The Marshall Plan: America's Investment in Post-WWII Europe

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The Marshall Plan was proposed by Secretary of State-- George C. Marshall at Harvard University on June 5, 1947. Marshall mentioned the terrible condition of Europe at the beginning of the speech, and he convinced that US should set up an aid program for Europe to recover their economy. The Marshall Plan was a 4-year aid program which the United States had to give over $12 billion to the countries in Western Europe to help them rebuild their economy since most part of Europe was devastated by World War 2. $12 billion was not a small amount of aid which was a huge cost for the United States. Why would the Marshall Plan still be approved and what was its benefit for the United States? First, for politic, the Marshall Plan can be a political …show more content…

Since most of the productivity of Western Europe countries were destroyed, even they received the aid, they had to buy several equipment like machines from the US as they didn’t have the ability to produce them immediately. Also, there were food shortages in Europe at that time, those countries had to buy food and supplies from the US. Therefore, the aid would eventually go back to the United States and improve the economy like boosting production and increase profits of the United States. The Marshall Plan was more like a loan than a pure giveaway of aid. Then, the Marshall Plan can make Western Europe became more rely on the United States and even make the United States a stronger country. Once they rely on the United States, the US can control the economics of Europe so that the US can take over the leadership of global economics. Also, the Marshall Plan greatly helped Western Europe to recover their economics. “By 1951, six years after the war and at the effective end of the Marshall Plan, national incomes per capita were more than 10 percent above pre-war levels.” (De Long and Eichengreen 22) which was much faster than the recovery of GDP after World War 1. Therefore, the Marshall Plan could help both the Western Europe and the United State and it can be the tool which make the United States be the emerging leader of global …show more content…

De Long and Eichengreen thought that “the Marshall Plan should thus be thought of as a large and highly successful structural adjustment program.” (De Long and Eichengreen 5). It was because the post-World War 2 reconstruction of Western Europe was much faster than the previous World War and compared to Eastern Europe. Charles Kindleberger said that Postwar Europe was a “supergrowth” since the Marshall Plan created a dynamic economic growth which much stronger than the growth of Europe previously. Also, the Marshall Plan boosted European Integration since it was considered as necessary to maintain the peace and growth. The Marshall Plan was used as a guideline to form integration, thought it was failed, however the thought of European Integration eventually grow as the form of European

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