Title: What was the goal of the Marshall Plan? | Yahoo Answers
Headings: What was the goal of the Marshall Plan?
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Anonymous
What was the goal of the Marshall Plan?
4 Answers

Content: This was by no means a "give me" in getting through Congress. To be fair the Truman Administration had to initially offer aid even to Russia, and much to Truman's relief they balked at needing any help from the US. The Plan itself provided just parts of what nations needed to rebuild, be it steel, raw materials, seeds for crops, machinery or coal just to name a few items. Each nation provided a list of what it needed and the US then worked with each nation to prioritize what was available. In actuality it also helped stabilize Western European governments, lessened chances of communist uprisings, feed many millions and provided needed jobs and jump started the entire European economy. It also provided jobs for American workers, and a market for American goods as the European trading partners became viable again. Not only was it in the American interest to pursue the Marshall Plan, plainly as Harry Truman would have said, "It was the right thing to do". ...Show more
llordlloyd
Lv 6
1 decade ago
Thinking Americans like Marshall and Truman realised the depression had contributed directly to the causes of World War 2- they couldn't ignore poverty and a lack of economic development as 'someone else's problem'. The communists were challenging capitalism- if liberal democracy could not make European standards of living better, why bother with it? They would be far more likely to accept communism.