"Starved people cannot be taught democracy. To talk about the will of the people when you aren't feeding them is perfect hogwash."
- Ancel Keys, 1945
As the US entered the Cold War, spreading democracy became a priority. The finding of the MNSE that starving people cannot be taught democracy, led to a shift in US famine response through the Marshall Plan in 1946, and the establishment of Food for Peace in 1954.
Marshall Plan Food Aid, Getty Images, 1947.
The Marshall Plan and Food for Peace provided food and other humanitarian aid to foreign countries. In addition to famine prevention, these programs had more strategic motives: to strengthen alliances with democratic countries and prevent the spread of communism.
"The US is not morally required to give food aid to everyone who's starving. You might think it shows a deep seeded problem with the moral character of our country that we think we shouldn’t give food aid to communists, but we're not morally required to do it."
- Samuel Asarnow, Personal Interview, 2018
Doctor US Congress, Minneapolis Star, 1947.
"The President shall exercise the authority contained  herein (1) to assist friendly nations independent of trade with the U. S. S. R. or nations dominated or controlled by the U. S. S. R. for food, raw materials and markets, and (2) to assure that agricultural commodities sold or transferred here under do not result in increased availability of those or like commodities to unfriendly
nations."
- Food for Peace Act (PL 83-480), 1954
Food for Peace 5c U.S. Stamp, 1963.

Conflicting Motives​

"European recovery... is essential to the maintenance of the civilization in which the American way of life is rooted. If Europe fails to recover, the people might be driven to surrender their basic rights to totalitarian control."
- Harry S. Truman, "​Special Message to the Congress on the Marshall Plan," 1947
"Our policy is directed not against any country or doctrine, but against hunger, poverty, desperation and chaos."
- George C. Marshall, "The Marshall Plan Speech," 1947
"Our food has perhaps done more than any word or deed to demonstrate the superiority of the free-enterprise system over Communist dictatorship." 
- John F. Kennedy, "Letter Accepting Resignation of George McGovern as Director of the Food for Peace Program," 1962
"[Food for Peace] proclaims our commitment to a better world society-where every person can hope for life's essentials-and be able to find them in peace." ​
​- Lyndon B. Johnson, "Special Message to the Congress: Food for Peace," 1966
​As the Cold War de-escalated and American policy shifted away from the containment of communism, US humanitarian aid plummeted, raising ethical questions regarding the use of starvation as an opportunity to spread influence.