Despite all the argument, there has never really been much chance that the current Congress would kill the foreign aid program, a keystone of U.S. foreign policy. But there have been grave doubts about what kind of program will eventually be passed. Even longtime aid friends have been grousing about waste and doubtful returns from huge expenditures. The Administration's plea for long-term aid commitments has angered Congressmen who cherish their annual right to review spending. Some U.S. industries, pressed by foreign competition, are complaining. And the State Department has notably failed to convince Capitol Hill critics that real administrative reform is in the works. Still, last week, prospects for passage of the presidential aid package increased sharply—and some of the help came from unexpected quarters.
The outlook began to brighten when Jack Kennedy threw his personal prestige into the fight. He summoned a newly created foreign aid pressure group, the Citizens Committee for International Development (headed by TWA Board Chairman Warren Lee Pierson), to the White House and used the meeting as a sounding board for a plea to the American people. "I consider this bill to be probably the most vital piece of legislation in the national interest that may be before the Congress this year," said the President. "We cannot live in an isolated world. And I would much rather give our assistance in this way than have to send American boys to do it." Then, all week long, the President invited key congressional committee members of both parties to his office for the Kennedy soft-sell charm treatment. He listened to all their gripes, then argued vehemently that putting the program on a firm base of at least five years is the surest way of improving both administration and effectiveness. He even made certain that such aid foes as Louisiana's Representative Otto Passman and Brooklyn's John Rooney were exposed to a soothing sunset on the Potomac by including them in the Mount Vernon reception for President Mohammed Ayub Khan of Pakistan (see The Capital).
Pope & President. Then the protocol-shattering frankness of President Ayub's 50-minute talk to a joint session of Congress gave the program an unexpected boost. After spelling out Pakistan's groping toward democracy and its dependence on U.S. financial aid, Ayub threatened: "We are pressing against you today as friends. If we make good, I think you will in some fashion get [your money] back. If we do not make good and if, heaven forbid, we go under Communism, then we shall still press against you—but not as friends." The "affluent" U.S., said Ayub, really has no choice: "You have to give it to us because so much is involved." It was plain talk—a blunt attempt to intervene in what is essentially a private U.S. argument—but it was delivered in cultured British accents, interlaced with humor, and astonished Congressmen broke into long applause.