1948 in International Relations

Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 49. Chapters: Marshall Plan, Republic of Ireland Act 1948, Berlin Blockade, List of state leaders in 1948, List of sovereign states in 1948, Newfoundland referendums, 1948, Smith¿Mundt Act, United Nations General Assembly Resolution 194, TitöStalin split, Danube River Conference of 1948, Drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, The Recording of the Israel Declaration of Independence, Vandenberg resolution, Arms shipments from Czechoslovakia to Israel 1947¿1949, Ward Incident, Hague Congress, American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man, Independence of Sri Lanka, Progress Report of the United Nations Mediator on Palestine, War Claims Act of 1948, List of colonial governors in 1948. Excerpt: The Marshall Plan (officially the European Recovery Program, ERP) was the large-scale economic American program of cash grants to Europe (with no repayment), 1947¿1951. The goal of the United States was rebuilding a war-devastated region, removing trade barriers, modernizing industry, and making Europe prosperous again. The initiative was named after Secretary of State George Marshall. The plan had bipartisan support in Washington, where the Republicans controlled Congress and the Democrats controlled the White House. The Plan was largely the creation of State Department officials, especially William L. Clayton and George F. Kennan. Marshall spoke of urgent need to help the European recovery in his address at Harvard University in June 1947. The reconstruction plan, developed at a meeting of the participating European states, was established on June 5, 1947. It offered the same aid to the Soviet Union and its allies, but they did not accept it. The plan was in operation for four years beginning in April 1948. During that period some US $13 billion in economic and technical assistance were given to help the recovery of the European countries that had joined in the Organization for European Economic Co-operation. This $13 billion was in the context of a U.S. GDP of $258 billion in 1948, and was on top of $12 billion in American aid to Europe between the end of the war and the start of the Plan that is counted separately from the Marshall Plan. The Marshall Plan was replaced by the Mutual Security Plan at the end of 1951. The ERP addressed each of the obstacles to postwar recovery. The plan looked to the future, and did not focus on the destruction caused by the war. Much more important were efforts to modernize European industrial and business practices using high-efficiency American models, reduce artificial trade barriers, and instill a sense of hope and self-reliance. By 1952 as the funding ended, the economy of every participant state had surpassed pre-war levels;