Plainly plenty of work was waiting to be done. The question was: would the State Department do it? I proposed to have a shot at finding out. - Dean Acheson

Among the roles the Budget Bureau (now OMB) was that of constant critic and improver of administration in the federal executive branch. In my day this work had fallen to the products of graduate schools in civil administration. Their ideas...seemed to me theoretical nonsense.

a "mixture of frustration and progress is the daily grind of foreign affairs."

The test for aid to poor nations is therefore whether it makes them capable of being productive. If it fails to do so, it is likely to make them even poorer in the – not so very – long run.