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Harry S. Truman announced to Congress in detail about the Truman Doctrine and how the U.S. will protect any country who opposes or is threatened by Communism.
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George C. Marshall, the Secretary of Stategave a speech at the Harvard commencement and he calls for an American plan to help Europe recover from World War II.
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The British and French Foreign ministers issue a joint communique inviting twenty-two European nations to send representatives to Paris to draw up a effective recovery plan.
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The Committee of European Economic Cooperation (CEEC) meets in Paris. The Soviet Union declines to attend and pressures Czechoslovakia, Polan, and Hungary to not attend the meeting.
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The CEEC submits its report estimating needs and the cost of the European Recovery Program (ERP) over four years. It provides for the establishment of the Organization for European Economic Cooperation (OEEC) to coordinate the program from the European side.
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Congress passes the Economic Cooperation Act that authorizes the Marshall Plan. President Truman signs it the next day.
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Paul Hoffman of Studebaker Corporation is appointed Administrator of the Economic Cooperation Agency (ECA), the temporary American agency created to implement the plan. Averell Harriman is appointed special representative of the ECA in Europe.
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First official meeting of the OEEC in Paris to determine national needs prior to passage of appropriations bill by U.S. Congress.
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The Federal Republic of Germany officially enters the OEEC in the Second year of the program.
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The ERP ends six months early because of the escalation of the Korean War, which began in June 1950. Transfer of funds from the U.S. to Europe had totaled $13.3 billion.
