‘Pin-up. Miss Europe 47’. On 23 July 1947, French cartoonist Jean Effel illustrates the dissatisfaction of France (Marianne) and the United Kingdom (Britannia) at the return to favour of Germany (Germania), who is crowned Miss Europe 47 by US President Harry Truman. One month earlier, in a speech made on 5 June 1947 at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, US Secretary of State George C. Marshall proposed economic and financial assistance to all the countries of Europe, subject to closer European cooperation. The Marshall Plan or European Recovery Program (ERP) was part of the US policy pursued by US President Truman to ‘contain’ the spread of communism in Europe. Given the prevailing East–West tensions, the economic reconstruction of Germany was a priority issue for Washington.