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In Focus: The Marshall Plan's 60th Anniversary

“It is logical that the United States should do whatever it is able to do to assist in the return of normal economic health in the world, without which there can be no political stability and no assured peace . Our policy is directed not against any country or doctrine, but against hunger, poverty, desperation and chaos.”
George C. Marshall, June 5, 1947

Sixty years ago, in June 1947, U.S. Secretary of State George C. Marshall delivered a commencement address at Harvard University that would change the course of European history. Marshall emphasized Europe's failing economies, proposed U.S. assistance and challenged war-torn nations to work together. Inspired by his vision, seventeen Western European countries set aside old rivalries to cooperate and rebuild.

Historians say the events of the late 1940s in Europe and the United States were so unique that it is unlikely the Marshall Plan ever could be repeated in another setting. However, they also say the plan -- considered one of the great foreign policy achievements of the past century -- is well worth studying as the definitive model of how to organize and run a successful international government program.

The plan offered massive American financial aid if war-torn European governments could cooperate to spend the money for the benefit of the entire region. European governments also had to agree to match American contributions with their own funds.

The offer was generous. But the United States had a high degree of self-interest as well. An economically strong Europe no longer would require U.S. assistance, would be able to resume buying American products and could prevent a Communist takeover of the Continent.

Italian children reading about the Marshall Plan. (©Library of Congress)

“Recovery,” said  Larry I. Bland, senior director of the George C. Marshall Foundation, was the key word in the European Recovery Program – the formal name of the Marshall Plan. The goal was not to develop trade and expertise where none had existed, but to help restore Europe to its former wealth. Western Europe already had a working legal system, respect for private property and ownership, and centuries of evolution toward democratic governance.

Josef Joffe, editor and publisher of the German newspaper Die Zeit, wrote in 2006 that a lasting lessons of the Marshall Plan, aside from its focus on cross-border cooperation, was a strategic and far-sighted willingness to “advance American interests by serving those of others.”

(June 2007)

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