February 2, 1966
Page 1932
INTERNATIONAL HEALTH AND EDUCATION
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, during the past many months, we have taken unprecedented steps toward improving the educational opportunities and the health of Americans. The health and education measures enacted by the previous session of this Congress will be affecting the quality of American life for generations to come.
We would be foolish indeed, however, to think that our own Nation could long survive as the only light in a world of darkness, or that we could enjoy our health and happiness in a world of disease and despair. If we in the United States are to have the society and the good life that we desire, then we must also concern ourselves with the welfare of less fortunate peoples abroad.
In many parts of the world, years of struggle lie ahead if people are to achieve even those levels of education and health which we in America enjoyed generations ago. In fact, so great has our own progress become that unless extraordinary efforts are made, the gap between our standards of living and those of less fortunate nations will continue to widen. Such a disparity between the rich and the poor, between the "haves" and the "have nots," will feed the tensions and frustrations which produce instability, violence, and destruction..
This realization lies behind all of our programs for assistance to foreign nations. It is the philosophy expressed by President Johnson in his special message to the Congress on international health and education. The International Education and Health Acts of 1966, which the President has proposed, are merely the latest attack on the scourges of ignorance and disease.
I urge support of the President's proposals. I do so because, in my opinion, he has presented to us a program which is at once humane and practical. It is a program, which both in the field of education and the field of health will guarantee maximum utilization of the resources we put into it.
In the President's proposals, we see a continuation of a highly desirable trend in the administration of U.S. foreign aid. That trend is to apply our resources in such a way that they stimulate self-help on the part of nations receiving our assistance. The training of teachers is particularly productive of improvement. For each teacher becomes the center of a circle of knowledge that can grow continually larger. This is true whether the teacher be an American sent overseas to train other teachers, or whether he is a foreign citizen brought to our shores for training.
In this and other ways, the bills proposed by the President will enable our schools and colleges, our governmental institutions and private organizations to focus their efforts on teaching others to help themselves. In a world where the need is so enormous, and where even the vast resources of the United States, nevertheless, have limits, this is the only kind of foreign assistance which meets the test of commonsense. It deserves our support.