THE MARSHALL PLAN

The Marshall Plan

Table of Contents

Thesis Statement1

Introduction1

Reason Why for the Marshal Plan2

President's thoughts of the Plan2

Overview of the Plan2

Nations Involved4

What was their capacity?4

What were their thoughts of the Plan?5

Issues of getting supplies to West Germany6

Negotiations with the Russians6

Was their conflicts with the Russians.7

Was this the beginning of the Cold War?8

Was the US the only country flying in supplies?9

Was the Marshal Plan successful?10

The Good it brought to Germany10

The Bad it brought to Germany12

Overall Goal of the Marshall Plan13

Summary14

Conclusion14

Endnotes16

The Marshall Plan

Thesis Statement

The United States and other allies realized that there was a need to reconstruct Germany's infrastructure, economy, and they worked together developed a plan to construct the European Union and a Plan to issue supplies to the people of Germany.

Introduction

This historical treatment of the Marshall Plan has a long-standing history of its own, one that is being added to nearly constantly. A subset of these works has tried to focus specifically on the domestic aspects of the Marshall Plan, though historians have not paid significant attention to the propaganda strategies of labor unions in supporting the Marshall Plan, either within the United States or in Europe.

Early works, such as Harold Hitchens' Influences on the Congressional Decision to Pass the Marshall Plan, have simply placed labor unions as one of the many special interests angling to influence Congress one way or another on support for European aid. Hitchens is nevertheless useful for his précis of the various arguments for and against the Marshall Plan. For its supporters, who Hitchens identifies as internationalist Democrats and Republicans, the ERP was a bulwark against communism, an economic measure which would help maintain the conditions of prosperity, a device to continue America's booming export trade, and as aid to others in the tradition of American charity and generosity.

Reason Why for the Marshall Plan

President's thoughts of the Plan

According to the president, the United States had another reason for wanting to assist its European allies. Although Marshall made no mention of it in his speech, there was every reason to fear that a Europe weakened by lack of food, housing, and employment opportunities would be susceptible to communist influences, perhaps even a takeover by the Soviet Union. The communist parties in France and Italy were then on the rise, communist guerrillas were creating innumerable problems in the Greek civil war, and Turkey was considered to be extremely vulnerable to the Soviet threat. The Truman Doctrine had already been passed by Congress as a means of providing economic aid to Greece and Turkey to keep them stable and to hold the subversive elements at bay. The Marshall Plan would turn its attention to the stability of the entire European continent. When President Harry S. Truman spoke before Congress on December 19, 1947, he articulated the ideals he believed the country would serve by enacting the Marshall Plan for European Recovery (also known as the European Recovery Program, ERP): The American tradition of extending a helping hand to people in distress, our concern for the building of a ...