Map showing the European countries which, under the Marshall plan, are offered US material aid for reconstruction, those which accept the aid and those which reject it, and those which, on 16 April 1948, in Paris, decide to establish the Organisation for European Economic Cooperation (OEEC).

On 7 November 1947, the French weekly publication La Tribune des Nations reports on the statement by Virgil Jordan, President of the National Industrial Conference Board in the United States, in which he emphasises the dangers of the Marshall Plan for the economic and industrial fabric of America.

On 21 November 1947, the American ‘Friendship Train’, loaded with food donations from US citizens destined for a war-torn Europe, leaves New York on a freighter down the Hudson River.

On 24 November 1947, in an article published in the French Socialist daily newspaper Le Populaire, Jim Carey, Secretary-General of the Congress for Industrial Organisation (CIO), defends the Marshall Plan against the criticisms levelled against it by certain European trade unions.

On 26 November 1947, estate agent Ray Moseley shares his concerns with US President Harry Truman about the financial aid provided by the United States to European countries at the expense of American households. In his reply, dated 1 December 1947, Harry Truman points out that most European countries have been devastated by the war and urgently require US economic aid.

On 19 December 1947, US President Harry S. Truman delivers an address to Congress on the issues involved in the economic reconstruction of Europe; he also outlines the aid provided by the United States for the purpose of getting the European economy back on its feet.

On 7 January 1948, in connection with the debates in the US Congress on the approval of the Marshall Plan, British cartoonist Leslie Gilbert Illingworth illustrates the impatience of European countries with regard to the US financial and economic aid.

On 8 March 1948, faced with the threat of the Soviet bloc, British cartoonist Leslie Gilbert Illingworth illustrates the efforts made by Georges Marshall, US Secretary of State, to gather around him the countries of Western Europe, thereby forming a united front against the dangers of Communism.

‘The wolf and the little goats. A fairytale yesterday — and today?’ In March 1948, referring to the Marshall Plan, German cartoonist Lang illustrates the solidarity binding the countries of Western Europe, which are uniting to protect convalescent Germany from the Soviet threat.

On 3 April 1948, US President Harry Truman, signs the law creating the Economic Cooperation Administration (ECA) whose role is to manage the programme of material and financial aid granted to European countries by the United States.

On 5 June 1947, US Secretary of State George C. Marshall proposes economic and financial aid to all European countries. Sixteen will accept the European Recovery Program (ERP) or Marshall plan.

On 9 April 1948, the US President, Harry Truman (right), appoints Paul Hoffman (left) as Administrator of the Economic Cooperation Administration (ECA) tasked with allocating the funds provided by the Marshall Plan.

On 21 April 1948, the Belgian liberal daily newspaper La Dernière Heure publishes the provisional figures for the financial aid allocated by the United States to the European countries under the Marshall Plan for aid to Europe.

In July 1948, British cartoonist Leslie Gilbert Illingworth illustrates the economic aid provided by the United States under the Marshall Plan and emphasises the importance of European reconstruction.

In August 1948, British cartoonist Ernest Howard Shepard emphasises the role played by Paul Hoffman, Administrator of the Economic Cooperation Administration (ECA), which was responsible for distributing the funds provided under the Marshall Plan for the economic reconstruction of Western Europe.

On 29 November 1948, the US President, Harry S. Truman (left) meets with George C. Marshall, Paul Hoffmann and Averell Harriman in the Oval Office of the White House to discuss the implementation of the Marshall Plan for the reconstruction of Europe.

On 11 September 1949, referring to the prevailing Cold War climate, the Brussels periodical Le Phare Dimanche explains Europe’s dependence for its economic and military future on US foreign policy.

On 30 October 1952, George C. Marshall grants an interview to Harry B. Price in which the former US Secretary of State outlines the origins of the Marshall Plan and describes the important role played by George Kennan and Arthur Vandenberg in drawing up the European Recovery Program (ERP).

Series of posters promoting the benefits of the Marshall Plan for US economic aid in several of the European countries receiving the aid.

Dans ses Mémoires, Harry S. Truman, ancien président des États-Unis, évoque les raisons de la mise en place d'une aide économique américaine en faveur de l'Europe au lendemain de la Seconde Guerre mondiale.

In this interview, Leo Tindemans, former attaché in the Economic Affairs Service of the Belgian Ministry of Agriculture, refers to the US economic aid given to European countries after the Second World War through the Marshall Plan funds.

In this interview, Hans-August Lücker, former President of the Bavarian Chamber of Agriculture and, in this capacity, author of a memorandum concerning the use of Marshall Plan aid for agriculture, recalls the need after the Second World War to make agriculture a competitive and profitable sector of the economy as part of a social market economy.