70 years ago today, General George Marshall, President Truman’s Secretary of State, spoke at Harvard University’s commencement celebrations. His speech lasted only eleven minutes, but it made history. After giving his American audience a sense of the depth of the disruption facing European economies and societies in the aftermath of World War II, he laid out the rationale for what would come to be known as the Marshall Plan. Under that plan, the United States would allocate over $17 billion (about $180 billion in today’s dollars), or more than 10% of the federal budget, to aid the countries of Europe in rebuilding their infrastructure and reviving their economies. It did not discriminate between allies and former foes; Germany was a major beneficiary, and the Soviet Union was offered aid as well, though Stalin turned it down.
It was an extraordinary gesture of transatlantic solidarity that takes on special resonance in light of American foreign policy today. This past weekend, Harvard hosted a commemorative conference on the Marshall Plan, and speaker after speaker — even British and Dutch diplomats constrained by the need to remain nonpartisan — lamented the lost concept of “enlightened self-interest” that motivated Marshall, Truman, and even the U.S. Congress in 1947. Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright quipped that “Americans don’t like multilateralism — it has too many syllables and ends in ‘ism.’” But she also said that America is stronger when we are part of a global community, a sentiment echoed by everyone in the room.
Americans recognized in 1947 that social stability and economic success in Europe would bring the United States benefits far in excess of even the very large investment that General Marshall proposed. And they were right. The Marshall Plan helped usher in a period of shared prosperity (well, not shared equally, but still palpable) that brought incalculable benefits to the U.S. We can only imagine what a different turn history might have taken if the Soviet Bloc had been part of the reconstruction as well.
In 2017, I believe Americans broadly recognize that a similar level of investment in our planetary future would be a justifiable course that would ultimately bring us benefits far in excess of the current costs. Support for the Paris climate accords runs high even among Republican voters. But our leadership right now only gets the “self-interest” part of “enlightened self-interest.” Dragging them into the light seems almost impossible to imagine.
The Marshall Plan isn’t something we think about a lot in America, but Europeans recall it with deep gratitude. In 1972 the German Marshall Fund was created to “strengthen transnational cooperation on regional, national, and global challenges and opportunities in the spirit of the Marshall Plan.” In 1954, the United Kingdom created the Marshall Scholarship program to bring a cohort of young Americans to U.K. universities for postgraduate studies and to learn first-hand about the importance of strong international relationships. As one of those lucky Marshall Scholars (class of 1978), I am constantly reminded of the importance of looking beyond our narrow boundaries, and of the profound difference we can make by focusing on the greater good and on future we will share with all nations on Earth.