This episode unpacks how the Marshall Plan transformed postwar Western Europe and why security, allied cooperation, and forward thinking were the real keys to its enduring success.

To mark the 250th anniversary of the U.S. declaration of independence, CFR is dedicating a yearlong series of articles, videos, podcasts, events, and special projects that will reflect on two and a half centuries of U.S. foreign policy. Featuring bipartisan voices and expert contributors, the series explores the evolution of America’s role in the world and the strategic challenges that lie ahead.

Host:

James M. Lindsay, Mary and David Boies Distinguished Senior Fellow in U.S. Foreign Policy, CFR

Guest:

Benn Steil, Senior Fellow and Director of International Economics, CFR

We Discuss:

How the British Empire’s rapid collapse in early 1947 forced the United States to assume responsibility for Western European security.
What George Marshall’s six weeks of negotiations in Moscow revealed about Soviet intentions in Germany and Western Europe.
How Marshall deliberately crafted the plan’s offer to include the Soviet Union while ensuring Soviet leader Joseph Stalin would reject it.
How Congress, controlled by Republicans, was persuaded to support a massive foreign aid program from a Democratic administration.
Whether the Marshall Plan's $13 billion actually explains Western Europe’s economic recovery in the late 1940s.
What role NATO played in making the Marshall Plan work, and why the French and British insisted on security guarantees before cooperating.
Why security has to precede economic reconstruction—and what Afghanistan and Iraq reveal about ignoring that lesson.
What Senator Henry Cabot Lodge Jr.’s 1947 prediction about sustained alliances tells us about the stakes of U.S. foreign policy today.

Mentioned on the Episode:

The 10 Best and Worst Decisions in U.S. Foreign Policy, Council on Foreign Relations

Benn Steil, The Marshall Plan: Dawn of the Cold War

George Kennan’s Long Telegram, February 22, 1946

“Sinews of Peace (‘Iron Curtain’ Speech).” at Westminster College, Fulton, Missouri, March 5, 1946.

Harry Truman, “The Truman Doctrine,” Address to Congress, March 12, 1947

George C. Marshall, Commencement Address at Harvard University June 5, 1947

For an episode transcript and show notes, visit The President’s Inbox at: https://www.cfr.org/podcasts/presidents-inbox/america-at-250-the-marshall-plan

Opinions expressed on The President’s Inbox are solely those of the host or guests, not of CFR, which takes no institutional positions on matters of policy.