What was the purpose of the Marshall Plan?

The purpose of the Marshall Plan was to rebuild Western Europe after World War II by providing American economic aid that would restore prosperity, prevent communist takeovers, and create stable democratic trading partners for the United States. Officially named the European Recovery Program, the plan was proposed by Secretary of State George C. Marshall in a speech at Harvard University on June 5, 1947. Marshall, a former five-star Army general who had commanded American forces during World War II, argued that the breakdown of European economies threatened the entire world.

Twenty months after the war's end, much of Europe was in ruins. Cities such as Berlin, Hamburg, Warsaw, and Rotterdam had been bombed flat. Industrial production was at half its prewar level. Food shortages, rationing, and a brutal winter in 1946 to 1947 left millions hungry and cold. Communist parties, particularly in France and Italy, were gaining ground in elections, and Soviet pressure on Greece and Turkey raised fears that without American support more European countries would fall under Soviet influence.

President Harry Truman submitted the program to Congress on December 19, 1947, and Congress passed the Economic Cooperation Act on April 3, 1948. The program ultimately spent about 13.3 billion dollars, equal to roughly 150 billion dollars today, between 1948 and 1952. The aid went to 16 Western European countries through the Organization for European Economic Cooperation, which evolved into today's Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Recipients included the United Kingdom, France, Italy, West Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Austria, Greece, Turkey, Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, and Switzerland.

The Soviet Union and the Eastern European countries it controlled were invited but Stalin refused, calling the plan dollar imperialism. Aid included food, fuel, raw materials, machinery, and dollars to buy American goods. By 1952 European industrial production was 35 percent above prewar levels. The plan helped lay the groundwork for European integration through the European Coal and Steel Community in 1951 and the European Economic Community in 1957.

Marshall received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1953, the only career soldier ever to do so. The Marshall Plan is widely considered one of the most successful foreign aid programs in history and a foundation of the postwar Western alliance.