Featured Documents

Marshall Plan Information

The Marshall Plan Speech

• Recordings of the Marshall Plan Speech on June 5, 1947 and images of the original presentation copy of the speech.
• Text of the Marshall's Harvard Speech (From the recorded address).
• Text of Marshall's Harvard Speech (From the Department of State's press release). Secretary of State Marshall gave Charles E. Bohlen, Soviet expert and Secretary Marshall's interpreter, copies of William L. Clayton's "The European Crisis" memorandum and the Policy Planning Staff's recommendation dealing with the question of aid to western Europe. Bohlen then "prepared the first draft of the address, adding a few thoughts of my own. The speech was reworked by Marshall himself before the final version." Charles E. Bohlen. The Transformation of American Foreign Policy; (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1969), 89.
  
  

European Response to the Marshall Plan Speech

The September 22, 1947 Conference Report of the Committee of European Economic Co-Operation, a reply to "Mr. Marshall in response to your speech at Harvard on the 5th June." Also available at U.S. AID.

Studies Prior to Implementation of the Marshall Plan

• Studies Undertaken Prior to and in Preparation for the Marshall Plan - The Nourse, Krug, Harriman Committee, and the Herter Committee reports. Excerpts from U.S. AID "Certain Reports and Proposals on Foreign Aid."

• Committee Reports

• European Recovery and American Aid - The "Harriman Committee" report by the President's Committee on Foreign Aid. The committee "was asked to determine the limits within which the United States could safely and wisely extend aid to Western Europe."

The "Foreign Assistance Act of 1948"

• The Act also cited as the "Economic Cooperation Act of 1948", (April 3, 1948); 80th Congress, 2D Session. The Senate voted for the plan 69 to 17 and the House 329 to 74 (Survey of United States Foreign Economic Cooperation since 1945 by David Cushman Coyle (New York: The Church Peace Union, 1957, 12).
• Summary of the Legislation for the "Foreign Assistance Act 1948" - The World Bank, April 8, 1948.
• The Marshall Plan - Images of the first and last pages of the law, "The Foreign Assistance Act of 1948," most commonly known as the Marshall Plan. (National Archives).

History of the Marshall Plan

• Articles
  • How the Marshall Plan Came About - Humanities, (November/December 1998, Volume 19/Number 6) with excerpts from important sources.
  • The Marshall Plan: Origins and Implementation - Bulletin, (June 1982); Department of State Bureau of Public Affairs.
  • The Marshall Plan: A Strategy that Worked - U.S. Foreign Policy Agenda, (April 2006); United States Information Agency.
• Marshall Plan Anniversary Articles
• After Twenty Years by Milton Katz - Six-page Foreign Service Journal article by Ambassador Milton Katz on the 20th anniversary of the Marshall Plan.
• The Marshall Plan: A Fifty Year Perspective by Randall Wood - Reprinted by the George C. Marshall Foundation, 1997.
• Marshall Plan 60 - United States Mission to Italy, Office of Public Affairs, May 30, 2007.
• Books and videos online at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)
• The Marshall Plan and Its Meaning by Harry Baynard Price. (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1955) 14 MB/445 pages - The official history of the Marshall Plan "was intended as not only a history, but also an analysis of practical lessons in the administration of foreign aid program."
• The Marshall Plan: A Retrospective edited by Stanley Hoffman and Charles Maier. (Boulder: Westview Press, 1984) - The book includes memoirs from policymakers who participated in the implementation of the plan and assessments of the plan by historians and economists.
• Seeing the Victory Through: The 50th Anniversary of the Marshall Plan (Video) - Exceptional 1997 video with transcript produced for the 50th anniversary of the Marshall Plan.
• Survey of United States Foreign Economic Cooperation since 1945 (Excerpts, pages 1-14; full text available at USAID) by David Cushman Coyle (New York: The Church Peace Union, 1957) - The author asserts "The Plan did succeed; Europe was saved from collapse and chaos ..." (See Chapter 3, "The Marshall Plan").

Background of the Marshall Plan

Chronology

Introduction and Chronology of the Marshall Plan from June 5 to November 5, 1947 - Thorsten V. Kalijarvi. (U.S. Library of Congress Legislative Reference Service) November 6, 1947. Chronology with excellent coverage of the committees established by President Truman and House of Representatives to analyze the initial report of the Committee of European Economic Co-operation and study the impact on the U.S. economy of aid to Western Europe.

Interviews with and Documents and Memoranda from State Department Officials

• Origins of the Marshall Plan - Memorandum by Charles P. Kindleberger, Chief of the Division of German and Austrian Economic Affairs, Department of State. The memorandum is published in the Foreign Relations of the United States 1947. The British Commonwealth; Europe, Volume III, 241-247.
• Secretary of State George C. Marshall - Interviews
  • October 30, 1952 and February 18, 1953 (George C. Marshall Research Library, Harry B. Price Papers, Box 3 Folder 24) In the October interview Secretary of State Marshall states the his greatest fear to domestic acceptance of the proposal was an "adverse reaction from the Mid-West."
• Dean Acheson, Undersecretary of State
  • Speech by Dean Acheson, "The Requirements of Reconstruction", May 8, 1947 - President Truman regarded Acheson's speech at Cleveland, Mississippi as the "prologue" to the Marshall Plan.
  • Interview with Secretary of State Dean Acheson - October 20, 1953 (George C. Marshall Research Library, Harry B. Price Papers, Box 3 Folder 45)
• Charles E. Bohlen, Counselor of State Department, Russian translator for Presidents Roosevelt and Truman and Secretary Marshall, and drafter of the Marshall Plan Speech
• Memorandum of Conversation - Memorandum by Charles E. Bohlen of the conversation between Secretary Marshall and Generalissimo Stalin on April 15, 1947 at the Council of Foreign Ministers, Moscow. According to Bohlen, "General Marshall felt that Stalin was waiting for Europe ... to collapse and fall into the Communist orbit." The "impression made by Stalin on General Marshall was certainly one of  the main causes of the Marshall Plan." Charles E. Bohlen. The Transformation of American Foreign Policy; 87-88. The memorandum is published in the Foreign Relations of the United States, 1947. Council of Foreign Ministers, Germany and Austria (1947), 337-344.
• Interview with Charles E. Bohlen - February 16, 1953 (George C. Marshall Research Library, Harry B. Price Papers, Box 3 Folder 32)
  
• George F. Kennan, Director of the Policy Planning Staff, Department of State
• Strategic Background - Reprint of a document addressed to Charles E. Bohlen. Secretary of State Marshall directed the Policy Planning Staff to study the "question of American aid to western Europe." Secretary Marshall's final guidance to Mr. Kennan was, "Avoid trivia."
  
• Problems of U.S. Foreign Policy After Moscow - May 1947 lecture delivered at the National War College after the Council of Foreign Ministers, Moscow. Kennan stated that the lecture "gives a good idea of the way things looked to me on the eve of the work that laid the foundation of the Marshall Plan."
• The Director of the Policy Planning Staff (Kennan) to the Under Secretary of State (Acheson) - First recommendation of the Policy Planning Staff dealing with the question of aid to western Europe dated May 23, 1947. The memorandum is published in the Foreign Relations of the United States 1947. The British Commonwealth; Europe, Volume III, 223-230.
• Interview with George F. Kennan - February 19, 1953 (George C. Marshall Research Library, Harry B. Price Papers, Box 3 Folder 33)
  
• Memoranda of Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs William L. Clayton
  • Memorandum on the Creation of a National Council of Defense dated March 5, 1947. Transcription of a George C. Marshall Research Library copy of the original handwritten memorandum; see also Selected Papers of Will Clayton; edited by Frederick J. Dobney, (The Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1971), 198-200. According to Greg Behrman, the memorandum “marked the first high-level call for a concerted U.S. program for European Recovery." Clayton called for "an appropriation of $5 billion in the first year, presumably to be followed by comparable and tapering amounts for several years to follow.” Greg Behrman. The Most Noble Adventure: The Marshall Plan and the Time When America Helped Save Europe; (New York: Free Press, 2007), 54.
  • The European Crisis - May 1947 memorandum sent to Under Secretary of State Acheson: in the memo Clayton states, “Millions of people in the cities are slowly starving;” if the standard of living is not improved, “there will be revolution.” Portions of this memo were integrated into The Marshall Plan Speech. The memorandum is published in the Foreign Relations of the United States 1947. The British Commonwealth; Europe, Volume III, 230-232.

Interviews (Transcripts)

• Individuals Whose Work Related to the Marshall Plan and the Economic Coordination Administration (ECA)
  • Richard M. Bissell Jr. - Secretary of the President's Committee on Foreign Aid (Harriman Committee), 1947-48; assistant administrator for program, ECA, 1948-51; and acting administrator, September-December 1951.
    • Truman Library Oral History Interview
    • Interview with Richard M. Bissell Jr September 19, 1952 and October 10, 1952 - (George C. Marshall Research Library, Harry B. Price Papers, Box 3 Folder 11)
    • Richard M. Bissell Jr. - The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Project
  • Lucius D. Clay February 25, 1953 - Military Governor of Germany 1947-1949 (George C. Marshall Research Library, Harry B. Price Papers, Box 3 Folder 34)
  • William L. Clayton -  Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs; his May 1947 memorandum The European Crisis was a source for the Secretary Marshall's speech at Harvard.
    • William F. Clayton by Ellen Garwood (1947 Interview) - Garwood is the author of Will Clayton: A Short Biography.
      
    • The Reminiscences of William Lockart Clinton (1962 Interview) - Columbia University Oral History Project
  • Lincoln Gordon - Consultant in the U.S. Department of State working on the Marshall Plan, 1947, and with the ECA, 1948; director of the Program Division, Office of ECA special representative in Europe, 1949-50.
    • Truman Library oral interview
    • Lincoln Gordon - The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Project
  • W. Averell Harriman - U.S. representative in Europe under the Economic Cooperation Act of 1948, with rank of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, 1948-50.
    • Truman Library Oral History Interview
    • Interview with W. Averell Harriman October 1, 1952 - (George C. Marshall Research Library, Harry B. Price Papers, Box 3 Folder 14)
  • Paul G. Hoffman - Administrator, Economic Cooperation Administration (ECA), 1948-50.
    • Truman Library Oral History Interview
    • Interview with Paul G. Hoffman January 28, 1953 - (George C. Marshall Research Library, Harry B. Price Papers, Box 3 Folder 27)
    • Report to the Committee on Foreign Relations on Administration of the U.S. Aid for a European Recovery Program - January 1948 report by The Brookings Institution recommending the creation of a "new and separate agency" and a "single administrator" to direct the administration of the program. The Economic Cooperation Act of 1948 created the ECA and Hoffman was selected as the ECA's Administrator for Economic Cooperation.
  • Jacob J. Kaplan - Head of the economic section on Southern Europe and contributor to the beginnings of the Marshall Plan.
    • The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Project
    • United States Foreign Assistance Oral History Program

• Special

• Leonard Miall interviewed by Barbara Vandegrift of the Marshall Foundation - British Broadcasting Corporation correspondent Leonard Miall's June 5, 1947 broadcast, "American Commentary," about Secretary Marshall's speech at Harvard, "was actually heard by Ernest Bevin, the British Foreign Secretary." Bevin said Marshall's speech, "was like a lifeline to a sinking man, It seemed to bring hope where there was none."

Scholarly Articles

• Marshall and the Plan - Essay by Larry I. Bland, Editor of The Papers of George C. Marshall
• Creation and Implementation of the Marshall Plan, 1947-1948 - Essay by Larry I. Bland. Triumphs and Tragedies of the Modern Presidency: Seventy-Six Cases in Presidential Leadership, (Westport, CT: Praeger, 2001), 56-58

Marshall Plan Funding Statistics

• The Economic Cooperation Administration, 1948-1952 - The Economic Cooperation Administration, an agency of the United States Government tasked to administer the European recovery program, was created by the Economic Cooperation Act of 1948, approved April 3, 1948 as Public Law 472, 80th Congress, 2d session.
• Funding Amounts and Examples - Examples of Marshall Plan Aid
• Marshall Plan Payments in Millions to European Economic Cooperation Countries from April 3, 1948 to June 30, 1952 (Color chart)
• Mutual Security Agency Monthly Report - Data from April 3, 1948, the date of enactment of the Economic Cooperation Act (The Marshall Plan), to June 30, 1952
  

Relevance of the Marshall Plan Today

• In Search of a Usable Past: The Marshall Plan and Postwar Reconstruction Today - Monograph by Barry Machado, Ph.D., Emeritus Professor of History, Washington and Lee University, Lexington, Virginia
• The Marshall Plan: Design, Accomplishments, and Relevance to the Present - 1997 Congressional Research Service Report by Curt Tarnoff, Foreign Affairs and National Defense Division
• Secretary of State Hilary Clinton's remarks on receiving the George C. Marshall Foundation Award - "And the Marshall Plan wasn’t just important for the rebirth of Western Europe. It became a model for many nations in 1989, after the Berlin Wall came down. We were mindful of the lessons of the Marshall Plan in all of the years since."
• Seeing the Victory Through: The 50th Anniversary of the Marshall Plan (Video) - Exceptional 1997 video with transcript produced for the 50th anniversary of the Marshall Plan showing the relevance of the plan to the post-Cold War world.
  
  

INTERVIEWS WITH GENERAL GEORGE C. MARSHALL

• The Pogue Interviews
• Interviews between 1947 - 1955.

ESSAYS ABOUT MARSHALL

• Very Special Relationship: Field Marshal Sir John Dill and General George Marshall by Alex Danchev (Nottingham University, U.K.), 1984.
• George C. Marshall and the Education of Army Leaders by Larry I. Bland (Marshall Foundation), 1988.
• George C. Marshall: Global Commander by Forrest C. Pogue (Marshall Foundation), 1968 (U.S. Air Force Academy Harmon Memorial Lecture #10)
• 1988 George C. Marshall Lecture at Vancouver, Washington by Forrest C. Pogue (Marshall Foundation) Link out to City of Vancouver, Washington
• George Washington and George Marshall: Some Reflections on the American Military Tradition by Don Higginbotham (UNC-Chapel Hill), 1984 (US Air Force Academy Harmon Memorial Lecture #26)
• George C. Marshall: A Study in Character by Colonel Charles F. Brower (U.S. Military Academy), 1999
• George C. Marshall: Soldier of Peace Link out to National Portrait Gallery (Smithsonian Institution), 1997
• Marshall and the "Plan" by Larry I. Bland (Marshall Foundation)

CONGRESSIONAL TESTIMONIES

Transcripts of the following Congressional Testimonies are available at the Marshall Library and online at the Marshall Foundation Digital Library.

• Table of Contents
• March 3, 1947 - Department of State Appropriations - House
• March 4, 1947 - Peace Treaties - Senate
• May 16, 1947 - US Information and Educational Exchange Act - House
• May 28, 1947 - Saint Lawrence Seaway - Senate
• June 03, 1947 - Military Missions - House
• June 10, 1947 - Budget Reductions - Senate
• June 10, 1947 - Ship Sale Act Amendment - House
• June 23, 1947 - Inter-America Military Cooperation - House
• July 2, 1947 - Information and Education Exchange Act - Senate
• July 7, 1947 - Trusteeship Pacific Island - Senate
• July 16, 1947 - Admitting Displaced Persons into the US - House (Marshall Asks for Aid for Displaced Persons - related Quicktime movie)
• November 10, 1947 - Interim Aid for Europe - Senate (Marshall requests Interim Aid for Europe - related Quicktime movie)
• November 10, 1947 - Emergency Foreign Aid - House
• January 8, 1948 - European Recovery Program - Senate (Marshall Testimony for the Congress - related Quicktime movie)
• January 12, 1948 - Postwar Recovery - House
• January 26, 1948 - Department of State Appropriations Fiscal Year 1949 - House
• February 20, 1948 - Postwar Recovery - House
• February 20, 1948 - Aid to China - House
• March 3, 1948 - Postwar Recovery - House
• March 17, 1948 - UMT - Senate
• March 23, 1948 - State Department Appropriations Fiscal Year 1949 - Senate
• May 5, 1948 - United Nations relations with United States
• May 6, 1948 - Trade Agreements Program - House
• June 11, 1948 - ECA appropriation - Senate
• August 1, 1949 - Mutual Defense Assistance Act of 1949 - House
• October 21, 1949 - Unified National Defense Program
• June 7, 1950 - Amendment of Mutual Assistance Act of 1949 - House
• June 7, 1950 - Amendment of Mutual Assistance Act of 1949 - Senate

Other Documents

Army Country Guides: These small pocket-sized pamphlets were given to soldiers before they were posted overseas. They include cultural, political, geographic, and climatological information plus useful phrases in the country's language. The guides reflected official American views about the country and its society as well as the writers' occasional touch of humor. Our collection includes volumes from Iraq, Iran, Syria, the USSR, North and West Africa, Morocco, Australia, India, and a lively volume entitled 112 Gripes about the French!

What the Soldier Thinks: This collection consists of sixteen issues of a monthly confidential report conducted by professional opinion researchers at General Marshall's behest. Marshall commissioned this work over the objections of numerous high-ranking officers. Marshall sought to prevent morale and social problems from being ignored until they became significant political issues damaging to the army and the war effort.