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SECRETARY OF STATE GEORGE C.
MARSHALL AT HARVARD - 1947
The Marshall Plan
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Above image:
Secretary of State George
C. Marshall enters Harvard University on June 5,
1947, to address the graduating class. Within
days, the 12-minute speech became famous as the
Marshall Plan.
(© OECD)
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the Marshall Plan.
It follows the full text transcript of
George C. Marshall's The Marshall Plan
speech, delivered at Harvard University, Cambridge,
Massachusetts - June 5, 1947.
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Mr. President, Dr.
Conant, members of the board of overseers,
ladies and gentlemen: |
I'm profoundly
grateful and touched by the great distinction
and honor and great compliment accorded me by
the authorities of Harvard this morning. I'm
overwhelmed, as a matter of fact, and I'm rather
fearful of my inability to maintain such a high
rating as you've been generous enough to accord
to me. In these historic and lovely
surroundings, this perfect day, and this very
wonderful assembly, it is a tremendously
impressive thing to an individual in my
position.
But to speak more seriously, I need not tell you
that the world situation is very serious. That
must be apparent to all intelligent people. I
think one difficulty is that the problem is one
of such enormous complexity that the very mass
of facts presented to the public by press and
radio make it exceedingly difficult for the man
in the street to reach a clear appraisement of
the situation. Furthermore, the people of this
country are distant from the troubled areas of
the earth and it is hard for them to comprehend
the plight and consequent reactions of the
long-suffering peoples, and the effect of those
reactions on their governments in connection
with our efforts to promote peace in the world.
In considering the requirements for the
rehabilitation of Europe, the physical loss of
life, the visible destruction of cities,
factories, mines, and railroads was correctly
estimated, but it has become obvious during
recent months that this visible destruction was
probably less serious than the dislocation of
the entire fabric of European economy. For the
past ten years conditions have been abnormal.
The feverish preparation for war and the more
feverish maintenance of the war effort engulfed
all aspects of national economies. Machinery has
fallen into disrepair or is entirely obsolete.
Under the arbitrary and destructive Nazi rule,
virtually every possible enterprise was geared
into the German war machine. Long-standing
commercial ties, private institutions, banks,
insurance companies, and shipping companies
disappeared through loss of capital, absorption
through nationalization, or by simple
destruction. In many countries, confidence in
the local currency has been severely shaken. The
breakdown of the business structure of Europe
during the war was complete. Recovery has been
seriously retarded by the fact that two years
after the close of hostilities a peace
settlement with Germany and Austria has not been
agreed upon. But even given a more prompt
solution of these difficult problems, the
rehabilitation of the economic structure of
Europe quite evidently will require a much
longer time and greater effort than has been
foreseen.
There is a phase of this matter which is both
interesting and serious. The farmer has always
produced the foodstuffs to exchange with the
city dweller for the other necessities of life.
This division of labor is the basis of modern
civilization. At the present time it is
threatened with breakdown. The town and city
industries are not producing adequate goods to
exchange with the food-producing farmer. Raw
materials and fuel are in short supply.
Machinery, as I have said, is lacking or worn
out. The farmer or the peasant cannot find the
goods for sale which he desires to purchase. So
the sale of his farm produce for money which he
cannot use seems to him an unprofitable
transaction. He, therefore, has withdrawn many
fields from crop cultivation and is using them
for grazing. He feeds more grain to stock and
finds for himself and his family an ample supply
of food, however short he may be on clothing and
the other ordinary gadgets of civilization.
Meanwhile, people in the cities are short of
food and fuel, and in some places approaching
the starvation levels. So the governments are
forced to use their foreign money and credits to
procure these necessities abroad. This process
exhausts funds which are urgently needed for
reconstruction. Thus a very serious situation is
rapidly developing which bodes no good for the
world. The modern system of the division of
labor upon which the exchange of products is
based is in danger of breaking down.
The truth of the matter is that Europe's
requirements for the next three or four years of
foreign food and other essential products -
principally from America - are so much greater
than her present ability to pay that she must
have substantial additional help or face
economic, social, and political deterioration of
a very grave character.
The remedy seems to lie in breaking the vicious
circle and restoring the confidence of the
European people in the economic future of their
own countries and of Europe as a whole. The
manufacturer and the farmer throughout wide
areas must be able and willing to exchange their
product for currencies, the continuing value of
which is not open to question.
Aside from the demoralizing effect on the world
at large and the possibilities of disturbances
arising as a result of the desperate …
desperation of the people concerned, the
consequences to the economy of the United States
should be apparent to all. It is logical that
the United States should do whatever it is able
to do to assist in the return of normal economic
health in the world, without which there can be
no political stability and no assured peace.
Our policy is directed not against any country
or doctrine but against hunger, poverty,
desperation, and chaos. Its purpose should be
the revival of a working economy in the world so
as to permit the emergence of political and
social conditions in which free institutions can
exist. Such assistance, I am convinced, must not
be on a piecemeal basis as various crises
develop. Any assistance that this Government may
render in the future should provide a cure
rather than a mere palliative. Any government
that is willing to assist in the task of
recovery will find full cooperation, I am sure,
on the part of the United States Government. Any
government which maneuvers to block the recovery
of other countries cannot expect help from us.
Furthermore, governments, political parties or
groups which seek to perpetuate human misery in
order to profit therefrom politically or
otherwise will encounter the opposition of the
United States.
It is already evident that, before the United
States Government can proceed much further in
its efforts to alleviate the situation and help
start the European world on its way to recovery,
there must be some agreement among the countries
of Europe as to the requirements of the
situation and the part those countries
themselves will take in order to give proper
effect to whatever action might be undertaken by
this Government. It would be neither fitting nor
efficacious for our Government to undertake to
draw up unilaterally a program designed to place
Europe on its feet economically. This is the
business of the Europeans. The initiative, I
think, must come from Europe. The role of this
country should consist of friendly aid in the
drafting of a European program and of later
support of such a program so far as it may be
practical for us to do so. The program should be
a joint one, agreed to by a number, if not all,
European nations.
An essential part of any successful action on
the part of the United States is an
understanding on the part of the people of
America of the character of the problem and the
remedies to be applied. Political passion and
prejudice should have no part. With foresight,
and a willingness on the part of our people to
face up to the vast responsibility which history
has clearly placed upon our country, the
difficulties I have outlined can and will be
overcome.
I am sorry that on each occasion I have said
something publicly in regard to our
international situation. I've been forced by the
necessities of the case to enter into rather
technical discussions. But to my mind, it is of
vast importance that our people reach some
general understanding of what the complications
really are, rather than react from a passion or
a prejudice or an emotion of the moment. As I
said more formally a moment ago, we are remote
from the scene of these troubles. It is
virtually impossible at this distance merely by
reading, or listening, or even seeing
photographs and motion pictures, to grasp at all
the real significance of the situation. And yet
the whole world of the future hangs on a proper
judgment. It hangs, I think, to a large extent
on the realization of the American people, of
just what are the various dominant factors. What
are the reactions of the people? What are the
justifications of those reactions? What are the
sufferings? What is needed? What can best be
done? What must be done?
Thank you very much.
See also the
American Timeline.
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