Analysis: Speech on the Marshall Plan
The "Analysis: Speech on the Marshall Plan" centers on the historical context and significance of George C. Marshall's 1947 address at Harvard University, where he articulated the urgent need for U.S. assistance to war-torn Europe following World War II. At a time when many European nations were struggling with severe economic instability and the threat of Soviet expansionism, Marshall's speech outlined a comprehensive recovery program—later known as the Marshall Plan—that sought to foster long-term economic stability rather than merely providing temporary relief. He emphasized the importance of European nations taking the lead in their recovery efforts, while the United States would play a supportive role.
Marshall's address was crafted for multiple audiences, including American citizens, congressional leaders, and foreign nations, encouraging a collective responsibility toward global recovery. His use of vivid descriptions and personal stories aimed to resonate emotionally with listeners, highlighting the dire economic conditions and potential consequences of inaction. Ultimately, the speech served as a clarion call for American leadership in international aid, expressing confidence that with foresight and willingness, both the U.S. and Europe could overcome their challenges. The Marshall Plan not only aimed to restore European economies but also sought to prevent the spread of communism, framing economic recovery as a crucial element of national security.
Analysis: Speech on the Marshall Plan
Date: June 5, 1947
Author: George C. Marshall
Genre: speech
Summary Overview
Growing increasingly worried about the slow pace of economic recovery in Europe after World War II, and concerned that the Soviet Union might take advantage of unrest caused by the continuing impoverishment of many people in Western Europe, US secretary of state George C. Marshall spearheaded an effort to deliver aid to countries in the region. Marshall publicly announced his initiative in a speech delivered at Harvard University in June 1947. During the next nine months, members of the administration of President Harry S. Truman shepherded through Congress legislation that Truman signed into law on April 3, 1948. Though officially designated the European Recovery Program, the initiative quickly became known as the Marshall Plan.
Defining Moment
When armed conflict ceased in 1945, the countries of Europe struggled to overcome the devastation caused by World War II. Many teetered on the verge of bankruptcy; food supplies were short and infrastructure severely damaged. The Soviet Union demanded $10 billion in reparations from Germany—a country in no position to send any money outside its borders, given its dire economic conditions. On the other hand, France, Germany's enemy in three wars over less than a century, was skeptical about any efforts to speed up German recovery. Some leaders in the United States recognized that help from the United States might be needed, but most citizens had little interest in foreign affairs once the war ended.
The situation remained unresolved when President Truman appointed George C. Marshall secretary of state in January 1947. The former Army chief of staff, dubbed the “organizer of victory” by British prime minister Winston Churchill, considered it a matter of national security to address problems in Europe. In March, Marshall went to Moscow for a meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers, a group established in 1945 by the Treaty of Potsdam to hammer out postwar issues. At the conference he discovered that the Soviet Union had no wish to see Western European nations recover quickly because economic unrest would make conditions more favorable for the rise of Communism in those countries. Marshall's fears about Soviet intentions were confirmed by George Kennan, the newly appointed head of the State Department's Policy Planning Staff and a Soviet specialist. A report from Undersecretary of State for Economic Affairs Will Clayton assured Marshall that his worries about precarious economic conditions in Europe were well founded.
Marshall was convinced that long-term economic recovery, not temporary relief, was essential, and that European nations would have to take the lead in developing their own recovery plan; the United States must be seen as assisting, not directing, these efforts. Although Marshall professed no party allegiance, he had been appointed by a Democrat. Knowing that any plan he proposed must get through a Republican-controlled Congress, he was also concerned about how Americans' apathy toward conditions in Europe might sway legislators.
Late in May 1947, Marshall agreed to accept an honorary degree from Harvard University, deciding to use this occasion to make public his ideas about the need for the United States to support European recovery. He had staff members Kennan and Charles Bohlen prepare separate drafts of remarks he might make; from these he composed a brief speech. During commencement ceremonies on June 5 he spoke to a group of Harvard alumni, outlining the principles on which the Marshall Plan would be built.
Author Biography
The descendant of an old Virginia family, George Catlett Marshall, Jr. was born in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, in 1880. He graduated from Virginia Military Institute and was commissioned a lieutenant in the US Army in 1902. Marshall served with the American Expeditionary Force in World War I. Rising steadily through the ranks, he became a brigadier general in 1936 and in 1939 was named the Army's chief of staff. Almost immediately, he began preparing the army for war. Throughout World War II he was one of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's closest advisors. He retired in 1945, but was immediately asked by President Truman to head a delegation to China to try (unsuccessfully) to broker peace between the Communists and Nationalists in that country's civil war. In January 1947, Truman named Marshall secretary of state. He stepped down in January 1949, but in September 1950, Truman appointed him secretary of defense, a position he held for a year. In 1953, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his work on postwar reconstruction in Europe. He died in 1959.
Document Analysis
Marshall's speech is directed at multiple audiences: opinion leaders (including the group to whom he speaks at Harvard), the American public at large, leaders of other nations (including the Soviet Union), and members of Congress. As a consequence, although his speech focuses on economic issues, it contains few statistics. Instead, Marshall relies on broad descriptions of economic conditions and stories that personalize problems so his many audiences can appreciate the gravity of the situation in Europe.
Marshall recites a litany of catastrophes to show how “the entire fabric of [the] European economy” has been upended by a decade of “highly abnormal” conditions: first the Nazis' efforts to transform Germany into a war economy, which prompted other countries to do the same, followed by the war itself, which wreaked havoc on infrastructure and destroyed “many long-standing commercial ties” that permitted businesses to function efficiently. The Allies' inability to agree on a final peace settlement for Germany and Austria has exacerbated problems. This remark is one of several veiled references to the Soviet Union's intransigence in postwar negotiations.
At the heart of his speech, Marshall describes the breakdown of the most basic form of economic exchange: the trade of food produced in rural areas for manufactured goods produced in urban areas. In a long paragraph, he details the changed situation in Europe, dispassionately describing the logical progression of events for both farmer and city dweller to demonstrate that “the modern system of the division of labor” is “in danger of breaking down.” Though expressed in measured language, the message is alarmist—almost apocalyptic. Marshall identifies the crux of the problem in a single sentence: Europe's needs over the next three or four years exceed “her present ability to pay.”
Arguing that problems of this nature are not simply regional but global, Marshall insists the United States should act to alleviate Europe's plight. In another veiled allusion to the Soviet Union, he insists that US aid is not intended to undermine other nations' efforts; in fact, the United States would welcome their assistance. He follows immediately with a warning: countries that block recovery efforts may find the United States actively opposing them. Additionally, throughout the speech, Marshall insists that the success of any recovery depends on European nations taking the lead in planning and implementing recovery efforts. This tactic is intended to blunt objections from some in Washington and in the Soviet Union that the United States is attempting to impose its will on Western Europe.
Having laid out the problems and potential solutions, Marshall ends on a note of confidence, assuring his audience(s) that Europe can overcome its present difficulties—as long as Americans display the “foresight” and “willingness” to live up to “the vast responsibilities which history has clearly placed upon our country.” This unmistakable call to action signals to the world that the United States is ready to do what is can—and must—to aid both its allies and former enemies in returning to economic health.
Glossary
efficacious: capable of having the desired result or effect; effective as a means, measure, or remedy
palliative: serving to palliate which is to relieve or lessen without curing; mitigate; alleviate
Bibliography and Additional Reading
Behrman, Greg. The Most Noble Adventure: The Marshall Plan and the Time When America Saved Europe. New York: Free, 2007. Print.
Clesse, Armand, & Archie C. Epps, eds. Present at the Creation: The Fortieth Anniversary of the Marshall Plan. New York: Harper, 1990. Print.
Killick, John. The United States and European Reconstruction, 1945–1960. Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn, 1997. Print.
Mills, Nicolaus. Winning the Peace: The Marshall Plan and America's Coming of Age as a Superpower. Hoboken: Wiley, 2008. Print.
Pogue, Forrest C. George C. Marshall: Statesman. New York: Viking, 1987. Print.