Southern Congressmen and foreign aid legislation

Our purpose is to find the reasons why southern Congressmen have increased their "no" votes on foreign aid from 25 per cent in 1953 to approximately 50 per cent in the years 1957 through 1961. First, the history of the United States and its foreign aid programs will be reviewed, followed by an examination of the 1961 Foreign Assistance Act with special emphasis given to the role played by southern Congressmen in the enactment process. Then we will turn to the history of the South, the changes occurring therein, and the answers of the Congressmen, themselves in search of answers to what appears to be a southern swing toward isolationism.