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Marshall Plan: United States
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The Marshall Plan was the solution. The United States was interested in its political and economic stability and a healthy world economy, other than its friendship with the neighboring foreign countries. President Truman and George Marshall felt that if the U.S. helped Europe regain a healthy economy, they would provide a stronger market for U.S. goods.
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The Marshall Plan was a major programme of economic aid offered to all European states to help them recover from the war. In the end, only the Western democracies got any aid.
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By the time the Marshall Plan ended in 1952 – five years after Marshall’s speech – the United States had invested $13.3 billion, and the years 1948 to 1952 had recorded the fastest economic growth in European history. Industrial production and agriculture exceeded pre-World War II levels. Historians disagree on how large a role Marshall Plan funds played in European recovery. But most believe the Marshall Plan offered an important boost of morale at a critical moment. With Marshall’s plan, the United States committed itself to helping Europe rebuild itself.
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The Marshall Plan was set up by then Secretary of State George C. Marshall in June of 1947 following World War II. Marshall presented a development idea -- that at the time was of unprecedented scope and vision -- for the reconstruction of Europe to enable countries to regain a sense of balance and to move toward greater progress as democracies in post-war Europe. Similar efforts were later created in Japan with the same strikingly positive results as in Europe.
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Criticism of the Marshall Plan became prominent among historians of the revisionist school, such as Walter LaFeber, during the 1960s and 1970s. They argued that the plan was American economic imperialism, and that it was an attempt to gain control over Western Europe just as the Soviets controlled Eastern Europe. Far from generosity, critics argued, the plan was the result of the United States' geopolitical goals.
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From an economic perspective, the Marshall Plan was modeled on a static view of investment. Countries were asked what their present needs were and the U.S. responded. Not a thought was given to the possibility that economic growth alone would provide. It eventually did, but only after the Marshall Plan welfare was cut off and domestic manufacturers were able to find markets for their products.
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