The Marshall Plan
With Europe being in economic ruin and America fearing that such economic hardship would breed new political extremism, “The Marshall Plan/European Recovery Program� was created in 1948. Originally purposed by Secretary of State George C. Marshall, unlike the Truman Doctrine which only extended aid to Greece & Turkey, the Marshall Plan was designed to help ALL of Europe including the Soviet Union and its allies. The aid offered in the plan was not contingent on a nations political idealogy, thought it did require essentially pro-capitalist economic reforms.
Hence, the Soviets were hesitant of the program and feared that a hidden agenda was lurking behind America’s actions, and ultimately decided not to participate nor allow any of their satellite governments to do so. Thus the Marshall Plan became somewhat exclusive to Western Europe. Operating for 4 yrs and distributing over 13 billion in economic and technical assistance to European countries the Marshall Plan/ERP was successful in helping Western Europe recover from economic hardship and continue to grow even.
India Rambo
Mike Enright
Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/marshall_plan
Wilkinson, James and Hughes, H. Stuart. Contemporary Europe: A History. Page 415,416