Second Year (1949-1950): Toward Economic Growth ... - PDF, 101 mb

x Preface
plifies and clarifies, which selects and omits with a placid perfection
unattainable in the highest art." Justice would have been served-and
the reader as well-if the workof composing this book had been transferred
at once to these erudite counselorsl
To present in compressed and readable form an authentic record of
the Marshall Plan, with its many facets and ramifications, is difficult
enough. Even more so, however, is the attempt to appraise its effectiveness
and significance. How does one evaluate, so short a time after the
event, an undertaking of such dimensions and impact? During a particularly
intensive phase of the enterprise-the "heat" was always on,
but at some times more than others-an American participant was heard
to say: "We need about five years in which to reach intelligently the
decisions that will have to be made in the next three weeks." If five
years were needed to reach one set of decisions, perhaps fifty would
be an appropriate period in which to develop adequate judgments on
the import of the Marshall Plan. . " -
In any case, the present volume lays no claim to either comprehensiveness
or finality. If it conveys a reasonably clear and dependable account
of major developments within its purview and if the tentative
conclusions which it reaches are on the whole sensible and thoughtprovoking,
it will have accomplished a part of its purpose. If, in addition,
it helps to stimulate further thinking on the unsolved problems
which were faced" in 'the course of the Marshall Plan operation and
further inquiry into the insights and lessons to be derived from that
unique experience, it will justify the generous cooperation that has been
given during the course of its preparation.
A word should be said about the organization of this work. Part I
consists of an introductory chapter which sketches, in broad-brush
fashion, some of the salient featuresof the historic setting from which
the Marshall Plan emerged. Part II contains a narrative account of the
actual development and effects of the European Recovery Program,
from its inception until the time when it was superseded by the Mutual
Security Program. Operations in Asia are treated separately, in Part III,
since they differed quite widely" from those in Europe in their background,
aims, and conduct. These three parts contain the bulk of the
factual information required to make comprehensible the evaluation attempted
in Part IV, which comprises roughly half of the volume. In this
final portiori of the work attention is directed prinCipally to the conduct
of operations in Europe; Chapter 18, however, deals with the question
of assistance to economically retarded areas in Asia and elsewhere.