Marshall Plan Genesis: Summer 15 Years Ago

As the endless line of degree candidates and dignitaries formed in the Old Yard at Harvard's first fully normal Commencement since the war, George C. Marshall chatted with Edmund M. Morgan, then Royall Professor of Law. Morgan, who was to escort the secretary of State in the procession to the steps of Memorial Church, mentioned that Marshall's apparent anxiety about his coming performance was unusual. "He assured me that he was expected to say something of importance", recalls Morgan, "Who expected it? He did not specify."

Even President James B. Conant, who had entertained the old General at his house the evening before, was not led to expect a major address from Marshall. But word of Harvard's honorary degree to Marshall and his appearance at the University had leaked to the press 24 hours earlier. The New York Times that morning wrote, "He is expected to deliver a speech which perhaps will include an important pronouncement of foreign affairs."

In Cambridge, however, the capacity crowd crowd of 15,000 showed up in the Yard not so much in expectation of seeing history made, as simply in awe of the man. Few public figures before or since have inspired such admiration among those in the Harvard community as George Gatlett Marshall.

Behind the mace-bearer in the traditional procession to the Memorial Church steps, Morgan escorted Marshall before a group of eleven other distinguished honorary degree recipitents. Among them that day were T.S. Ellot, James Wadsworth, I.A. Richards, J. Robert Oppenheimer, George Henry Chase (former dean of Harvard), W. Hodding Carter, Jr. (editor of the Delta, Miss. Democratic-Times), Frank L. Boyden (headmaster of Deerfield Academy), and Gen Omar N. Bradley, the other afternoon speaker.

In the parade of caps and gowns, Marshall, dressed in a business suit and with hat in hand, slowly walked to the platform and acknowledged the appreciative applause along the way. A loud ovation greeted him as he reached the stage.

After conducting the traditional morning ceremonies and awarding the first 11 honoraries, Conant finally reached General Marshall, "an American to whom freedom owes an enduring debt of gratitude, a soldier and statesman whose ability and character brook only one comparison in the history of this nation."

As Marshall and the other dignitaries adjourned to the Twenty Fifth Reunion Class Marshal's luncheon, the crowd thought that it had seen most of the show. But Marshall's speech at the afternoon Alumni Association meeting was still to come.

What later became known as the Marshall Plan had actually been born closer to the Kremlin than to Memorial Church. Shortly after accepting President Truman's call to return from China (where he had been ambassador) and become Secretary of State, Marshall led the American delegation to the 'Moscow Foreign Ministers' Conference in April 1947. After a fruitless meeting with Stalin and Molotov in private, Marshall was convinced that the Soviet Union was stalling in European recovery action, that Europe needed help fast, and that only the West could and would provide that help. Piecemeal aid to Greece and Turkey-- the "Truman Doctrine" of 1946-7 not only failed to help Europe as a whole but also did not "scare" Russia at all.

On the return plane trip from Moscow to Washington, the new Secretary of State had conveyed his thoughts to other members of the delegation, John Foster Dulles, Benjamin V. Cohen, Walter Bedell Smith, James Burnes. Out of the failure of the Moscow Conference came an offensive strategy for the United States.

Mashall in Late April and early May, combined his ideas with recommendations from the State Department and the White House. As the proposal for American aid to a unified Europe developed, it was generally referred to as the "Marshall Plan" in staff meetings. The President fostered this term, Truman says in his memories, "because I wanted General Marshall to get full credit for his brilliant contribution to the measure which he helped formulate."

The Administration launched a trial balloon for its European recovery program May 8. Truman's mother was sick in Kansas City at the time, and so he authorized Undersecretary of State Dean Acheson to replace him at a meeting of plantation owners in Cleveland, Miss. Acheson omitted the particulars, but his general message was clear: the United States ought to be conscious of Europe's post-war plight and ought to offer aid.

The public reaction to this having been satisfactory, relates Laird Bell '04, the President of the Alumni Association and the man responsible for inviting Marshall to speak at Harvard, "the Secretary of State determined to go all out for what has become known as the Marshall Plan, and a speech was prepared accordingly. The question was then the rostrum from which it should be delivered. Two or three suggestions were made, and then the Secretary remembered that he had been invite to receive a Harvard degree and that seemed a highly suitable occasion. He therefore indicated that he would like to accept and of course was welcome."