On the Origins of the United States Government's International Population Policy

Based on documents obtained from the archives of the Agency for International Development and on the author's interviews with participants in the field, this article describes the evolution of America's international population policy. The analysis highlights the perceived negative view of the consequences of rapid population growth that were popular among American policy makers during the 1960s. Also discussed are organizational and policy changes that took place within the Agency for International Development's population programme during its early years. The article concludes that the origins of America's international population programme were fundamentally conservative, and based on the assumption that a certain demographic balance was an essential feature of a properly ordered social life.