On June 5, 1947, the Secretary of
State, George C. Marshall proclaimed from the acclaimed, western, educational
hub that is Harvard University, a plan that would revolutionize post World War
II Foreign Policy. This plan was the European
Recovery Program, more commonly known and addressed by its dedicative form, the
Marshall Plan. The Marshall Plan is
considered by a vast amount of historians as one of the most successful United
States Foreign Policy programs in modern history. The idea was simple, and while explaining his
creation, Marshall phrased it as such: “the role of this country should consist of
friendly aid in the drafting of a European program and of later support of such
a program so far as it may be practical for us to do so.”
However, between 1948 and 1951, the Plan grew tremendously – it
directed over $13 billion in aid to help the European nations recover from the
Second World War. Although this seems
like an incredulous sum, the plan did indeed successfully recover the European economy,
integrate the European countries, and in fact, aid the United States and her dedication
to the growth of democracy and the expansion of peoples’ rights.
Thus,
this generous, collective amalgamation of donative loans seems like a selfless
act on behalf of the newly ordained leading world power, the United States;
however, at a closer glance, the United States’ Marshall Plan was soaked in a
misty spray of self-servitude and anti-communistic undertones. The United States, through the implemented
ideologies of one Secretary of State, forever changed the functions of international
relations on this Earth – and although these new functions clearly aided a
suffering global economy, they also served the United States’ personal agenda.
One
obvious reason for why the Marshall Plan’s implementation exceeded the
prejudiced expectations of success it had been assigned was that nothing of
this grand a scale had ever happened in history. No one nation had ever loaned billions of dollars to many
another. Although this fact is notable,
a multitude of other key historical pinpoints evidence why the ingenious Plan
functioned like a well-oiled machine. Primarily,
the sheer export of dollars to the affected European nations prevented the
United States from receding back into the dark, dim years of the Great
Depression. It also, clearly, aided the
trodden Europeans whose economies were destroyed in a similar fashion to their
physical landscapes.
Additionally,
the Plan provided a constant flow of cash from the United States to Europe; and
more importantly, an eager market for the United States’ corporations. After the war, the European people had
nothing. They needed some things; and so
the United States swept in and provided them with American things, otherwise
known as United States capitalistic productions and consequentially invigorated
economical accomplishments. In turn,
Europe got back on her feet. Her economy
began the slow, yet effective climb to recovery, and the United States
benefitted from the business of the recovering nations and the parallel,
economic image she had created for Europe.
For after the Marshall Plan’s success Europe began to function as a
larger entity, which in and of itself, like the United States, gained from an
assortment of public union and private economy. Thus, through the Marshall Plan, the United
States, a country of which at the time had barely surpassed its 150th
birthday, replicated its economic model on a cluster of nations thousands of
years older than she.
However,
Europe also benefitted from the Marshall Plan in a way that did not directly
affect her western counterpart. The
Plan heavily increased the integration of both the nations’ economies and
governments. Arguably, this very
successful integration can be said to have laid the stable groundwork for the
European Union to actualize. Over time,
the economies stabilized and eventually peace began to exist on the continent,
which continues on a grander scale to this very day. However, without the Marshall Plan, that very
delicate peace could have been annihilated by another vengeful Germanic
eruption. Yet, because the Plan allotted
West Germany with over $1.2 billion dollars, history did not repeat itself and
good was done.
In
a selfless scope, the United States created good through the Marshall Plan by
preventing the duplication of history.
However, through the lens of selfishness, the Marshall Plan played to
the United States’ agenda by providing the nation with an unparalleled control
of futuristic actions – and as the president of the time, Harry S. Truman said,
“Actions are the seed of fate. Deeds
grow into destiny.” This broad American
fate and destiny can be said to stem from the somewhat hidden agenda the United
States profoundly externalized through the Marshall Plan. For by aiding the western nations of Europe,
the United States was successfully repressing communistic growth and the
expansion of the rivaling USSR’s Iron Curtain.
Thus, through the execution of the Marshall Plan the United States
continued her own personal dedication to the growth of democracy and expansion
of peoples’ rights – a dedication that firmly roots itself in the United
States’ blood.
Overall,
George C. Marshall’s European Recovery Program, the Marshall Plan, reveled in
success and globally revolutionary air like no other previous operation in
regard to any nation’s foreign policy. The
Plan successfully recovered the European economy, integrated the European
countries, and aided the United States (with both her own economy and her
personal agenda as well). In total, the
Marshall Plan now stands in the hall of historic greatness as a successful
implementation and international aide-mémoire that true success stems from the
triumphs not only of one’s self, but also one’s allies.
- J. A. Kind
