MONEY AND POWER

In 1947, the US pledged billions of dollars to help rebuild war-torn Europe - but the Soviets sensed an ulterior motive

- NIGE TASSELL

'It is logical that the United States should do whatever it is able to do to assist in the return of normal economic health to the world, without which there can be no political stability and no assured peace. Our policy is directed not against any country, but against hunger, poverty, desperation and chaos."

When United States secretary of state George C Marshall delivered these words, in a speech at Harvard University in June 1947, he was sketching out the framework of a widespread package of aid to a Europe devastated by six years of war. The Marshall Plan carried echoes of Franklin D Roosevelt's New Deal, which had accelerated the US's economic recovery after the Wall Street Crash and the subsequent Great Depression. This time, the focus was the re-establishment - both economically and politically - of the war-battered great states of Europe.