American policy toward such societies should stress our sympathy for the emerging social and professional classes. It should attempt to communicate both an appreciation of professional standards and an understanding of the tremendous powers and potentialities of genuinely open and pluralistic societies. We have every obligation to take seriously their claims to being democratic and free countries; we also have, in consequence, the duty to appraise realistically and honestly their performance and to communicate our judgments to their leaders in frank but friendly ways.

We have emphasized that the modernizing process in each society will take a considerable period of time. With the exception of treaty making, foreign relations were historically concerned for the most part with conditions of short or at least measurable duration. Foreign policy now takes on a different perspective and must become skilled not merely at response but also at projection. American and free-world policies can marginally affect the pace of transition; but basically that pace depends on changes in the supply of resources and in the human attitudes, political institutions, and social structure which each society must generate. It follows that any effective policy toward the underdeveloped countries must have a realistically long working horizon. It must be marked by a patience and persistence which have not always been its trademark.