More+on+the+Marshall+Plan

=The Marshall Plan = After World War II Western Europe was in ruins. The economy was shattered and most Western European countries were desperate. Communist parties were gaining strength in France and Italy and Americans were worried that Communism might take over. If the communist took hold of Europe, America would lose a very powerful ally not to mention an important trading partner. Europe needed help and fast. On June 5, 1947 Secretary of State George C. Marshall proposed a plan he called the European Recovery Plan (It was later dubbed by the press as The Marshall Plan) at Harvard University.This plan would speed up European Reconstruction and therefore remove the threat of communism from Western Europe. It only took 12 minutes for Marshall to outline his plan to help Europe. As he said "Our policy is directed not against any country or doctrine but against hunger, poverty, desperation and chaos. Its purpose should be the revival of a working economy in the world so as to permit the emergence of political and social conditions in which free institutions can exist."