The Plan and the Man
... of plan. The few who did were names such as: Harriman, Dean Acheson, George Kennan, etc. They all turned to Marshall, who was known as “the great one of the age”. Marshall had planned to rescue Europe without any hesitation what so ever. “Our policy is not directed against any country or doctrine, but against hunger, poverty, desperation and chaos.” Overall, Marshall was very direct and simple man when giving his speeches to the public. The response the Americans had towards this was “tepid”. Marshall himself even had some issues laying this so called plan out in front of the congress. The US stated that they would listen, but in the end, they would not ask them, but clearly tell them what they would end up getting out of them. Why was the US so negative about a country who needed help? Fortunately, the congress allowed the Marshall Plan to prosper that following Spring. The aid of the Americans however had a darker side. The plan gave CIA way to a handy fund. The CIA then handed out some money to the Italians to keep them from communism. Its all very funny that at first, the Americans had absolutely no money to “play” with, and now they were dishing it out as if it were candy. Some economists have even argued that the plan played only a superficial role to Europe’s recovery. But the fact was that the standard of living in Europe had declined 8% a year. After the Marshall aid came into effect, they actua...