Marshall Plan aids economic recovery in Europe (1 gen 1948 anni – 1 gen 1952 anni)

Descrizione:

Marshall Plan: Aid program begun in 1948 to help European economies recover from World War II.


Soviet expansionism was but one part of a larger unfolding drama. Europe was sliding into economic chaos. The winter of 1946–1947 brought the worst economic conditions in memory to a continent still reeling from the war. People starved, wages stagnated, and consumer markets collapsed. For both humanitarian and political reasons, Truman’s advisors believed action was necessary. A global depression might ensue if the European economy, the largest foreign market for American goods, did not recover. Worse, unemployed and dispirited Western Europeans might join communist movements, threatening political stability. Secretary of State George C. Marshall came up with a remarkable proposal: a massive infusion of American capital to rebuild the European economy. In a June 1947 speech, Marshall laid out a daring challenge to the nations of Europe: work out a comprehensive recovery program, and U.S. aid would finance it.


This pledge of financial assistance, known as the Marshall Plan, still required approval from a skeptical Congress. Republicans castigated the proposal as a huge “international WPA,” their criticism harkening back to the New Deal. But on February 25, 1948, in the midst of a congressional stalemate, Stalin supported a communist-led coup in Czechoslovakia. Congress rallied and voted overwhelmingly to approve the financial plan. Over the next four years, the United States contributed $13 billion to a highly successful recovery effort. European industrial production increased by 64 percent, and Communist parties faded in Western European politics. Markets for American goods grew stronger and fostered economic interdependence between Europe and the United States. However, the Marshall Plan also intensified Cold War tensions. American officials invited the Soviets to participate but insisted on terms that virtually guaranteed Stalin’s refusal. An embittered Stalin did just that, and ordered Soviet client states to follow his lead.



The Marshall Plan

A poster declaring, in German, that “The Marshall Plan Helps Europe.” A waiting family sees the arrival from the United States of goods labeled “ERP,” which stands for the European Recovery Program, the Marshall Plan’s official name.

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