24/10/25
George Washington's greatest act was to leave the presidency so that the US would not develop a monarchy and refused to serve a third term. In his farewell speech September 1796 he urged his countrymen to steer clear of permanent alliances, especially with Europe. In 1939 less than 3% of American supported entering the European war and there were a series of Neutrality Acts
The US had fought 2 World Wars that had cost 522 000 lives and on VE day there were 3,077 American troops in Europe, and Roosevelt was determined to return them as soon as possible, and not confront the Kremlin, however the US never returned to isolationism. The President was suspicious of the British Empire as it had once been.
Roosevelt realized that Stalin had not kept the Yalta agreement and that you can't do business with him. Yalta became a synonym for betrayal of freedom and appeasement. In a meeting with Molotov who complained he had never been talked to that way. Truman said the Carry out your agreements. Truman infuriated Stalin by cutting off Lend Lease. Truman never imagined himself at Potsdam carving up Europe. Into spheres, but the Soviets were bent on sabotaging democracy.. Between America wanting to dismantle the British Empire and Henry Morgenthau Jnr. who wanted to convert Germany into an agrarian, or agricultural, society.. It would have given Stalin control of a buffer with US indifference.
1947 January Under Truman the State Dept. gained its full authority in foreign affaires and people like Dean Acheson, George Kennan , Will Clayton and General Lucius Clay as well as Senator Arthur Vandenberg were in a position to reshape policy. Hiroshima had shaken the world
1945 44 nations had ratified the Bretton Woods agreement but the Soviets were staying out. The Cold War is a tern that George Orwell had coined in 1945. The Statin- Trieste line would mark the border.
1945 12 million ethnic Germans left eastern and southern Europe to return to occupied Germany. 50 million Europeans were homeless. The Nazis had run France with only 15,000 German functionaries and relied on willing French collaborators. The complete social , economic and political collapse was unparalleled in history. Economic change ranged from Industrial planning in France to nationalization in Britain and welfare state to seizure of farms and industries in Hungary. European Communist parties were promising a radical alternative to capitalism. The US heartland said bring the boys home and don't be Santa Claus.
1945 August Truman cancelled the Lend Lease and promised economic reform at home.
British Imperial power came crashing down through lack of gold that was the only acceptable means of international payments. Meanwhile 1947 winter was the worst with blizzards and freezing in most of Europe.
Britain was withdrawing 40,000 troops from Greece, as she not afford it and Washington was asked to step in there as well as support Turkey.
1947 February Marshals speech at Princeton. He noted that while active fighting had stopped, genuine peace had not yet been achieved.. The way America had just left Europe after WW 1 had not established security.
The first conflict that the US had to deal with Iran where the Soviets were organizing armed separatist is northern Iran. Truman sent the US fleet and Stalin backed down. The Stalin demanded that Ankara accept Russian bases on the Dardanelles. Truman who understood maps told Acheson to inform the Soviet Charge d'affaires of his full support for the Turkish rights to the straits and ordered a flotilla to the Mediterranean, so again Stalin backed away.
British insolvency would lead to the Soviets getting opportunities in 3 continents, leaving a breach of western defenses.
George Kennan had been in posted to Moscow from 1933- 1937 and again from 1944 to 1946. He said that Russia was implacably hostile to American Interests and Russia expansionists plans had to be contained. Every Communist party in the world was a subservient instrument of Moscow. A communist police state was as big a threat as the Nazi one. Congress however felt that the US would be pulling the British chestnuts out of the fire.
The Truman Doctrine was to protect Democracy everywhere in the world. Turkey had not suffered the war destruction like Greece but it shared a border with the Soviets. Marshal was sent to negotiate in Moscow. Between him and Acheson the concluded that you could not negotiate as solution with Stalin, who never kept any agreement. This was all given in a speech that Truman gave to the House that the US had to bring economic stability and political process to Europe This was a controversial speech and would be blamed later for Mc McCarthyism. . Initially there was resistance to the Truman doctrine on both sides of the isle.
Marshal was the first 5 Star US General and was formal to the point he said only my wife calls me George.
The Soviets felt because they had lost the most in the war they were entitled to most reparations. Marshall saw that they never negotiated in good faith and were trying to get the complete breakdown of Europe.
US deputy military governor Lucius Clay banned further reparation deliveries from the American zone. The French wanted to take the heavily industrialized Ruhr region. French Communist would use the specter of German military revival as a fear against Washington and that other countries recovery should be put ahead of Germany. The Soviets wanted to control the whole of Germany. Walter Ulbricht had been groomed by Stalin to take over Germany.
Herbert Hoover following a trip to Europe concluded that the economies of Europe were interlinked to Germanies economy. Despite the heavy bombing 40% of Germanies housing stock remained as did 80% of its industrial plant and machine tool stock. Restraining Germany industrially would also keep Europe in rags. Marshal understood that Washington had to act alone without Russia, he then gave a radio broadcast on the disagreements between Washington and Moscow. The economic weakness of states makes them prone to communist takeover. Stalin had no intention of starting a war with the US if he could achieve this by other means. Economic recovery of Europe and Japan would be the central element of Soviet containment and would be cheaper than military readiness. Between 1945 and 1947 the US armed forces had shrunk from 12 million to 1.6 million. Economic aid had never been tries on such an enormous scale.
Acheson had to shock the public into realizing the economic crises unfolding in Europe and America's self interest in reversing it. At the same time Henry Wallace's election campaign against Truman was making things harder. Unless countries could be self supporting there would be no stability in the world.
The instability in France was causing farmers to hoard grains and not supply the cities with food. France and Italy hd strong communist parties.
Kennan and his staff set up a 4 to 5 year program in the form of outright grants. The US must run this show and it was based on the economic federation of Belgium -Netherlands- Luxembourg Customs Union This would unify the breadbasket of the east to the industrial center. Helping separate countries would not help and the US had to knock heads together to impose an agreement, In Germany the US wanted to get the Germans to be self supporting. Stalin could not opt into this plan without giving up his reparation plan, Stalin had to either decline the Marshal plan or enter into an agreement that ended the Iron Curtain.
Truman kept a distance from this as he said that "anything going on in bearing my name Capital Hill will quiver a couple time turn belly up and die"
1947 June 5 Marshall gave a speech on at Harvard inviting Europe to present Washington with a compelling cooperation request for aid. Initiative must come from Europe. Our doctrine is against hunger poverty and chaos and not against any country. Any government that maneuvers to block recovery of other countries cannot expect our help. If Moscow rejected the plan it would be the guilty party that divided Europe. Europe themselves had to establish the program of economic reconstruction for Europe. However the content would be largely dictated by Washington. No mutual European aid, no American aid.
Moscow since the war redirected trade patterns towards the USSR and created a permanent security zone between itself and Germany. Russia said that the Marshall Plan was to ensure American economic domination of Europe, and Molotov obstructed its implementation in Eastern Europe. Molotov could have killed the plan by joining it Averill Harriman later reflected. Russia wanted European chaos not construction, this way these countries could become communist.
John Maynard Keynes warned of a Financial Dunkirk in 1944 after the cessation on American war aid. Britain and the US objected to reparation to Russia.
British policy was to cooperate with all and dominate none.
Both Poland and Czechoslovakia were keen to join but Moscow would have not of that. Thus the world Bank halted consideration of a loan to Poland. Czechoslovakia tried to explain to Moscow that 80% of their raw materials came from the West. Jan Masaryk was assassinated by the Soviets
Marshall realized that US-Soviet relations had outlived their usefulness during his meeting with Stalin in Moscow.
1947 July,16 European nations including Turkey and the UK in Paris, with the British foreign minister as chairman . The conference set up the European Economic Co-operation CEEC. There would be only 6 weeks to forge a plan. What bound them was the need for dollars. 8 Eastern European states declined to attend under Moscow's instruction. Spain was excluded owing to the bitter opposition to Franco's dictatorship. France was forced to choose between the rise of German production or no plan financed by the US.
Later in 1952 it led to the European Coal and Steel Community and later to the Common Market of 1958. The different currencies would become fully convertible within the union. Italy wanted to be able to export Italians workers as a means of reducing its unemployed and France agreed to allow a limited migration from Italy. Britain had it own imperial arrangement for labor importation as only a quarter of her trade had been with Europe. West European customs Union was an essential step for democracy to resist Sovietization.
The US wanted the German economy to cease to be a burden to the US. This led to the early termination of Denazification and returned more responsibility to the German people. Europeans were compelled to cooperate more and demand less.
Both Italy and France had Communist Parties. Kennan had just released his book The Cold War. de Gaulle was worried about the collapse of the Franc and the Italians were aware of how much their future depended on the Marshall Plan.
Back home Truman had to convince the Republican that the Marshall plan was the answer to communism. He got help from Republic Senator Vandenburg. 200 congressmen went to tour Europe on a fact finding tour. This major foreign program could be managed without imposing undue hardship on the American people. Republic Henry Stimson pointed out that having won the war at enormous cost the US could not afford to lose the peace and the penalty of delay would increase the size of the job. Think tanks were set up The council on Foreign Affairs and Brooking Institute. The plan was endorsed by 3.2 million American Legion member as well as the World Council of Churches.
The Age of Yalta has come to an end declared the New York Herald Tribune. The US forces had to be mobilized because of Russia's reaction and this was when Eastern Germany was written off. Moscow Radio directed a vitriol stream at the Marshall Plan.
Thomas Dewey the Republican Presidential contender said he would endorse the ERP European Recovery Plan. Before the vote, interim aid was sent to France , Italy and Austria. They were still worried that France and Italy would go communist anyway.
Truman had taken a tough stand on Russia at the same time the appointment of General Marshall was seen as above politics and the American people could identify with secretary Marshall. Aid would be cut off if a country came to be dominated by the Communist Party of Russia.
1947 Time Magazine named Marshall Man of the Year. Vandenberg started looking for things that Europe could provide for the US and found rare minerals, cobalt for aircraft engines and uranium for atomic energy. Other Congressmen sought military cooperation. Thus the US had moved far further from isolationism. It was Vandenberg's leadership that and coordination that got the bill through the Senate. The Marshall plan would be run by the State Dept.
1948 Jan. the Senate passed the bill unanimously. and the first year $5.3 billion was appropriated. and by April implementation began.
The Czechoslovakia's had wanted to join despite Moscow and Masaryk had been pushed out of the window to his death as he had been planning to flee to the West that would embarrass the Russians. 80% of Czech people favored a western style democracy. Finland was forced to remain neutral.
Marshall managed to cajole the French to cooperate with the Germans if they wanted their share of the money also the French feared the Russians. To join West Germany became a Federal Government. This was a direct threat to the Soviets. Once the plan was implemented industrialist could start investing money. The Potsdam decisions were now null and void.
Stalin was now trying to push back and the threat was military, and the US were keen on securing bases the deal with this.
Half the aid goods had to be sent on US ships Both Spain and Ireland were excluded Spain as it was under a dictator and Ireland as they had been neutral and not invaded.
The plan would beat Communism be economic, rather than military means and take Western Europe off the US dole.1948 April the Marshall Plan became law remarkable in the it had only taken 10 months. A communist take over of Italy would have affected the Mediterranean and so the CIA took its covert action her and funded the Christian Democrats against the communist Party. Up to 10 million letters were mailed from the United States to Italy between early 1948 and the April election there to tell Italian relatives not to vote communist . There would soon be 150 ship with food fuel vehicles and equipment crossing the Atlantic.
1948 June West German changed from the occupation currency that the Russians had inflated. Almost immediately hoarded goods at manufacturer became available in stores. However this resulted in the Berlin blockade of 1948 June to 1949 May. Stalin was worried about the economic affect of the Americans in Germany. This was just after Stalin had expelled Titio's Yugoslavia from Cominform, this showed that the Kremlin could be defied by one of its own minions. The tension in Berlin showed Russian desperation with the success of the ERP.
1949 Tito's Yugoslavia abandoned the Greek Communist insurgents. Stalin blockade was launched as leverage in German. It had not stopped the Deutschmark or progress towards a West German state or the creation of NATO. And the US in the Cold war demonstrated superior capability of will. West Germany was essential to the ERP.
General Lucius Clay the US army governor of West Germany now returned home he had guided to a successful conclusion.
August 1949 the first popular election in Germany Ardenauer coalition won, despite Stalin's attempt against it. he would serve 14 years. He was committed to Franco-German reproachment. In East Germany Walter Ulbricht followed Stalin's model. At the same time by 1949 August the Soviets had an atomic bomb. Wally Barbour said about the Kremlin believing that Germany was the key to controlling Bolshevism in Europe. He was the US ambassador to Israel between 1961 to 1973.
Both Poland and Czechoslovakia were sacrificed to the Soviet bloc to strengthen the US long term position. Between 1947 and 1952 when Marshall aid officially ended the industrial output of Marshall countries had increased by 60%. Note these countries production in 1945 was between 34 and 46% of what they had been prewar. Germany and Italy were down to 20%
1953 Marshall received the Nobel Peace Prize.
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Lasting Effect.
Mitterrand as his prize for support on German unity secured from Kohl a public commitment on European monetary union. FDRs plans were for an American withdrawal from Europe. NATO through Truman overturned such plans and NATO might expand into the Warsaw Pact territory beginning with East Germany. Gorbechov demanded that a united Germany would be neutral or non aligned, so that NATOs jurisdiction would not shift eastwards. The deutschmark was used to force the pace of unification. Gorbechov was already pulling troops out of eastern Europe where some were selling their weapons on the black market. West German money was fueling the resentment of Ruble holding soldiers. Increasing the urgency to repatriate them. Thus the 1947 Marshall plan was serving as a catalyst for wider European integration. Germany would pay Moscow DM 12 billion and give it an interest free loan of DM 3 billion interest free to pay for the removal of its 400,000 troops. Marshall had left the door open to Moscow to participate in the plan, he did so on the basis that Stalin would slam it shut The Visegrad countries e.g. the Czech Republic , Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. Madeleine Albright struggled to convey that Russia was a friend against NATO and would protect Europe. The incorporation of Ukraine and adn Belarus in 1922, the Baltic countries in 1940 into the USSR bolster Russia's security while splitting control of Germany created only an equilibrium. The Warsaw Pact was created in 1955 and dissolved in 1991. The Russian republics declared independence 4 months later. Gorbochav resigned and the Soviet Union ended. Yelsin warned Clinton that NATOs movement to the Russian border would be a betrayal of the Russian people and did result in a more nationalistic government taking over and a more dangerous Russia. Clinton was committed to seeing Russia moving down the path to democracy.
Yelstin did not want to see Russia's border shrinking more so sent the army into breakaway Chechnya in 1994, then again in 1999 and then resigned in 1999. Days after the expansion of NATO, a bombing campaign started against Serbia
Truman had only added the military element after the Prague coup that showed that governments that could not protect themselves would be subverted by Moscow. Today we see that nothing in Russia's relationship to the west has changed.
Turkey a liberal democracy when it joined NATO in 1952 became less of one under Erdogan's leadership. In 1914 Orban in Hungary declared that "the era of liberal democracies is over" Georgia and Ukraine Moscow tried to keep the regimes institutionally weak , unpalatable to the west and dependent on Russia.
1997 George Kennan who only died in 2001 aged 101 had written that expanding NATO would be a fateful error of the US policy of the entire post- cold war era and would have an adverse effect on Russian democratic development.
The Marshall Plan is remembered as one of the great achievements of American Foreign policy not merely because it is visionary but because it worked..
How did the GI bill fit into the play for employment in the US? This stopped the job market being flooded with labor and paid to university and job training giving a highly educated work force. This provided $20 a week for up to 52 weeks for 15 millions of soldiers returning to the job market.
How did the Marshall plan merge in with American post war economy? This acted as a major economic stimulus that absorbed U.S. industrial and agricultural surpluses, prevented a post-war recession, and built long-term global markets for American goods
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