USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -It became known as the Marshall Plan, named for Secretary of State George Marshall, who in 1947 proposed that the United States provide economic assistance to restore the economic infrastructure of postwar Europe.

Detailed explanation-2: -European Recovery Program assistance is said to have contributed to more positive morale in Europe and to political and economic stability, which helped diminish the strength of domestic communist parties. The U.S. political and economic role in Europe was enhanced and U.S. trade with Europe boosted.

Detailed explanation-3: -The US government feared that a hungry, devastated Europe might turn to communism (as China would do in 1949). To stabilize the European economy, US Secretary of State George C. Marshall proposed a plan to provide Europe with $13 billion in economic aid.

Detailed explanation-4: -The Marshall Plan offered the same aid to the Soviet Union and its allies, if they would make political reforms and accept certain outside controls. In fact, America worried that the Soviet Union would take advantage of the plan and therefore made the terms deliberately hard for the USSR to accept.

Detailed explanation-5: -European reaction to Marshall’s speech was quick and positive. The British and French foreign ministers met and issued a joint communiqué inviting twenty-two European nations to send representatives to Paris to draw up a cooperative recovery plan.