Title: Constitutional Rights Foundation
Headings: Articles
Articles
BRIA 20 3 a The Marshall Plan for Rebuilding Western Europe
The Idea of the Marshall Plan
Making the Marshall Plan
Selling the Marshall Plan
The Marshall Plan in Action
Did the Marshall Plan Succeed?
For Discussion and Writing
For Further Information
Cold War
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Marshall Plan
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Truman Doctrine
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Greek Civil War
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GlobalSecurity:
Czechoslovakia
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George C. Marshall
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Harry S. Truman
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George Kennan
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Dean Acheson
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Content: On June 5, 1947, Secretary of State Marshall made an innovative proposal in a speech at Harvard University. Noting the disastrous conditions in Europe, Marshall called for a “joint effort” by the European nations to plan the rebuilding of Europe. The United States would provide “friendly aid” in drafting the plan, but this was really “the business of the Europeans.” Marshall promised that once the plan was in place, the United States would provide the necessary funds to make it work. “ Our policy,” Marshall made clear, “is directed not against any country or doctrine but against hunger, poverty, desperation, and chaos.” Making the Marshall Plan
Marshall even invited the Soviets to participate. But Kennan predicted that the Soviet Union and Eastern European countries under its control would refuse to join. He believed that Stalin, the Soviet dictator, would never go along with an American-inspired plan that required the free exchange of economic information. As predicted, the Soviets refused Marshall’s invitation to help develop a plan to rebuild Europe. They charged that his plan was a scheme to dominate Europe economically.