JFK PROPOSES LATIN AMERICAN ALLIANCE

ALLIANCE FOR PROGRESS

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) Fifty-four years ago today, March 11, 1961, President John F. Kennedy asked Congress to appropriate $500 million to promote economic development, social progress and political freedom in Latin America.  

The ten year program, called the Alliance for Progress, was designed to assist the people of Latin America to...

"build a hemisphere where all men can hope for a suitable standard of living and all can live out their lives in dignity and freedom."

President Kennedy's proposal made good on the pledge made in his Inaugural Address...

"to convert our good words into good deeds...to assist free men and free governments in casting off the chains of poverty."

The Kennedy administration hoped to reverse the steadily deteriorating relations in the 1950s between the United States and Latin America. 

Cuban president Fidel Castro,  whose communist dictatorship was not included in the Alliance, was, not surprisingly, unimpressed by the proposal. 

Castro said:

"We'll see whether the conscience of Latin America can be bought for $500 million....or whether, as we contend, it cannot be bought at any price."

According to the JFK Library, the Alliance for Progress was "the largest United States aid program created for the developing world."

The Library acknowledges that the program failed to achieve many of its goals, but it "supported the construction of housing, schools, airports, hospitals, clinics and water-purification projects as well as the distribution of free textbooks to students."

SOURCES

"Alliance for Progress (Alianza para el Progreso)," www.jfklibrary.org/

"Looking Back:  The Alliance for Progress and Its Legacy," by Lauren Monsen, www.iipdigital.usembassy.gov/

C. Douglas Dillon, JFK & the

Delegation of the Inter-American

Economic & Social Conference

August 19, 1961

Photo by Robert L. Knudsen

JFK Library Image

JFK SPEAKS TO PAYROLL SAVINGS COMMITTEE

JFK+50 Post #1039^
November 5, 2013

JFK SPOKE TO PAYROLL SAVINGS COMMITTEE 50 YEARS AGO TODAY

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) At 4 p.m. 50 years ago today, November 5, 1963, President John F. Kennedy spoke to the members of the United States Industrial Payroll Savings Committee* in the Rose Garden at the White House.

The President expressed thanks for the efforts the committee had made during the year 1963 and added...

"This has been the most successful campaign since 1945.  We will have 1.5 million new participants in this program by the end of the year.  

It assists us in maintaining our debt management policies, and it also assists the people involved. It gives them a greater security, a greater participation in the well-being of this country."

JFK Holds a U.S. Savings Bond

www.treasurydirect.gov

The President was accompanied by Secretary of the Treasury C. Douglas Dillon**, Harold S. Genenn***, president of the International Telephone and Telegraph Corporation and chairman of the committee, as well as Frank R. Milliken****, president of of the Kennecott Copper Corporation.

The Payroll Savings program, which is still in operation today, is described as a safe way to buy Treasury securities on a regular basis.  

Money is deposited directly into a Certificate of Indebtedness from the employee's pay check.  The money goes to buy the employee's choice of Treasury Bills, Treasury Notes, Treasury Bonds, Series EE and I Savings Bonds, or Inflation-protected Securities.

*The committee, made up of industrial leaders who promote the sale of savings bonds in industry, was created by the Kennedy Administration. 

 Its 1st public campaign was held in 1963 as JFK sought to encourage Americans to buy US Savings Bonds.  The result was, according to Treasury Direct, the "largest enrollment of new payroll savings since World War II."

**C. Douglas Dillon (1909-2003) was born in Geneva and graduated from Harvard in 1931.  He served in the Navy in WWII, and was a successful businessman after the war.  Dillon, a Republican, was chosen as Eisenhower's ambassador to France and then under Secretary of State.


***Harold S. Genenn (1910-1997) was born in England and studied accounting at New York University.  He became Senior VP of Raytheon and was CEO of ITT from 1959-1977.

Two interesting quotes attributed to Mr. Genenn...

"Leadership cannot really be taught, it can only be learned," 

"A true leader has to have an open-door policy so that his people are not afraid to approach him for any reason."


****Frank R. Milliken (1924-1991) was a native of Malden, MA.  He received a degree in mining engineering from MIT in 1934 and became chief metallurgist with the General Engineering Company of Salt Lake City.

Frank was later assistant manager of the National Lead Company and CEO of Kennecott Copper Corporation.  He also served as chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.


JFK+50 NOTE:

Click on the link below to the JFK Library audio recording of this event.

http://www.jfklibrary.org/Asset-Viewer/Archives/JFKWHA-237-002.aspx

SOURCES

"Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States, John F. Kennedy, 1963,"  United States Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1964.

www.treasurydirect.gov/


^JFK+50 made our 1st post in November 2010.  Today marks our 1039th posting, the same number of days John F. Kennedy served as President of the United States.  

TREASURY DEPARTMENT FOUNDED

September 2, 1779

TREASURY DEPARTMENT FOUNDED

New York City (JFK+50) Today President George Washington announced the founding of the United States Department of the Treasury.

The newest department of the Executive Branch of the government of the United States created by the Constitution of the United States of America will be responsible for collecting federal taxes & managing federal debt instruments.

The Treasury Department will also direct the minting of the coinage of the United States of America as well as the printing of paper currency.

President Washington is expected to name the 1st Secretary of the Department of the Treasury later this month.

It is rumored that the President will offer the post to Robert Morris of New York.*

*On September 11, 1789, Alexander Hamilton was named the 1st Secretary of the Treasury & sworn into office on that date.  He would propose a plan for reviving the nation's economy as well as funding the national debt.

THE TREASURY BUILDING
WASHINGTON, D.C.

The headquarters of today's United States Treasury Department is the Treasury Building in the Nation's Capital which was built beginning in 1836 & designed by architect Robert Mills.

The Treasury Building is located at 1500 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW.

The statue of Alexander Hamilton in front of the Treasury Building was done by James Earle Fraser.

                    Treasury Building

                     Washington, D.C.

           Photo by Karen Nutini, 2004

SECRETARY C. DOUGLAS DILLON

President John F. Kennedy appointed C. Douglas Dillon as his Secretary of Treasury.

Mr. Dillon, who was born in 1909, like JFK was a graduate of Harvard University as well as a World War II veteran of the United States Navy.

The Secretary was a Republican who worked in Dwight D. Eisenhower's 1952 Presidential campaign & was appointed ambassador to France in 1953.*

*The current 75th Secretary of Treasury serving under President Obama is Timothy Geithner.

            Secretary Timothy Geithner

                US Treasury Department

                        Washington, D.C.

                      White House Photo