Marshall Plan
From Encyclopædia
The Marshall Plan, formally known as the European Recovery Program, was a program of U.S. economic and technical assistance to 16 European countries after
world War II. Its objectives were to restore the war-ravaged West European economy and to stimulate economic
growth and trade among the major non-Communist countries.In early 1947, as the COLD WAR between the
United States and the USSR began to take shape, U.S. policymakers concluded that Western
Europe would require substantial economic aid in order to attain political stability. This program, announced by Secretary of State George C. MARSHALL in an address at
Harvard University on June 5, 1947, proposed that the European countries draw up a unified plan for economic
Reconstruction to be funded by the
United States. The USSR and other countries of [[Eastern
Europe|Eastern Europe]] were invited to join, but they declined. The Economic Cooperation Administration was established by the
United States to administer the plan, with Paul G. Hoffman as head. The 16 West European countries then formed the Organization for European Economic Cooperation to coordinate the program.From 1948 to 1952 the 16 participating countries received $13.15 billion in U.S. aid. The program succeeded in reviving the West European economy and setting it on the path of long-term
growth.Alonzo L. HambyBibliography: Arkes, Hadley,
bureaucracy, the Marshall Plan, and the National
interest (1972); Gimbel, John, The Origins of the Marshall Plan (1976); Hogan, M. J., The Marshall Plan (1987; repr. 1989); Mee, Charles L., Jr., The Marshall Plan (1984; repr. 1985).
