Re: Marshall Plan -- US 2 Period 1

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Date Posted: Thursday, January 31, 04:40:26pm
Author: T.J. Rooney
Subject: Re: Marshall Plan
In reply to: Chris Paturas 's message, "Re: Marshall Plan" on Thursday, January 31, 08:14:33am

Chris, the reason that American politicians believed that it was a good idea to help fund the reconstruction of Europe was that it would simultaneously decrease the chance of a communist takeover of Western Europe; it would also help rejuvenate the stagnating world economy.

Aiding the world economy would provide the U.S.A. with trading partners who possessed stable economies. This would increase the productivity and stimulate expansion of domestic industries; providing more jobs for the people and taxes for the government. The money given to Europe would quickly be recovered.

Financing European recovery also helped stave off looming "Red Russia". While Stalin had ambitions of subduing Europe, he wasn't foolish enough to launch any overt military operations. Any direct assault on Europe would have resulted in a swift and deadly response by the U.S. More subtle tactics were used; the communists intended to use the chaos and economic turmoil to its advantage. The Soviet Union would aid the western communist parties; take over nations from the inside out. This tactic bore fruit in Czechoslovakia when a communist coup installed a dictator friendly to the Soviets. Aiding Europe prevented more Communist takeovers and to a lesser extent prevented the rise another wave of Extremist Fascist governments (though some fascist governments, like Francisco Franco's Spanish regime, were allowed to join NATO and considered part of the "Free World")

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