer examination of the overall rate of growth. In Greece. One can see certain notable imbalances. In 1966 for example agricultural project production at only two
percent. That's right. While services rose to about 7 percent. Income from abroad rose to 11 percent. These are remittances from Greeks living and working abroad mainly that. And from investments abroad. And industry which I know have quite a healthy increase of 16 percent. In addition to the low growth rate in agriculture it's worth noting that there was little variation from traditional crops. Dependence still essentially on all of us. Both of which take up extensive parts of the Greek Philippine. Tobacco. Most of our current leading surplus supply but still production continues in service activities and in industry there was some innovation.
But still. Nothing very startling moving rather slowly. So I believe that there are some major deficiencies in Greek development to be noted. And some important questions to be asked. That require some difficult answers both in Greece and in the United States. First we might ask if the recent advances in the development of services in industrial and energy production and to a lesser degree in agriculture production. Have been equaled by the development of human resources in Greece. Or more specifically. What is the level of utilization of manpower in Greece. Now. One of the emphases opportunities in Greek education is Greece preparing her young people for the kind of expanding industrial society and self-sufficient agriculture. That their leaders and planners are striving to create with new capital new
legislation. Is Greece equipping herself with the manpower resources that will be needed in order for Greece to be. A strong competitor and not just a colony in the European Economic Community which she has joined. In brief is Greece ready are preparing adequately to meet the challenges of the crucial next decade. Taking the theme of this year's Institute. Is Greece really getting ready for the new world. Secondly if we pursue some of the questions just raise we might ask ourselves if we have done what we might have done. All that we might have done to help Greece develop more fully her human resources along with the better exploitation of her natural resources. Did we see early enough. The need for manpower training programs for young Greeks to match the plans for industry. Did we contribute enough to
support expensive experimental programs in education and technical training. Did we do enough soon enough to support the American sponsored schools in Greece as demonstration centers and possible models for Greek schools. Have we as an industrialized nation helped as fully as we might in stimulating the political and economic growth in Greece. There been many studies of the Greek economy and society including yearly surveys of economic conditions in Greece and especially the good studies by the organization for European Economic Cooperation and some of these reports one finds brief notice about the development of human resources. But it is only in very recent years that this theme has been given much attention or any special studies. Development apparently has been believed to proceed with only scanty regard for the people who make it possible. Even now. Just this month. I found two articles.
One a very good article on industrialisation and the other A. Speech which was subsequently published on investment opportunities in Greece but not a single mention not a single reference of the human resource factor of trained skilled and innovative manpower as being as an essential ingredient in modern industrialization. Despite a very serious deficiency in the statistical information on Greek employment data it is quite apparent that manpower in Greece has not been fully utilized and much manpower has been lost through contract work abroad and by permanent emigration. There's a very high level of underemployment and Greece's total labor force of about three and a half million workers. The locus last night touched on some of these points of not just employment but under-employment which is so common especially in the rural sectors of most of the developing countries.
An industry which uses about trying to percent of the total labor force. There's been no marked increase in employment and even the decline of about four and a half percent in 1964 as compared with 1963. The overall unemployment situation has been relieved by increases in the areas of commerce and services including the civil service. Which is about one quarter of the labor force. But the chief relief unemployment in Greece has been through the emigration of thousands of the potential labor force. Who have been willing to go far from home to find work. I should say a few words about this. Feature of immigration for it has long been a marked aspect of Greek demography from 1951 to 1960. About two hundred fifty thousand immigrants permanent emigrants are recorded. But in 1959 the pace of emigration began to accelerate. Due in large part to demands for Labor in West Germany and in industrialized countries. 1959 for example.
Twenty three thousand six hundred eighty four departures the next year forty seven thousand. Seven hundred. The next year fifty eight thousand almost fifty nine thousand eighty four thousand nine hundred sixty three. And then finally a figure of one hundred thousand. This. Figure of a hundred thousand. Sixty four was a rate of. One point two percent of the total population. As against about point eight percent compared with the beginning of the century. Another was at the very time when Greece was. Attempting to move into a period of modernization and development. He was losing. Rapidly accelerating rate the very people that should have been kept at home and used in this development. Perhaps the most disturbing element in the immigration statistics is the age group which is most affected. Age Group of 20 to 40 years has borne the brunt of
immigration. In 1962 for example at the beginning of a five year plan over 18 percent of the total population in this age group emigrated. And they constituted well over half of all Americans. Broadening us a little bit to include 15 to 20 year olds. Four fifths of all the immigrants came in that. Larger age group which included a third of all the population. And in recent years this emigration has cut heavily into the very age groups which were already depleted by war and post-war privation and malnutrition. In brief the most vigorous elements of the population are being drawn off fast. Returning immigrants are not recorded perhaps as many as 30 percent return especially among those who've gone to West Germany. On contract arrangements. But here it's significant that a very high percentage of the
Greek workers in Germany are engaged in heavy industry. Largely unskilled workers. Smelters of metal working plans. Hence they are learning skills to the extent that they're learning any skills or learning skills that are not likely to be used in Greece to any considerable extent. For some time. Besides the damage to the developing demographic potential of the country the loss of such large numbers of young Greeks to other countries puts a prospect of a heavier burden on those who remain and those who return.
Series
Toward a new world
Episode
Reflections on the Truman Doctrine, part one
Producing Organization
San Diego State University
Contributing Organization
University of Maryland (College Park, Maryland)
AAPB ID
cpb-aacip/500-610vv28c
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Description
Episode Description
This program presents the first part of a lecture by Dr. John Gange, University of Oregon.
Series Description
Lectures recorded at San Diego State College's 25th Annual Institute on World Affairs. The Institute brings together world leaders to discuss issues in politics, culture, science, and more.
Date
1968-03-12
Topics
Global Affairs
Public Affairs
Media type
Sound
Duration
00:30:03
Embed Code
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Credits
Producing Organization: San Diego State University
Speaker: Gange, John
Speaker: Nagorski, Zygmunt, 1912-2011
AAPB Contributor Holdings
University of Maryland
Identifier: 68-9-14 (National Association of Educational Broadcasters)
Format: 1/4 inch audio tape
Duration: 00:29:50
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Citations
Chicago: “Toward a new world; Reflections on the Truman Doctrine, part one,” 1968-03-12, University of Maryland, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC, accessed March 29, 2024, http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-500-610vv28c.
MLA: “Toward a new world; Reflections on the Truman Doctrine, part one.” 1968-03-12. University of Maryland, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Web. March 29, 2024. <http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-500-610vv28c>.
APA: Toward a new world; Reflections on the Truman Doctrine, part one. Boston, MA: University of Maryland, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Retrieved from http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-500-610vv28c