Title: The Marshall Plan Speech: Rhetoric and Diplomacy – America in Class – resources for history & literature teachers from the National Humanities Center
Headings: The Marshall Plan Speech: Rhetoric and Diplomacy
The Marshall Plan Speech: Rhetoric and Diplomacy
What rhetorical and diplomatic challenges did Secretary of State George Marshall face as he delivered his 1947 Marshall Plan speech?
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Content: For what purpose was it written? The Marshall Plan, officially known as the European Recovery Program, is generally considered one of, if not the, most successful American foreign policy initiative since World War II. Nonetheless, historians still debate its goals. Was it a mission to relieve suffering, a plan to replicate American-style capitalism in Europe, a stimulus to boost the American economy, a brake to prevent Europe from backsliding into fascism, a strategy to frustrate Soviet expansion, or all of those things? Whatever it was, it was not on America’s diplomatic agenda when World War II ended in 1945. The War left Europe devastated. People throughout the continent were poor; starvation was widespread. Countries did not have the money to rebuild roads, bridges, factories, and homes. Banks and other financial institutions were in ruins.