Steve Dewey
The Marshall Plan to rebuild post-World War II Europe has been acclaimed as the most successful foreign assistance program in U.S. history. The plan, officially known as the European Recovery Program (ERP), was created under the Economic Cooperation Act of 1948 (also known at the Foreign Assistance Act of 1948) signed into law by President Harry Truman on April 3, 1948.
The plan was named after George Marshall, its leading advocate and Truman’s Secretary of State at the time. It provided an aggregate total of $13.3 billion (equivalent to about $200 billion in 2025) in financial assistance to 16 European countries over a period of approximately four years from April 1948 to June 1952. Both the Truman administration and large majorities in Congress viewed the Marshall Plan as essential in not only helping reconstruct a war-torn Europe and regenerate its economies, but also to prevent the westward expansion of communism across the European continent by the Soviet Union.
The Trump administration’s clean-up of the waste, fraud, and abuse in U.S. foreign assistance should lead to a far more efficient and effective U.S. foreign policy.
The impact of the plan on recipient countries show that it achieved its primary objectives. From 1947 to the end of 1951, trade volume within Europe almost doubled, industrial production increased 55 percent, and average GNP rose by roughly 33 percent. In addition, the Marshall Plan had geopolitical value for the United States that is not easily quantifiable beyond the economic benefits. Many observers believe that the plan was critical in preventing the spread of communism in the assisted countries.
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