MARSHALL PLAN

US-sponsored economic recovery program that was designed and implemented after World War II, which aims to aid recovery efforts on European countries. US Secretary of State George Marshall laid out marshall plan in his address at Harvard University in 1947. The US Congress then authorized European Recovery Program. It provided $13 billion in loans to Western Europe countries specifically. By the time the US ended its funding in 1952, recipients of the plan surpassed pre-war levels. Hence, marshall plan was a success, given that majority of Eastern Europe and Soviet Union did not accept the plan.