Abolishing the Octopus

We should like to make a proposal which might not solve the problems of Latin America but might remove an obstacle to good relations within the Western Hemisphere. The problem haunting U. S. policy makers is, to use professional language, “the image” this country casts on the minds of Latin Americans. “The image,” of course, is a polite word for hate. Wholly devoted to the Madison Avenue approach of “selling America,” our policy makers think of a manufactured image which has no relation to the one actually existing in people’s heads. They would like to create the image of a benevolent and helpful big brother who, almost unselfishly, or perhaps through enlightened self-interest, extends aid and defense contributions to his weaker neighbors. But even if successful, this campaign will not substitute a “new” for an old image of the United States; it merely will create a second image alongside the first one. The U. S. government is all right, people may be heard to say, but unfortunately it is helpless against the big American companies which are all too conspicuous in Latin America.

Foreign aid not only is costly in terms of money; it also is arbitrary and involves a poli...