ABSTRACT
An early, exacting experience in Mr. Levy's career came with his service as Chief of the Petroleum Branch, Economic Cooperation Administration (ECA), in 1948 and 1949. ECA was the US instrument for the implementation of the Marshall Plan for the recovery of Europe following World War II. When ECA began operations on April 3, 1948, many Western European countries had scarcely a single dollar to pay obligations. The local currency funds paid to the government are put into a special account which is under the joint control of the government concerned and ECA. These "counterpart" funds are then used by local governments with the approval of ECA for debt retirement or for productive purposes of one kind or another. Without ECA the European countries would have had no alternative but to buy British oil to the limit of its possibilities and those possibilities are great indeed.
