Byline: 

Few Americans in the twentieth century have left a greater legacy to world peace than George C. Marshall (1880-1959). As chief of staff of the United States Army during World War II, it fell to Marshall to raise, train, and equip an army of over seven million men. Marshall selected the army corps and played a leading role in planning military operations on a global scale. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill haled him as “the true organizer of victory.”

Yet history will associate Marshall foremost as the author of the Marshall pan. The idea of extending billions of dollars for European economic recovery was not his alone. He was one of many Western leaders who realized the tragic consequences of doing nothing for those war-shattered countries in which basic living conditions were deplorable and still deteriorating two years after the end of the fighting. Marshall led the way. In an address at Harvard University on June 5, 1947, Marshall, in his capacity as secretary of state articulated the general principles of the Marshall Plan. Between 1948-1951, the United States contributed more than thirteen billion dollars of economic, agricultural, and technical assistance toward the recovery of free Europe—United Kingdom, France, West Germany, Belgium, Italy, Denmark, etc.  The Marshall Plan provided substantial fiscal stimulus, and providing an alternative to the grasping Communist movements led by the Soviet Union. The success of the Marshall Plan gave impetus to the formation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and to the European Common Market.

Marshall in his address at Harvard spoke forcefully about the dangers of Europe sliding into a vicious economic decline. He felt that the European economies did not have the critical mass of capital to restore their economies. In today’s dollars, the value of our contributions would be close to $100 billion dollars.

“What will happen if we do not provide adequate funds, and commodities for subsistence and reconstruction abroad? This, I think, is hardly questionable: what is adequate help from the United States is not forthcoming many of our allies is the late war… be obliged the months to come to cease imports of food and reconstruction material. Should this happen, human want, economic collapse, political crisis, collapse of democratic institutions, growth of extremism, and perhaps loss of independence would in many countries quickly follow. Our hopes for peace and prosperity would quickly vanish. We would live in unprecedented isolation. We would live in growing poverty. We would live in growing fear. “

Thus, opposition to American foreign policy led by France, Germany, and the Soviet Union, seems startling given general acknowledgment of our dominant role as the arsenal of democracy during World War II and our post-war relief efforts.