Script of Process of Marshall Plan

I. Briefly introduce the process of Marshall Plan. (4 Parts: The Speech, Rejection by

the Soviets, Negotiation and Implementation)

II. Further explanations

1. The speech

 Explain the historical background and basic information. (background, writer,

presenter)

 Contents of the speech (4 items)

a. Marshall offered American aid to promote European recovery & reconstruction.

b. described the dysfunction of the European economy & presented a rationale for

US aid.

c. No details & no numbers.

d. call for the European to meet & create their own plan for rebuilding Europe & that

the US would then fund this plan.

 Tell the Ss the orientation of Marshall Plan

2. Rejection by the Soviets

 Talk about the nature of Marshall Plan

The Americans were pushing the importance of free trade & European unity to form

a bulwark against communism.

 Give details & further information

3. Negotiation

 Present the basic information

16 nations met in Paris to determine what form the American aid would take, and

how it would be divided.

 Show the further information of the process of the negotiation

1> Negotiation was long & complex (details & reasons)

2> Number of American aid (asked $22bl, expected $17bl and actual got $12.4bl)

3> Marshall Plan put into law (a new economic organization established, ECA, and

the mission statement of ECA).

Mission statement is to give a boost to the European economy; to promote European

production, to bolster European currency, and to facilitate international trade,

especially with the US, whose economic interest required Europe to become wealthy

enough to import US goods.

4. Implementation

 Basic information

The first substantial aid went to Greece and Turkey in Jan. 1974, The Marshall Plan

aid was mostly used for the purchase of goods from the US. In the latter years,

under pressure from the US congress & with the outbreak of the Korean War, an

increasing amount of the aid was spent on rebuilding the militaries of Western

Europe.