John Prior Lewis (March 18, 1921 – May 26, 2010) was an American academic and presidential advisor who was a strong advocate of aid to help build developing countries as a matter of foreign policy.
Lewis later attended Harvard University, from which he received a Master of Public Administration and was awarded a Ph.D. in political economy and government.
[2][3] President Lyndon B. Johnson named him in 1964 to head the United States Agency for International Development's efforts in India.
[1] Lewis was bothered by inequality in the United States and around the world, and was a strong advocate of the argument that aid to developing nations was a necessary component of American foreign policy, despite the budgetary costs and the potential for misuse, a position reflected in books he wrote and co-authored, including his 1995 book India’s Political Economy: Governance and Reform and his 1997 work The World Bank: Its First Half Century.
[1] He died at age 89 of natural causes on May 26, 2010 in Montgomery Township, New Jersey, where he lived at the time of his death in a retirement community.