ABSTRACT
Foreign aid has historical roots that extend back to the nineteenth century. French aid to the United States played a crucial role in the Revolutionary War against Great Britain, and US military aid to allied states helped counterbalance Nazi Germany during World War II. In 1946, the United States shifted its European development funds back to bilateral mechanisms by creating the European Recovery Program. The European Recovery Program, better known as the Marshall Plan. There was a rivalry between the US and the Soviet Union for strategic and political alignments. Foreign aid programs in both countries were part of a broader foreign policy. “Following on the heels of US military victory in World War II, the success of the Marshall Plan contributed mightily to the belief that the limits of US foreign policy were on a distant and receding horizon”.
