It took Secretary of State George Marshall only 12 minutes to outline a plan to make unnecessary Europe after World War II , though he planned to keep his remarks even briefer . Rather than addressing Congress or the newly formedUnited Nations , Marshall chose a Harvard beginning manner of speaking on June 5 , 1947 , as his platform to uncover the U.S. State Department ’s strategy for reviving the flagging European economy . punctuate poverty relief above political conflict , Marshall speak about his late namedMarshall Planin simpleton , concrete spoken language . Days afterward , officials in the United States and Europe initiate discussions about what would be accredit as the most significant alien policy commutation in U.S. history .
An Economy in Ruins
World War II , which came to a close in 1945 , had devastate Western Europe . A one-fourth of Germany ’s urban lodging had been ruin , combined with a 70 pct drop curtain in gross domesticated product [ reference : Hoover ] . Industrial production across the continent was at 60 percent of prewar level [ source : Machado ] . Though some nations verged on convalescence , a drought follow by a brutal wintertime in 1946 destroy wheat harvests and intensify the scarcity of commodities . The gap between moment and exports widened , worsened by the repayments of state of war debt . Will Clayton , Under Secretary of Economic Affairs during the Truman establishment , celebrate the postwar wreckage in Europe and described , " 1000000 of people … slowly starve " [ source : Hindley ] .
Lure of Communism
In the facial expression of arise malnutrition , homelessness and unemployment , Communist regimes gained popularity . By 1947 , the French Communist Party harbour a sizeable comportment in the home parliament , and Italian Communists had won comparable political influence . As relations between the United States and the Soviet Union cool , the U.S. government activity feared the escalation of Communist bread and butter in response to the dilapidate European economy .
The Marshall Plan Speech
Amid this flimsy international environment , George C. Marshall was slated to welcome an honorary doctor’s degree from Harvard . In a letter from Marshall to the university president , the secretary of state explained that he would say a few words of thanks at the commencement ceremony and " perhaps a footling more " [ source : Hindley ] .
address a lay gang gave Marshall more leverage . Strict isolationist in Congress might have dismissed the recovery strategy like a shot , ram him into an uphill battle . Instead , the largely conservative Harvard interview and the medium in attending applauded the plan , paving the way for its reception on Capitol Hill .
What Was the Marshall Plan?
Truman Doctrine vs Marshall Plan
Prior to Marshall ’s spoken communication , President Truman declare theTruman Doctrinein March 1947 . Casting aside a former insurance of noninterference , Truman toast U.S. documentation to any country refuse authoritarian ruler . The Chief Executive made this speech communication in reaction to the Greek government ’s civic war against the risingCommunist Party , which the U.S. government believed had benefit from Soviet support . The fundamental alien policy shift of the Truman Doctrine , soon followed by the Marshall Plan , co-occur with the emersion of theCold War .
What Was the Purpose of the Marshall Plan
TheEuropean Recovery Plan(the Marshall Plan ’s prescribed statute title ) had a publicize commission of economical redemption for Western Europe , with an intentional byproduct of Communist containment . Though the Soviet Union was initially invited to join the program , it quickly turn down because of its refusal to disclose its economic and industrial assets . That expiration provided the United States with a diplomatic boulevard for rooting out Communism in substitution for assistance .
Conference of European Economic Cooperation
One of the requirement of the Marshall Plan was that European nations start the program . Rather than the United States step in and give whatever amount it deemed necessary , the government left it up to European diplomats to work collectively and acquaint a uniform request . To do so , British and French strange ministers organized the Conference of European Economic Cooperation ( CEEC ) in Paris in July 1947 . The CEEC , composed of 17 participating nation , ab initio necessitate the United States for $ 29 billion over four year . The U.S. government declined the sum , want greater detail on precisely how the countries would diffuse and apply the subsidisation .
While Congress haggled over the Economic Recovery Plan bank bill , a Soviet - back coup d’etat push through in the former Czechoslovakia in February 1948 . That upshot sic off Cold War alarm bells and instigated bipartisan consensus to pass the Marshall Plan into law .
When Was the Marshall Plan Enacted?
On April 3 , 1948 , President Truman signalize the Economic Cooperation Act into law , okay $ 13 billion of pecuniary and export assistance over four eld for enter country . The greenback also created the Economic Cooperation Agency to oversee the funding dispersal . That figure represent more than the centre of all late foreign help ever doled out by the United States [ source : Schain ] . In Europe , the Organization for European Economic Cooperation ( OEEC ) meet the undermentioned week to forge out the land - specific appropriations .
Effects of the Marshall Plan
The Marshall Plan did n’t happen inside a government - insulated vacuum . While officials in haste sketched out their plans for the foreign funding , a vastpropagandacampaign also got underway . The participating countries publicly heralded the Marshall Plan as a saving grace with posters , leaflets and other media .
Marshall Plan Political Cartoon
One such booklet distributed by the Ministry of Economic Affairs in the Netherlands hold a cartoon proclaim " Without the Marshall Plan , yourbreadwould be scanty and so would your shaver , " above an image of platinum-blonde children dressed in rags [ source : Library of Congress ] .
The diaphanous size of the grant demanded the American world ’s blessing as well , and that pro - Marshall Plan message extended into the United States . The May 1948 issue of Kiplinger was devote to taking advantage of the Marshall Plan ’s economic ripple effect .
How Did the Marshall Plan Generate Economic Growth?
sure enough , U.S. industries benefit from the jolt of export to Western Europe . After all , the lifeline was n’t just a slew of cash ; it included foodstuff , agricultural equipment and machinery . This also helped establish the United States as a longstanding business deal cooperator and the global economic power plant of the 2d half of the twentieth century .
During the Marshall Plan period , Western Europe ’s aggregate gross internal product jumped by more than 32 percent ; agricultural product rose 11 pct above the prewar level , and industrial output increased by a whopping 40 percent [ informant : Hogan ] . This was n’t all due to the Marshall Plan : Local resource accounted for 80 - 90 percent of the Das Kapital formation . But what the Marshall Plan did was to provide support at a critical prison term .
" It facilitated essential imports , eased production bottlenecks , boost higher rate of uppercase formation , and help to suppress inflation — all of which go to gain in productivity , to improvements in trade , and to an geological era of social peace and prosperity more durable than any other in forward-looking European history,“wrote Michael J. Hoganin a fiftieth anniversary remembrance for the U.S. Diplomatic Mission to Germany .
Soviet Reactions to the Marshall Plan
Not surprisingly , the Soviet Union sat out of the celebratory jig over the Marshall Plan , and historians have since debated whether the plan exacerbated theCold Wartension . The Soviet Union fought back against Marshall Plan propaganda through the Communist Information Bureau , orCominform . They also introduced a Ulysses Grant bundle called theMolotov Planfor Eastern bloc nations [ source : Schaff ] . Ironically , if the Soviet Union had stay affect in the Marshall Plan , the United States would ’ve in all likelihood swallow its offer for economic support because it would n’t finance a communistic government [ author : Crawley ] .
Marshall Plan End Date
On Dec. 31 , 1951 , the Marshall Plan terminate six months earlier than originally planned . The Korean War had shifted the U.S. foreign insurance policy focus , and Western Europe was get a wartime manufacture boom . Two year later , George C. Marshall received the Nobel Prize for spearhead the European Recovery Plan .
The event of the program have continued in Europe . The postwar years were the first sentence that westerly European land had worked as closely for mutual gain . That external cooperation require by the Marshall Plan laid the base for the formation of the European Union ( EU ) . In an interesting twist of economic destiny , today ’s gross domestic intersection in the EU and the value of its currentness exceed that of the United States .
