RSS Feed
News
Doc of the Day: The Marshall Plan
04/03/10
On April 3, 1948, President Harry S. Truman made the Marshall Plan a reality by signing the Economic Cooperation Program into law. First proposed by U.S. Secretary of State George C. Marshall in a 1947 commencement address at Harvard University, the plan provided $13 billion in U.S. funds to help rebuild and stabilize the European economy in the wake of World War II.
Reeling from wartime destruction and loss of life, Europe faced the threat of famine and political chaos in the conflict’s aftermath. Marshall argued that direct financial assistance by the United States would help restore the continent’s industrial and agricultural productivity and slow the expansion of communism to struggling nations. The foreign aid provided under the Marshall Plan was widely credited with helping to rebuild Europe’s economic infrastructure, and the successful initiative earned Marshall the Nobel Peace Prize.
Read THE MARSHALL PLAN