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Article: Marshall Plan
- Article from:
- Dictionary of American History
- Author:
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MARSHALL PLAN
MARSHALL PLAN,
formally called the European Recovery Program (ERP) even though it was later extended to Japan and (southern) Korea, was named after Secretary of State George C. Marshall, who announced it in a speech at Harvard University on 5 June 1947. The plan was unique, offering U.S. assistance for recovery efforts designed and implemented by the still war-ravaged nations of Europe.
Historians continue to argue the main thrust of the plan. The main arguments are that the plan was (1) humanitarian in seeking to ameliorate postwar economic suffering; (2) anti-communist in that it sought to rebuild the economies of western European countries to resist communism; and (3) ...