Marshall+Plan+-+Sheetz



After the end of WWII Europe had even more economic issues. Plus many countries were falling to communism. In order to prevent another war from erupting and cease the spread of communism something had to be done. On June 5, 1947 Secretary of State George C. Marshall spoke to Congress at Harvard University concerning these issues and proposed the Economic Recovery Plan (ERP) or better known as The Marshall Plan. The Marshall Plan offered assistance to European countries that were in danger of falling to communism. The most popular example of the Marshall Plan was the Berlin Airlift where the Berlin Blockade was set up around Berlin to force them into communism, but the U.S. flew food and supplies into Berlin. George C. Marshall won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1953 for the success of the Marshall Plan in Europe although he was not the one who actually the one who came up with the Marshall Plan. Marshall's Secretary of State officials William L. Clayton and George F Kennan were really the leaders behind the initiative. The Marshall Plan was considered a success and lasted from 1948 to 1951 when the US became involed in the Korean Coflict and also when the Republicans, who gained control of the House and Senate in 1950, disapproved of the plan. With fewer funds to allocate toward European recovery, the Marshall Plan was officially disbanded. There were efforts to extend the plan, but Republicans quickly voted down such efforts.



[|George Marshall's Speech] [] [] [] []