Today in History: The Marshall Plan
Today in History–June 19–the Library of Congress features the Marshall Plan. On this day in 1947, British and French foreign ministers invited 22 European nations to participate in designing a plan for rebuilding war-torn Europe. Two weeks earlier in a speech at Harvard University, World War II general and U.S. Secretary of State George C. Marshall had called for a multi-billion dollar European aid package designed to stabilize the world economy and discourage the spread of communism. Nearly every Western European nation participated in this recovery plan that became known as the Marshall Plan. Find out more by visiting the Today in History section, then clicking the links below.
Marshall Plan
- George Marshall and the Marshall Plan America’s Library
- Marshall Plan Timeline
- Text of George C. Marshall speech at Harvard University, June 5, 1947
- Audio excerpts from George C. Marshall speech at Harvard University, June 5, 1947
- Marshall Plan cartoon “Shall we say grace?”, October 10, 1947
- The Marshall Plan at the Mid-Mark William Averell Harriman’s photographic album
- For European Recovery: The Fiftieth Anniversary of the Marshall Plan (online exhibition)
- Foreign Affairs oral history mentions of the Marshall Plan
- Marshall Plan historical newspaper coverage
- Modern-day U.S. legislation related to the Marshall Plan
George C. Marshall
- Marshall and the D-Day Invasion of Europe from America’s Library
- Marshall and McCarthyism from America’s Library
- An act to authorize the President to appoint General of the Army George C. Marshall to the Office of Secretary of Defense September 18, 1950
- George C. Marshall image set
- George C. Marshall historical newspaper coverage
- Contemporary U.S. legislation related to George C. Marshall