Marshall Plan 60th Anniversary - VOA Story

On June 5th, 1947, U.S. Secretary of State George C. Marshall told the graduating class at Harvard University that Europe and the world were in a perilous state. World War II had devastated the continent and he said the U.S. must do everything it could to return Europe to economic health. Marshall's Harvard speech was the foundation of the so-called Marhsall Plan, a four year, $13 billion foreign aid program.

It was 1947, two years after the guns fell silent. Europe's great cities were in ruins. There was hunger. The worst winter in memory brought the worst harvest of the century. Liberated from the Nazis, western Europe was in danger of sliding into chaos.

The prime motivation for launching the Marshall Plan was fear of chaos in Western Europe. You saw this if you went to the movies every weekend. On the beginning of the feature they would show problems in Europe on the newsreels. Starving women and children affect American hearts. So that there's the aspect of women and children in Western Europe. But also the strength of the communist party in countries like France and Italy was very worrisome.

Communist parties were powerful in France and Italy. Eastern Europe was occupied by the Soviet Army. There was massive unemployment. Europe's industry was at a standstill.

Immediately after providing emergency supplies of food and clothing, the U.S. Marshall plan focused on economic chokepoints. Coal mines were the first to benefit. Without coal to fuel factories and mills, Europe's economy would never recover.

Winston Churchill called the Marshall Plan the 'most unsordid act' in history. The recovery from the most destructive war in history was dramatic.

Western Europe's gross national product went up 32 percent in the 4 years of the Marshall Plan's existence, sparked a generation-long economic boom and provided the framework for what eventually became the European union.

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News & Politics

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• Marshall
• Plan
• Anniversary
• WWII
• World
• War
• Europe

[LazerKidz2]

Wow you're pretty ungrateful. I'm not sure wether or not you are from France or another European country, but without the Marshall Plan your country would be ruled by a tolitarian government and all of Europe would be Communist. America helped YOUR COUNTRY in its time of famine, poverty, and a crippled economy.

[xgalba00]

I'm Czech and we haven't received anything from Marshall plan. Europe would exist without Marshall plan, I'm pretty sure, but it would be maybe different kind of Europe, like communistic China

[0000romano]

ao' ma che voi i sordi?

[Fleur114]

USA gave 13 Billion Dollars to Europe. Without USA Lots of Europeans would have starved to death.

[judhar2004]

America gained an incredible amount from the Marshall Plan. Loans were guaranteed by national reserves in Europe, and prevented countries like Britain from ever regaining the foreign markets they had lost during the Second World War. However, the welfarism of Europe would not have been possible without the loans that were granted by the Marshall Plan.

[YogaNate79]

Without the Marshall Plan and the USA, Europe would not exist today.

Us Americans are always called upon when we have to go babysit the British, Franch, and Germans during their wars.

[LazerKidz2]

Thanks for the video! I'm writing a research paper on the European Recovery Plan (Marshall Plan) and this sure did help!

[MarshallPlan4Ellas]

(PART III) Finally, I think that French people like to tease us Americans also, because I used to be stationed at a joint American/French Air Force Base (Istres) and the French guys there always tried to joke with me about American food etc.. I didn't take it personally, just like French people shouldn't take our jokes personally. Think of it as sibling rivalry. If you email me, I'll send you some really funny French jokes and I'm sure you have some American ones?

[MarshallPlan4Ellas]

(PART II) rabelai2006: Now, regarding anti-European etc in the USA.  I don't think that Americans are anti-French or Europe, but our media tends to exagerate this. I lived in the states and my best friend (Pierre) was from France, and yes I teased him (politely) about France not helping in Iraq, but then in the end I apologized because France is a good friend and Americans know this. Most Americans are nice to Europeans and we consider them brothers. Have you had other experiences?

[MarshallPlan4Ellas]

(PART 1): rabelai2006: Apology accepted. A discussion without profanity is much more civil. Now, I appreciate you saying Thank You. I think many people (at least in Greece) tend to take the negative reaction against the US Govt without realizing that the US Govt is not ONLY Bush. We have so many nice, caring individuals who work for the US Govt on a daily basis that try to make life nicer for the world. One example is the Peace Corp. It helps countries improve their infrastructure..