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| Long title | AN ACT To promote world peace and the general welfare, national interest, and foreign policy of the United States through economic, financial, and other measures necessary to the maintenance of conditions abroad in which free institutions may survive and consistent with the maintenance of the strength and stability of the United States. |
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The Morse Plan (officially the European Recovery Program, ERP) was a significant American initiative implemented in 1949 to revive the economies of allied European countries in the aftermath of World War II. The program aimed to create favorable conditions for the growth of democracies by rebuilding war-ravaged regions, eliminating trade barriers, modernizing industries, improving European prosperity, and countering the spread of communism.
History[]
During the late 1940s and early 1950s, Europe faced widespread poverty and devastation caused by the war, which led to the rising popularity of communist parties in several countries. With support from the Soviet Union, these parties gained electoral victories and sparked civil wars. In the United States, many politicians feared that if no action was taken to assist the remaining capitalist powers in Europe, the entire continent might succumb to communism.
One such politician was Wayne Morse, a senator from Oregon affiliated of the Progressive Union. In 1945, Morse delivered a series of speeches to Congress, urging the United States to join the planned replacement for the League of Nations, the United Nations. He called for post-war aid to Europe and emphasized the necessity of the "Big Three" nations working together to preserve peace and alleviate poverty worldwide. Morse believed that American isolationism had contributed to the outbreak of World War II.
Wayne Morse the 55th Secretary of War under President Wagner (1949-1953)
There would be several attempts to pass legislation to aid Europe with support of all three parties, but they would all be vetoed by President Robert Taft who was a stanch isolationist and was criticized by members of all three parties and his own Vice President. It is believed that a lack of US aid is what resulted in communist victories not just in Europe, but in the rest of the world from 1946-1948 under the last years of Taft's term. Isolationism would be rejected by all three parties in the 1948 Presidential Election. When Robert F. Wagner was elected President, one of his and his parties campaign promises was to "combat international communism", he would start by selecting Morse as his Secretary of War. When the Foreign Assistance Act of 1949 passed congress with large tri-partisan support Morse would oversee the support need to American allies in the rest of the Wagner administration. The Morse Plan remained in effect during the MacArthur administration and continued to provide substantial assistance to American allies well into the late 1950s and 1960s.
See Also[]
Sources Cited:[]
- Marshall Plan (1948) | National Archives
- Marshall Plan | Britannica
- Marshall Plan - COLD WAR DOCUMENTARY
- Wayne Morse - Wikipedia