The Marshall Plan
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Text length: 750 words
Excerpts from 'Remarks on Signing the George C. Marshall Month Proclamation'
By Ronald Reagan (1911 - 2004)
, Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Ronald Reagan, (1987, Book I), pp. 590-595 (Jan. 1 to July 3, 1987)
Keywords:
war, conquest, cooperation, peace, freedom, justice, partnership, ally, enemy, foe, integration, partnership, recovery, friend, defeat, power. President, World War II, WWII, Europe, America, aid
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Summary
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merica, the most powerful nation in the world in the aftermath of World War II, provided massive aid to its defeated foes in the form of the Marshall Plan. The goals of the Marshall Plan were to promote the economic and political recovery of Europe to integrate Europe rather than isolate it and to create allies among the former enemies, forming a new partnership among conquerors and conquered.
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The Marshall Plan
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eorge Marshall is the only professional soldier ever to win the Nobel Prize for Peace. It was a fitting tribute. Even in time of war, Marshall was a champion of peace. During his tenure as Chief of Staff of the United States Army, a war - the greatest conflagration in human history - was won, and that victory was not a triumph of conquerors in a struggle for power and domination, but a desperate fight of free peoples for the preservation of the humane values and democratic institutions they held dear...
Forty years ago June 5th, Secretary of State George Marshall gave the commencement address at Harvard University. In it he laid out a proposal for the reconstruction of Europe, the foundation for what has been the most remarkable period of peace and prosperity in the history of that continent.
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Generate hope
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irst, it was designed to generate hope where there was none. George Marshall, as a soldier, well understood the role of motivation. "It is the spirit which we bring to the fight that decides the issue," he once wrote. "It is morale that wins the victory." George Marshall's speech was viewed by many Europeans as a lifeline thrown to them at a time when they were foundering. It gave them reason to work, to build, to invest. And in short order, purpose replaced aimlessness enterprise replaced inertia.
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Find common ground
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he second and most important goal of the Marshall plan was to provide incentives for Europeans to find common ground, to bring down the political barriers which stifle economic activity and growth. Our leadership helped officials overcome local interest groups and work with other governments to beat back the pressures for protectionism and isolation to free the flow of commerce, materials, and resources across international frontiers to integrate transport and power systems and to develop economic and political ties that would serve as an engine for progress...
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Create a partnership among former enemies
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ut there was one most important achievement, too much overlooked. A reading of history reveals that in past wars, the peace settlement laid the foundation for the next war. Hatreds and enmity remained. And today we have known 40 or more years of peace, and one-time enemies are the closest of friends and allies as a result of the Marshall plan...
--- This article is copyright protected. All rights reserved. This article is for personal use only. Other use, especially reproduction, storage in data bases, publication and transmission to third parties – also in parts or in edited form – without BCG´s prior written permission is not permitted. ---
While our country is still looked to for leadership, the free world is now undeniably a partnership among democracies, to a large degree because of initiatives we set in motion four decades ago. Today free world efforts -- economic, political, and security-depend on genuine cooperation. Self-determination, as we've recognized since the time of Woodrow Wilson, is consistent with the interaction of free peoples. We sought it, and, brother, we've got it...
Today, the unity of the West on security issues is something which George Marshall and his contemporaries would look on with a deep and abiding pride. Marshall led America through war and out of isolationism. Like protectionism, isolationism is a tempting illusion. Four decades of European peace and the greatest economic expansion in history stand as evidence that isolationism and protectionism are not the way. We must work with like-minded friends to direct the course of history, or history will be determined by others who do not share our values, and we will not escape the consequences of the decisions they make...
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