European Recovery Plan (ERP)

This is followed by an account of the goals, image and methods of American assistance and concludes with a discussion of their impact on the formation of a united europium.

The europiuman Recovery class was the most important facet of what has been described as " star of the most pragmatically creative phases of [American] foreign policy history" and its eventual broad effects were, to a considerable completion, soften of the original conception (Ellwood 33). The guiding notions of the ERP were first put advancing by Secretary of State George C. Marshall at the 1947 Harvard scratch line exercises where he spoke of the need for an initiative that would assist Europe in its economic recovery. Marshall spoke at duration of the physical facts of European distress such as the termination of life, destruction of cities and factories, and shortages of food and coal. He went to the heart of the problem, however, when he state that such "visible destruction was probably less in force(p) than the dislocation of the entire fabric of European economy" that had taken place to such an extent that "the breakd give of the business body structure of Europe during the war was complete" (quoted in Pogue 526).

Marshall's discussion of the extent of the destruction was not at all exaggerated. Winston Churchill described postwar Europe as "a rubble heap, a ghastly house, a breeding ground of pestilence and hate" (quoted in Maddox 90). In addition to already deplorable conditions harsh drought in the summers of

The vast specialisation of the Communist Party in France meant that Bidault had to consider its feelings and this stricture end the difficult question, for the Americans, of inviting the USSR and the eastern European nations under its control to yoke in the plan. Early advice from George Kennan had convinced Marshall and President Truman that the Soviets would infix in international organizations " unless to gain advantage or to inhibit the work of such groups" and Marshall's subsequent trip to Russia fortify his belief that the USSR would never provide substantive cooperation in either effort that worked against their imperialist aims in Europe (Pogue 155).

Yet confrontation was carefully avoided and in the Harvard speech Marshall said that either nation willing to help in recovery would take full American cooperation but added that "governments, political parties, or groups which try to perpetuate human misery in order to net income therefrom" would be opposed by the United States (quoted in Pogue 527). In 1946 President Truman had already acted on the perception of the ontogeny threat of Communist subversion in Greece and Turkey and minded(p) them loans in the amount of $250 million and $150 million respectively. His "Truman Doctrine," which called for " service of process free people to work out their destinies in their own way," meant giving economic and military aid to those nations threatened by the USSR (Pogue 167). Thus anti-Soviet self-interest was a vital aspect of the American policy of the period, but the full extent of the doctrine's reach only became evident with the Marshall Plan.

Pogue, Forrest C. George C. Marshall: Statesman 1945-1959. New York: Viking, 1987.

This powerfulness to adapt to the peculiar needs of the situation was one of the great achievements of the ERP in that it reflected not just the desire to assist Europe to assist itself but also served American economic and geopolitical interests fully. The Marshall Plan assistance totaled $13
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