The Marshall Plan: A New Deal for Europe

235 Pages·2017·1.783 MB·English

by  Michael Holm

The Marshall Plan
Between 1948 and 1951, the Marshall Plan delivered an unprecedented
$12.3 billion in U.S. aid to help Western European countries recover from
the destruction of the Second World War, and forestall Communist
influence in that region. The Marshall Plan: A New Deal for Europeexamines
the aid program and its ideological origins, and explores how ideas about
an Americanized world order inspired and influenced the Marshall Plan’s
creation and execution. The book provides a much-needed re-examination
of the plan, enabling students to understand its immediate impact and its
political, social, and cultural legacy. Including essential primary documents,
this concise book will be a key resource for students of America’s role in
the world at mid-century.
Michael Holm is Lecturer in History at Boston University.
For additional documents, images, and resources please visit The Marshall
Plan companion website at: www.routledge.com/cw/criticalmoments
Critical Moments in American History
Edited by William Thomas Allison, Georgia Southern University
A full list of titles in this series is available at www.routledge.com/Critical-
Moments-in-American-History/book-series/CRITMO. Recently published
titles:
The Homestead Strike
Labor, Violence, and American Industry
Paul E. Kahan
The Flu Epidemic of 1918
America’s Experience in the Global Health Crisis
Sandra Opdycke
The Emergence of Rock and Roll
Music and the Rise of American Youth Culture
Mitchell K. Hall
Transforming Civil War Prisons
Lincoln, Lieber, and the Politics of Captivity
Paul J. Springer and Glenn Robins
The Battle of Fort Sumter
The First Shots of the American Civil War
Wesley Moody
The WPA
Creating Jobs and Hope in the Great Depression
Sandra Opdycke
The California Gold Rush
The Stampede that Changed the World
Mark Eifler
Bleeding Kansas
Slavery, Sectionalism, and Civil War on the Missouri-Kansas Border
Michael E. Woods
The Marshall Plan
A New Deal for Europe
Michael Holm
First published 2017
by Routledge
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and by Routledge
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Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2017 Taylor & Francis
The right of Michael Holm to be identified as author of this work
has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of
the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical,
or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying
and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks
or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification
and explanation without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
CIP data has been applied for
ISBN: 978-1-138-91570-1 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-138-91571-8 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-69008-7 (ebk)
Typeset in Bembo and Helvetica Neue
by Florence Production Ltd, Stoodleigh, Devon
Contents
Series Introduction vi
List of Figures and Tables vii
Acknowledgments viii
Timeline xi
Introduction xv
1 A New Deal for the World: American Plans for
the Post-World War Two Order 1
2 The World America Made: Towards the Marshall Plan,
1945–1947 25
3 Creating the European Recovery Program, 1947–1948 51
4 The Marshall Plan in Action and the Emergence of
European Unity, 1948–1951 83
5 Epilogue: The Marshall Plan and Memory 117
Documents 131
Notes 169
Bibliography 188
Index 200
Series Introduction
Welcome to the Routledge Critical Moments in American Historyseries. The
purpose of this new series is to give students a window into the historian’s
craft through concise, readable books by leading scholars, who bring
together the best scholarship and engaging primary sources to explore a
critical moment in the American past. In discovering the principal points
of the story in these books, gaining a sense of historiography, following a
fresh trail of primary documents, and exploring suggested readings, students
can then set out on their own journey, to debate the ideas presented, interpret
primary sources, and reach their own conclusions—just like the historian.
A critical moment in history can be a range of things—a pivotal year,
the pinnacle of a movement or trend, or an important event such as the
passage of a piece of legislation, an election, a court decision, a battle. It
can be social, cultural, political, or economic. It can be heroic or tragic.
Whatever they are, such moments are by definition “game changers,”
momentous changes in the pattern of the American fabric, paradigm shifts
in the American experience. Many of the critical moments explored in
this series are familiar; some less so.
There is no ultimate list of critical moments in American history—
any group of students, historians, or other scholars may come up with a
different catalog of topics. These differences of view, however, are what
make history itself and the study of history so important and so fascinating.
Therein can be found the utility of historical inquiry—to explore, to
challenge, to understand, and to realize the legacy of the past through its
influence on the present. It is the hope of this series to help students realize
this intrinsic value of our past and of studying our past.
William Thomas Allison
Georgia Southern University
Figures and Tables
FIGURES
2.1 James Byrnes congratulates George Marshall 38
3.1 Europe in the Cold War era 58
4.1 The Berlin Crisis 86
TABLES
3.1 Table of aid breakdown from the Economic Corporation
Act of the Foreign Assistance Act 77
Acknowledgments
This book began from the conviction, in the words of one of the most
influential public intellectuals of the twentieth century, that “what rules
the world is ideas because ideas define the way reality is perceived.” Too
often historians of American foreign relations have been uncomfortable
with this reality, uncomfortable with ideas as significant factors in policy -
making. This belief in the power and importance of ideas informed much
of my doctoral research at Boston University and this book is, in many
respects, a narrow spinoff of my earlier work on the impact of American
ideology on foreign policy during the 1940s. As a result this volume, to
a considerable extent, bears the mark of those esteemed intellectuals who
have shaped my professional development thus far. Debating the power
of ideas in mid-twentieth century U.S. foreign policy with brilliant minds
such as Bill Keylor, Andy Bacevich, and David Mayers has been the
experience of a lifetime. We may often have disagreed and pushed each
other—sometimes perhaps to the brink—but they have all taught me to
be a better critic, a better scholar, a better teacher, and, I hope, a more
eloquent thinker. I have learned much from them but I would like to
believe that, at times, my thinking may have challenged their perceptions
of what constitutes and inspires America’s role in the world as well. If so,
that is what the intellectual endeavor is all about. It is about the exchange
of ideas to refine, recalibrate, and force new and interesting ways and prisms
through which to perceive reality.
The debt I owe to these gentlemen is immeasurable, as are the personal
and professional ones that I have incurred to Boston University’s Louis
Ferleger, Erik Goldstein, and Cathal Nolan for their constant and
unwavering support of my academic pursuits. I owe much to my students
as well. During my years of teaching history and international relations at
Boston University, I have been fortunate to encounter cohort after cohort
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ix
of remarkably gifted young individuals, all of whom, in one form or another,
have been subjected to my research and my ideas in classroom discussions
and through reading and writing assignments. The enthusiasm that so many
of them brought, and continue to bring, to the classroom, their engagement,
commitment, and pursuit of knowledge—all of it I find wonderfully
inspirational. The list is too long to complete in full but a special thank
you goes to Tyler Snyder, Liz Kelley, Samuel Baker, Natalie Armacost,
Natalie Kaufman, James Klimas, Briana Vessells, Morgan Barry, Katie Rice,
Annie Frantel, Tessa Steinert-Evoy, Aura Lunde, Elizabeth Cameron,
Cristina Inceu, Colin Rosenow, Kristin Wagner, Hannah Cohen, Erin Shyr,
and especially Marissa Comeau. Marissa took three of my courses on
U.S. history at Boston University before graduating in the spring of 2015.
Already as a student she demonstrated exceptional writing skills and, in
conversations with me, Marissa several times voiced an interest in pursuing
a career as an editor for an academic publishing house. As I began writing
this book I therefore, quite naturally, turned to Marissa to enlist her
assistance. She was the first to read through the present book manuscript
and she provided the first round of edits. Her sharp pen and insightful mind
helped turn the first draft into an actual book. I could not have completed
this without her. Marissa, I am forever grateful. I hope we get to work
together again.
The opportunity to publish my first book with Routledge as part of
the Critical Moments in American History series has been made all the
easier by the incredible level of support I received from the start of the
process. Early on, series editor Bill Allison pushed me to think about the
Marshall Plan beyond the traditional narrative as did the anonymous
reviewers who, with the critic’s potent pen, forced me to shift vantage
points and think differently about my approach to the Marshall Plan as
well as the inclusion of primary sources. At Routledge, I owe a great debt
also to Genevieve Aoki and Dan Finaldi. Both worked dutifully and
patiently with me, answered questions quickly and showed a real dedication
to the project. Their support of the manuscript, in the acquisition of
sources, and their incredible knowledge made this process smoother than
I could have hoped for or even imagined. I cannot thank them enough
for having taken on and backed this book with such dedication throughout
the entire process. Such a level of help means the world, especially to a
first-time author.
Finally, to Judy, my fellow troublemaker—as always—thank you for
your love, and patience throughout this last year of research and writing.
Your support of my work nourishes me and keeps me healthy in ways
you could not ever imagine. Your dedication to your own work, likewise,
provides me with an inspiration that I will never be able to express in