Who was “The Ugly American“? Most of us know the phrase, but few are aware that the original Ugly American is the hero of the novel by the same name. Published in 1958, the book described American diplomacy in the fictional Southeast Asian nation of Sarkhan. Obvious similarities to actual events in nations where the US and the Soviet Union competed for influence (especially Vietnam) made the book a hot topic of discussion in the press and the congress.
The “Ugly American” was Homer Atkins, an American engineer who went to Sarkahn with a desire to help local citizens improve their own lives. Doing hard, physical work in the fields to design and build simple devices like a bicycle-powered irrigation pump often left Atkins sweaty and dirty, and that “always reminded him that he was an ugly man”. “Ugly” was a title that he applied to himself, not to others.
In 1958 the Soviet Union was spreading communist ideology into emerging nations around the world. They portrayed the US as an empire-building colonial power enriching itself and capitalists by dominating smaller nations. Our diplomatic corps was focused on influencing rulers (often dictators), business owners and military leaders. The Soviets were interested in the general citizenry, especially any movements to depose rulers or to create wealth among peasant classes and divide them from rulers. As far away as Vietnam and as close to home as Cuba, the Soviet approach was succeeding.
After reading “The Ugly American” a Senator from Massachusetts was so impressed that he bought a copy for every one of his Senate Colleagues and encouraged them to read it. Less than two years later, that Senator became President John Kennedy. Only six weeks into his presidency, Kennedy created the Peace Corps by executive order. Its mission was to recruit highly qualified volunteers, educate them about local language, customs and issues, then send them to emerging nations as representatives of America. Kennedy’s decision to create the Peace Corps was inspired by The Ugly American and based on his belief that talented young Americans working alongside local residents without compensation would be excellent ambassadors for our nation and our values.
Today, the Peace Corps remains active and successful, but it is woefully undersized to address needs and opportunities around the world. The Peace Corps budget for 2016 is $410 million. For comparison, the Department of Defense spent $437 million on military bands in 2015. The estimated cost of the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars (including derivative costs such as benefits for veterans) for the years 2003-2014 is $5 trillion. That is almost $52 million per hour. Eight hours of these wars costs more than a full year of Peace Corps funding.
The Ugly American argued that, “…we spend billions on the wrong aid projects while overlooking the almost costless and far more helpful ones…”. Today budget deficits are massive and our world seems increasingly dangerous. We should re-examine our spending, the results that we are getting, and our national values. Despite great sacrifice, uncountable deaths and heroic effort, military intervention in Iraq, Afghanistan, and throughout the Middle East has not produced peace, safety, prosperity or stable nations. Instead we see civil war, poverty, terrorism and refugees that no nation wants to accept. Americans and Europeans now fear home-grown terrorists who have been nurtured by brethren in the nations that we have invaded.
The three Middle Eastern nations with a history of Peace Corps involvement, Jordan, Morocco, and Tunisia have plenty of problems but seem more stable and less susceptible to anarchy and terrorism than their neighbors. We’ve supported a wealthy and radical dictatorship in Saudi Arabia that seems increasingly vulnerable to popular uprisings because oil revenues are down. The most stable large nation in the region appears to be Iran – the only one that has avoided our efforts at military driven nation-building.
One can only wonder what the Middle East might be like today if we had consistently offered Peace Corps style nation-building that helps individuals and families improve their own lives based on their own values rather than regime change and military solutions. People of the region might be more inclined to treat us well if we send “Ugly Americans” to help them build the kind of nation that they want rather than arming them to fight each other. Under the circumstances, it seems like an idea worth trying.