The Super Summary of World History - Alan Dale Daniel [246]
The United States initiated the Marshall Plan, named for Secretary of State George Marshall (sec state 1947-1949; former general), giving Western Europe millions of US dollars to rebuild its infrastructure and military organizations. A similar effort was undertaken in Japan. This was an incredible break with history. Think of it, at the end of the Second World War, the worst war in human history, the United States of America rebuilt its friends and its enemies with millions of dollars that no one had to pay back. Never before in history had a nation fought a terrible war to a victorious end, rebuilt its enemies at its expense, and then left demanding nothing. The normal course of action was to conquer and stay or conquer and demand massive repatriations from the conquered people (WWI). The Marshall plan worked and Western Europe rose from the wreckage of war in a startling recovery that included West Germany becoming one of the world’s economic leaders. The United States and Western Europe formed NATO (the North Atlantic Treaty Organization) which was a mutual defense alliance for protection against the Soviets and their eastern bloc allies. Recall the US tried to stay out of the last two wars so Europe had trust issues about American entry if the Soviets invaded. To convince Western Europe the United States would fight upon a Soviet invasion US troops were stationed there so Americans would be dying the instant a war began guaranteeing an immediate US entry into the conflict.
These plans worked and they worked very well. Truman and his administration performed admirably to secure the freedom of Western Europe won at such great cost during World War II. These administrative victories were critical in keeping Western Europe free from Soviet hegemony. Had even a few nations, such as Italy or Greece, gone communist and allied with the Soviets, the Cold War’s difficulties would multiply making victory problematical. Western Europe remained in democracy’s camp allowing the west to prevail in the Cold War.
In Japan, General MacArthur ran the nation as a virtual dictator (right up his ally). He was assigned to oversee the occupation and rebuilding of Japan after the war, and in this role he was masterful. With help from the Americans, and the Korean War, Japan rebuilt in record time to become the second most prosperous nation on earth by 1980 or so. Truman’s policies helped immensely in rebuilding the Japanese nation. In drafting their postwar constitution the Japanese renounced war and decided to keep only a small national defense force for protection. Actually, the United States of America provided, and still provides, the military protection for Japan. This policy allowed Japan’s economy to expand without the expensive burden of a large military force to slow it down (Remember Sun Tzu?). Instead, America adopted the burden of protecting Japan and Europe, as well as a number of other areas. Today, the nations of Europe and the Japanese can well afford to protect themselves, but as of 2010, the United States continues to supply military protection for Europe, Japan, and much of the world.
From 1945 to 1952, the Western Democracies made substantial economic progress. After WWII, the military downsized and the US economy began an expansion that was accompanied by low inflation and increasing trade with its old friends, England and its colonies, and its new friends, Germany and Japan. TV was just coming on the line and its impact would be massive. From the early start in black-and-white to the wide-screen color monsters of the 21st Century the influence of those blinking screens has been phenomenal.
The United States and its old allies (minus the USSR and China) tried to keep free trade alive, and tried to use the United Nations to advance a new view of the world which included