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Gaither Report: Report of the Study for the Ford Foundation on Policy and Program
CHAPTER II
PROBLEMS OF HUMAN WELFARE
The
Study Committee has analyzed the problems of modern society in the
light of its conviction that the advancement of human welfare lies
in the increasing realization by men everywhere of democratic
objectives.
Among the
numberless problems which beset mankind, the Committee concentrated
upon those which now appear most important—those which affect
the greatest number of people and most severely restrict their
achievement of the goals of democratic society. Its findings are
set forth below.
THE THREAT
OF WAR
1. America
in the International Scene
The Committee
and its advisers agree unanimously that the most important problem
confronting the world today is to avoid world war—without
sacrifice of our values or principles—and to press steadily
toward the achievement of an enduring peace. There was varying
opinion concerning the imminence and probability of war but full
unanimity upon its consequences: the total involvement of all
peoples, the vast destruction of human life and material resources,
and the possible obliteration of the conditions necessary for
democratic survival.
In analyzing
the problem of war, the Committee was guided by its conviction that
efforts to remove the basic causes of war must be unremitting. The
current exigencies of international tension demand and deserve our
serious and sustained attention; and the Study
Committee