Why did the U.S. advocate the Marshall Plan for teh European nations?
The United States wanted, at all costs, to prevent the spread of Communism. After WWII, the Soviet Union, rather than leaving like it was supposed to, locked down Eastern Europe, turning East European countries into Communist “satellite states.” It was beginning to send out feelers towards other nations as well, nations ravaged by the war, with their economies and social systems on the verge of collapse, nations full of desperate people who were willing to try anything… So, the United States reasoned (firmly believing that no country would ever go Communist excepted when forced by dire need), in order to stop the spread of Communism, it needed to strengthen the economies and societies of needy European countries. And in that respect, the plan worked. The US revitalized Europe and kept the Soviets out. Also, Americans had loaned a lot of money to the Allies over the course of the war, and fixing Europe’s economy seemed to be the only way they would ever see that money again.
