Marshall Plan

Programme of US economic aid to Europe, set up at the end of World War II, totalling $13.3 billion throughout the life of the programme from 1948 to 1952 (equivalent to more than $88 billion late 1990s dollars). Post-war Europe was in a state of economic collapse and physical ruin and the USA, as the world's richest nation, intended to resurrect the European economy and combat the perceived danger of a communist takeover in Europe. Officially known as the European Recovery Program, it was announced by Secretary of State George C Marshall in a speech at Harvard in June 1947, but it was in fact the work of a State Department group led by Dean Acheson.

Sixteen countries – Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Turkey, the UK, and West Germany – were recipients of Marshall Plan assistance. The USSR and countries under its influence declined participation; although Poland and Czechoslovakia initially gave positive responses, their participation was vetoed by Moscow. The Economic Cooperation Administration distributed the money, and the Organization for European Economic Cooperation (OEEC; from 1961 the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, OECD) disbursed it.