The_Open_Door_deel1

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In 1943 Liberia and the U.S.A. signed a Mutual Aid Agreement
under which Liberia obtained Lend-Lease funds. In December 19 43
a U.S. Geological Mission arrived in Liberia and the Agreement
for the construction of the Monrovia Free Port was signed in the
same month. The change of power in Liberia in January 1944 did
not affect U.S. interest in and support of Liberia which was not
always inspired by altruistic motives. The presence of American
Army personnel in Liberia, which was based on the 1942 Defense
Agreement, resulted in U.S. concern in the health hazards to
which their citizens were exposed while being in Liberia.
In 1944, the desire to protect American troops against tropical
diseases and to prevent the transmission of these diseases to
the U.S.A. led to the decision to send a U.S. Public Health
Mission to Liberia. Also in that year a U.S. Economic Mission
to Liberia arrived in Monrovia.
Initially the U.S. Government had wished to increase relations
with Liberia because of this country's strategic position.
However, political, ideological and economic interests gradually
superseded military considerations. For the U.S.A. Liberia
offered excellent possibilities as to the supply of valuable
natural resources for the domestic economy as well as an
attractive area of investment for U.S. companies. The U.S.
Geological Mission to Liberia, which had surveyed the country's
mineral resources, the presence of Firestone which had
contributed significantly to the U.S. war industries, the
'dispatch of a U.S. Economic Mission whose purpose it was to
assist Liberia in the production of strategic materials and
agricultural commodities, as well as the decision to construct
the Free Port (initially conceived as a military base but
constructed after the Second World War) all confirm this
conclusion. Furthermore, Liberia provided the U.S.A. with the
opportunity of obtaining a bridgehead on the African continent
from which important political developments could be observed
at close quarters and from which the continent could easily be
penetrated and further explored. It was also of great importance
for the U.S.A. to have an opportunity of making Liberia a model
state, a western democracy based on the system of private enterprise,
in a continent which was on the threshold of determining
its own fate.
The U.S. assistance to Liberia covered nearly all areas-
Assistance was given in the establishment of a vocational
training center (as part of the Booker Washington Institute in
Kakata), a public health center (for the training of nurses) as
well as agricultural projects. During 1945 and 1946 the U.S.
Army Air Force made aerial photographs of Liberia which greatly
contributed to the first survey ever made of Liberia's timber
resources by the Economic Mission in 1947and 1949> The
importance of the Free Port and the Bridge over the St. Paul
river as well as of the | 4 million loan from the Export-Import
Bank for the success of the Liberian Mining Company were
mentioned before (see Chapter 7).