The World Bank

The World Bank

The above image is directly from The World Bank Group’s website, not to be confused with The World Bank.

However, The World Bank’s goal is to reduce poverty on a global scale. Since it was established in 1944 that means FDR was president.

At the time of its inception supporting the White House meant supporting domestic and foreign policy, and usually that policy meant the involvement in the affairs of other countries.

 I work in the Archives of the LBJ Presidential Library and just yesterday was working on an interview of President Gerald Ford. He talked about politicians that wanted to limit US involvement with other countries (Isolationism) and his impressions of LBJ. He also talked briefly about the Marshall Plan which helped European countries and in effect helped stop the spread of Communism.

Before watching this interview I never realized how involved politicians are with each other. They serve on committees together, much of which isn’t seen by the public/media. And they have committees for everything.

In 1968 The World Bank started focusing on poverty in the developing worlds thanks to LBJ’s appointment of Robert McNamara as the president. McNamara was the Secretary of Defense during the Vietnam War under both Kennedy and Johnson.

While McNamara was the 5^th president, the 2^nd president was John Jay McCloy. Why am I bringing up McCloy? McCloy was later appointed to the Warren Commission by LBJ, to investigate the assassination of JFK. Who else was on this seven man committee? Gerald Ford, and he talked about this in the very interview I spent hours working on.

I’m not surprised that it was LBJ who shifted the focus from European countries to the developing world. Say what you want about how he handled Vietnam, but you can’t deny what LBJ has done for the poor. His fight for the basic needs of the people started a lot more locally than you think.

The World Bank was started with the best intentions and is shifting to please critics while staying committed to its goal. I’m not foolish enough to believe that there are no hidden political agendas. Usually The World Bank is influenced by the Presidency and voting power. The US has the most voting power at 15.85%. But presidencies change; the mission goal stays the same.