ABSTRACT
The Marshall Plan, or as it was officially called, the European Recov-ery Program was as visionary as the secretary of state and Nobel Laureate who led its creation. General Marshall had experienced firsthand the human toll, environmental ravages, and economic destruction of world war. He spoke eloquently of a broken Europe, garnering support for policies that helped the region rebuild itself, in the full knowledge that this was more than a charitable act-it was pragmatic. Getting the European economy back on its feet was vital to America’s own economic and national security interests. This is as true today as it ever was. Healthy economies everywhere are mutually dependent.
