Restricting Communism with the Marshall Plan - 857 Words

The source in question is an extract from the United States Secretary of State George C. Marshall’s commencement speech for receiving an honorary degree from Harvard University; it was delivered on the 5th of June, 1947 at Harvard University. The speech was created primarily Charles Bohlen, a Soviet expert and Marshall’s special assistant, and later revised by Marshall. Department officials, including George Kennan and William Clayton saw the Marshall Plan as a way of restricting Communist growth in Europe, by strengthening the struggling democratic European nations . After the end of WWII in 1945, the majority of Europe was in ruins; over a third of the European industry was destroyed by the war, resulting in weak economies, and millions of people unemployed and starving, causing low morale. As economies were not improving at a rapid enough pace, combined with high unemployment and a hungry population, people started to look for change. Communism began to look promising, and was becoming increasingly popular in Europe through rebels and partisans. In an attempt confine the spread of Communism, Marshall was sent to Moscow to negotiate with Stalin. Initially, Stalin welcomed the possibility of Soviet participation in a U.S funded European reconstruction program. However, Stalin opposed the â€Å"idea of a coordinated multilateral aid programme, which was seen to threaten the Soviet political and economic position in Eastern Europe†, and withdrew all support and insisted thatShow MoreRelatedThe Munich Agreement1276 Words   |  5 PagesHitler decided to bring war to Western Europe, with the primary goal of conquering France in 1940. France surrendered which meant the fall of the Third Republic. German bombers hit air bases in Luxembourg, France, Belgium, and the Netherlands, restricting them to protect their own country. 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