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The effect of the marshall plan
The effect of the marshall plan
The effect of the marshall plan
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By raising the standard of living in these nations, citizens did not look elsewhere to relieve their economic struggles (Hogan). Following the fall of Czechoslovakia to communism in 1948, no other European Nation fell to communism (Constitutional). There is propaganda from this time period, such as the propaganda located in the appendix, that suggests the Marshall Plan did achieve success in stopping communism from spreading into Western European economies (Clare). One German Politian praised the Marshall saying, "The Marshall Plan contributed directly to Europe’s economic recovery, to restoring morale, and to the containment of communism” (Wallace).
Word Count: 558
Section C: Evaluation of Sources
Machado, Barry. In Search of a Usable Past: The Marshall Plan and Postwar Reconstruction Today.
Published in 2007 by Barry Machado, the book In Search of a Usable Past: The Marshall and Postwar Reconstruction Today documents a study designed to “establish the relevance for contemporary postwar reconstruction programs of an experimental foreign policy conceived and executed back in the late 1940s and early 1950s.” Machado professionally documents that study and analyzes the study to consider is a policy like the Marshall Plan could succeed in modern politics. Machado received his Ph.D. in education from Northwestern in 1957 indicating accuracy in this work. The book was published 60 years after the Marshall Plan was initiated, so the facts used in this work are accurate.
This book has great value for this investigation as it contains information pertaining to each part of the plan of investigation. The book considers what the purpose of the Marshall Plan was, and contains one chapter specifically designed to analyze the success of t...
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...of Western Europe. Based on the evidence presented in this investigation, the Marshall Plan did successfully achieve this purpose. The second purpose of the Marshall Plan was to prevent the spread of communism into Western European countries. Despite the fact that no country fell to communism following the implementation of the Marshall Plan, this investigation does not contain sufficient evidence to support that the plan was responsible for the prevention of the spread of communism into Western European countries. Both purposes of the Marshall Plan were achieved, but it is unclear to what extent the Marshall Plan achieved its second purpose, preventing the spread of communism, due to the lack of evidence that suggests the Marshall Plan was responsible for the prevention. Overall, the Marshall Plan was an enormous success for the United States.
Word Count: 148
To start off the Cold war, Russia had lost twenty-seven million soldiers in World War II. Stalin was not going to allow the Germany to attack Russia again . To make sure of this , Stalin made East Europe his buffer zone.The United states could not allow the this to contunie to happen. The first example was the Truman Doctrine, that declared the the Untited States would support “free people”. The Doctrine was followed by the Marshall Plan which gave 12 billion dollars in aid European democracies so that communist ideas would not be so attractive. These were some of the long term , patient policies the United States did to
Stephen Ambrose speaks much on wars that America was directly or indirectly involved in. In one chapter, The Legacy of World War Two, he saw war, for the US and the Allies, in World War Two, as “not to conquer, not to enslave, not to destroy, but to liberate” (Ambrose 120) He goes on to say that “the Marshall Plan was the most generous act in human history.” (Ambrose 121) The Marshall Plan created NATO, the Berlin Air Lift and Ambrose swimming in patriotism claimed it was “the American spirit, more than American productive power, that made it so.” (Ambrose 121) He continues h...
Truman’s accomplishments in his domestic policy were impressive, considering the hardships the nation was experiencing as World War II came to an end, and the resistance of Congress (which was greatly made up of Republicans and conservatives) to liberalism. The president was able to pas...
During 1940-1970, the USSR and the USA were the world’s leading superpowers. After WW2, it was the US money that helped rebuild nearly all of Western Europe, putting nearly half a dozen countries into debt. They opened trade and helped Europe’s ravaged economy to get back onto its feet. They did so by creating the ‘Marshall Plan’ on June the 5th, 1947. The plans aim was to reconstruct Western Europe and at the same time to stop Communism spreading to them – the Americans were avid believers in the Domino Theory, and believed that communism would take over all of Europe if they did not intervene. They also created other policies such as the Truman doctrine on March the 12th, 1947 (which is a set of principles that state that the US as the worlds ‘leading country’ will help out other democratic governments worldwide) and NATO, 4th of April 1949.
From War to Prosperity: 1940 - 1980. (2008, November 20). In Land of Contrast: A History of
and other countries.People may argue that the foreign policies made at this time were ineffective. The Marshall Plan spent a lot of the U.S. money to rebuild and help countries in Western Europe recover from the war. Americans may not have appreciated the fact that the U.S. government decided to give other countries money when it could have been used for something more important in the U.S. The Truman Doctrine let the U.S. be in a close distance to the Soviet union and their buffer contraries, therefore provoking them and creating more unneeded tension. The idea of communism needed to be stopped but these policies may not have been the correct approach. The U.S. should have been constantly trying to negotiate with them even if they did not want to. Besides the fear of communism, people may argue that the domestic affairs were overall very good in the U.S. The economy was striving and many people had enough money to buy houses, foods, supplies, cars, and other discretionary items. The women that took over men’s jobs during the war made good money and had a lot of savings. Therefore, when the war was over they were able to help support their returning partners or family members. From the late 1940s to the early 1950s, millions of children were born, known as the Baby Boom. Also, the G.I. Bill was passed to help anyone who fought in the war, worked in factories that made supplies for the war, and anyone who did anything to help the war effort start their new life. The G.I. Bill did not include women, African Americans or Jewish people only white men. The government paid for these people to go to college, get higher paying jobs, and even get new
Nelson, Sheila. Crisis at Home and Abroad: the Great Depression, World War II, and Beyond,
Anderson, F., and R.S Stephenson. The War That Made America. Penguin Group USA, 2005. (accessed December 5th , 2013).
Chafe, William H. The Unfinished Journey: America Since World War II. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.
...tory: Postwar United States, 1946 to 1968, Revised Edition (Volume IX). New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2010. American History Online. Facts On File, Inc. Web. 12 February 2012.
The New Deal period has generally - but not unanimously - been seen as a turning point in American politics, with the states relinquishing much of their autonomy, the President acquiring new authority and importance, and the role of government in citizens' lives increasing. The extent to which this was planned by the architect of the New Deal, Franklin D. Roosevelt, has been greatly contested, however. Yet, while it is instructive to note the limitations of Roosevelt's leadership, there is not much sense in the claims that the New Deal was haphazard, a jumble of expedient and populist schemes, or as W. Williams has put it, "undirected". FDR had a clear overarching vision of what he wanted to do to America, and was prepared to drive through the structural changes required to achieve this vision.
The 1930s was a time of not only political turmoil abroad, but of economic chaos on the home-front as well. After President Herbert C. Hoover's Presidency took the blame for launching the ...
A change in strategy leads to new perspective over certain matters. During FDR’s tenure many new reforms were adopted as part of the New Deal. Some o...
Franklin Roosevelt’s “optimism and activism that helped restore the badly shaken confidence of the nation” (pg. 467 Out of Many), was addressed in the New Deal, developed to bring about reform to the American standard of living and its low economy. It did not only make an impact during the Great Depression. Although, many of the problems addressed in the New Deal might have been solved, those with the long lasting effect provide enough evidence to illustrate how great a success the role of the New Deal played out in America’s history to make it what it is today.
McElvaine, Robert S. The Depression and New Deal: A History in Documents. New York: Oxford UP, 2000. Print.