How Successful Was The Marshall Plan

Truman gave his iconic Truman Doctrine speech in front of a joint session of congress. This speech outlined the broad strokes of the Truman Doctrine as well as marked the declaration of the Cold War as well as sets the direction of American foreign policy for the next 40 years. Truman used this speech which was broadcast on the radio across the country as a form of going public to help his doctrine pass through congress. The Truman Doctrine finically aided Greece and Turkey in their ongoing war against communism as well as established Truman’s containment policy towards communism. A year later in 1948 when Truman planned to spread a program much like the Truman Doctrine across Europe in the form of the European Recovery Program. Truman knew that due to his high unfavorable rates he would need to use bargaining this time instead of going public to enact his plan. The Marshall plan is born with Truman recruits popular Secretary of State General George C. Marshall to be the face of the plan in order to garner support. While Marshall was the face of the plan Truman worked diligently behind the scenes to garner support for the plan from republicans. The Marshall Plan ultimately passed and in the end sent 13 million dollars in relief funds to Europe to aid in rebuilding from World War II in addition to holding at bay the treat of communism spreading. Truman became a shining example of how going public and bargaining both of there place in the

The American policy of Marshall Aid sparked both huge appraisal and significant opposition, and to this day it is debated whether it was purely a policy of self-interest and an imposition of America’s political and economic views on a weak and vulnerable Europe, or alternatively one of the greatest acts of altruism and generosity in modern history. It was enormously successful, ‘It was the most unambiguously and triumphantly successful of all America’s post-war policies’ , and helped to create a foundation on which Europe could become an economic power. While there were benefits to America which may have been interpreted as attempts to increase American power and inflamed opposition to the Marshall Plan, the administering of economic aid

First and foremost, a great deal of Europe’s success would not have happened without its initial aid from the United States. After helping destroy so much of the continent, the U.S. pumped billions and billions of dollars back into the European economy through The Marshall Plan. It was named after Secretary of State George C. Marshall, who said “The world of suffering people looks to us for leadership. Their thoughts, however, are not concentrated alone on this problem. They have more immediate and terribly pressing concerns where the mouthful of food will come from, where they will find shelter tonight, and where they will find warmth. Along with the great problem of maintaining the peace we must solve the

The most effective Cold War plan was the famous Marshall Plan. Some historians may believe that the most effective plan was Containment, but they are wrong. These plans are considered effective for the lives the protect, the safety the provided, and the money they gave. This the safest, most lucrative, most effective Cold War plan was the Marshall Plan.

George Marshall occupied the Secretary of State position during Truman’s presidency. He impacted Truman’s foreign policies regarding Europe. He believed that in order to halt the expansion of a communist regime, European countries needed to become stronger and autonomous. Marshall understood that limiting communism would require time and effort. He recognized that to become independent, European countries would primarily have to rely on the aid of other countries in order to regain a foothold. He did not however, want these countries to depend on Russia for assistance, as it would allow Russia

Following World War II, all of Europe was left in a clutter of disarray. Instead of watching Europe endure the hardships left from the war, the United States went to Europe’s aid. From 1947 to 1952, European nations experienced a time of massive growth. The Marshall Plan called for the nations of Europe to draw up a program for economic and political recovery from the war. The plan was a response to American concerns that communist parties were growing stronger across Europe and that the Soviets might intervene. The Marshall Plan also reflected the belief that US aid for European economic recovery would create strong democracies and open new markets for American goods. After World War II, The European Recovery Program was instrumental in economically

The tensions that were between the Soviet Union and the US were growing. Nuclear threats from both sides caused hatred. In document three the excerpt from Secretary Marshall's speech he explains how he suggests a plan/policy for the reconstruction of Europe. Because the world was in such a dismal the United States tried to help

The speech was created primarily Charles Bohlen, a Soviet expert and Marshall’s special assistant, and later revised by Marshall. Department officials, including George Kennan and William Clayton saw the Marshall Plan as a way of restricting Communist growth in Europe, by strengthening the struggling democratic European nations . After the end of WWII in 1945, the majority of Europe was in ruins; over a third of the European industry was destroyed by the war, resulting in weak economies, and millions of people unemployed and starving, causing low morale. As economies were not improving at a rapid enough pace, combined with high unemployment and a hungry population, people started to look for change. Communism began to look promising, and was becoming increasingly popular in Europe through rebels and partisans. In an attempt confine the spread of Communism, Marshall was sent to Moscow to negotiate with Stalin. Initially, Stalin welcomed the possibility of Soviet participation in a U.S funded European reconstruction program. However, Stalin opposed the “idea of a coordinated multilateral aid programme, which was seen to threaten the Soviet political and economic position in Eastern Europe”, and withdrew all support and insisted that

The Soviet ambassador to the United States was Novikov at the time. Novikov suggested that the United States wanted to form a Western European alliance directly against the Soviet Union. He felt that the Truman Doctrine was the first step towards this goal, but it had been too harsh to attract any European support. Then he said that the Marshall Plan represented a more appealing tactic to involve the Western Europeans in the creation of an anti-Soviet alliance. However apparently the United States was not just pressuring Western Europe, but Eastern Europe as well. This partially, made the Soviet Union very angry. Maybe if the Marshall Plan had been limited to just Western Europe, maybe it would have been less threatening to the Soviet

“The originally propagated view that the Marshall Plan was an altruistic endeavour … has long been dismissed.” Instead, “The overwhelming body of literature looks at the Marshall Plan either from a political and diplomatic or from an economic viewpoint.” Overall, the Plan was primarily motivated by the former, rather, than the later, albeit both were heavily intertwined. This is because containment and a fear of Soviet expansion categorised US foreign policy for much of the postwar period, with economic considerations being the method used, to enact this policy of containment.

The Marshall Plan is also known as The European Recovery Program (Marshall Plan). The plan involved Europe

Continuing to act as police of the world and leader of capitalism, Truman drafted the Marshall Plan. The Marshall Plan, which complemented the Truman Doctrine, "was a program of large scale economic and military aid to Europe." Considered by some, this was the most "innovative piece of foreign policy in American History. Where over the next four years the United States contributed over $12 billion to a highly successful recovery effort." The Soviet Union stilled commanded a blockade on highway, rail, and river traffic to West Berlin. As a result, the United States responded by entering into a peacetime military alliance; this being the first time since the American Revolution.

With over 13 billion dollars in aid being delivered to Europe under the Marshall Plan, from 1948 to 1952 many European economies grew at an unprecedented rate. The mutual assistance of the aid led to softening of national competition between many countries in Europe, and served the dual purposes of modernization and cooperation for European countries. At the same time as the Marshal plan was being implemented, the Soviet Union enacted what was know as the, “Cominform” that sought to counter the American influence in post war Europe. This program organized by the Kremlin would work with communist parties in European countries through propaganda efforts to

The United States responded to the “Hawks”, President Harry S. Trueman still wanted and continued to keep communism “bottled up”. In result the Marshall Plan was created (Doc. 2). World War Two had left Europe in pieces, and the United States wanted to gain support from them. The plan was to help Europe rebuild. Between 1948 and 1952, the United States provided more than twelve billion dollars in aid. The United States helped reduce the spread of communism in Western Europe. The Trueman Doctrine basically “bribed” Greece and Turkey to think again about communist expansionism. The United States provided them with four hundred million dollars in military and economic aid. The Berlin Airlift also stopped west Berlin from falling into the Soviets arms. The United States and Britain provided helicopters and planes to drop food, fuel, and other supplies to about two million Berliners everyday. Little children would call these planes “chocolate bombers”.

In June 1947, the United States announced the Marshall Plan, intended to help economic recovery in Europe and thus prevent the spread of Communism in a Europe that was increasingly becoming “a breeding ground of hate”, thus providing a comforting environment for the rise of the Marxist ideology. At first, the Marshall Plan seemed to be a success, with economic aid worth $17 billion being made available to Europe and ensuring the protection of democratic governments in Turkey and Greece. Marshall Aid did help economic recovery in Europe, erasing unemployment and improving living standards greatly. Most Western European nations were happy to accept American aid in order to redevelop their economies. However, Stalin forbade any Eastern European countries from accepting the Plan and setup organizations like the Cominform and Comecon instead, to further tighten Stalin’s grip over Eastern Europe.