Point Four program, U.S. foreign aid project aimed at providing technological skills, knowledge, and equipment to poor nations throughout the world. The program also encouraged the flow of private investment capital to these nations. The project received its name from the fourth point of a program set forth in President Truman's 1949 inaugural address. In the cold war the U.S. government used Point Four to win support from uncommitted nations. From 1950 until 1953, Point Four aid was administered by the Technical Cooperation Administration, a separate unit within the Dept. of State. During the administration of President Eisenhower it was integrated into the overall foreign aid program.
See J. B. Bingham, Shirt-sleeve Diplomacy: Point 4 in Action (1954).
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