ABSTRACT
Modernization as a theory emerged after World War II in the context of the Cold War and was most influential in the 1960s. It was the climax, and in a certain way, also an ephemeral endpoint of developmental thinking. Narratives of progress had already shaped the political thinking in the Americas in the 19th century. In the US, the ideas of individualism, human rights and political liberalism, crucial for the declaration of independence from and, with the increasing European immigration the perception of a civilizing mission for the subcontinent gained ground. Ideas of progress often implied political efforts to achieve economic and social change. Already during the New Deal, the US had implemented modernizing programs of which the regional development agency Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) was the best-known and served as a model for development abroad. Under Truman, aid for Latin America played just a minimal role.
