wideraufbau

Based on the findings commissioned by General Lucius D Clay on the reconstruction of post-war Germany, on this day in 1948 US President Harry S Truman signed into law the European Recovery Program—ERP—unofficially known as the Marshall Plan, named in honour of former five-star general and US Secretary of State George C Marshall who carried out its execution.
Looking back, some regard the plan’s legacy as outsized and that significant economic recovery was already underway—West Germany receiving significantly less funds than Allies UK and France yet making far greater strides towards rebuilding and resuscitation—and was the investment mechanism responsible for the creation of transnational corporations beholden to no government or regulating body, all in the name of fighting the spread of Communism and cementing American culture and values, but whatever the judgment on balance, the level of integration and cooperation the plan fostered helped test and trial latter day institutions like the European Union that developed from the European Coal and Steel Community and domestically for Americans, the plan along with others signaled a willingness to cultivate a more global outlook rather than keep their stance of isolationism.