New Directions" in the 1970s[edit]
During the early 1970s, foreign aid became one of the focal points in Legislative-Executive differences over the Vietnam War.[23] In September 1970, President Nixon proposed abolishing USAID and replacing it with three new institutions: one for development loans, one for technical assistance and research, and one for trade, investment and financial policy. Consistent with this approach, in early 1971 President Nixon transferred the administration of private investment programs from USAID to the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), which had been established by foreign aid legislation at the end of 1969.
The Congress did not act on the President's proposal for replacing USAID, but rather adopted in 1973 a proposal supported by USAID management for "New Directions" in foreign aid. By amending the Foreign Assistance Act, the Congress provided that U.S. aid should emphasize "Basic Human Needs": food and nutrition; population planning and health; and education and human resources development. President Nixon signed the New Directions act into law (PL 93-189) in December 1973.
Also in 1973, the "Percy Amendment" of the Foreign Assistance Act required U.S. development assistance to integrate women into its programs, leading to USAID's creation of its Women in Development (WID) office the following year.
A further amendment of the Foreign Assistance Act in 1974 prohibited assistance for police, thus ending USAID's involvement in Public Safety programs in Latin America, which in the 1960s were, along with the Vietnam War, part of the U.S. Government's anti-Communist strategy.
The reforms also ended the practice of the 1960s and 1970s in which many USAID officers in Latin America and Southeast Asia had worked in joint offices led by State Department diplomats or in units with U.S. military personnel.