The Visionaries

On March 12, 1947, less than two years after the end of WWII, President Harry S. Truman gave what proved to be a seminal speech before Congress, in response to a European crisis: Greece was facing economic collapse and Britain, long the country's guarantor against encroaching Soviet ambition, was bankrupt after six years of war. Truman felt the U.S. had to support a free people resisting attempted subjugation through financial aid which, he emphasized, "is essential to economic stability and orderly political processes."

The U.S. economy had thrived and the country was the richest nation in the world. But Truman envisioned that shared prosperity among the democracies would make them politically more stable and long-term peace much more likely. His momentous proposition that the U.S. bail out Greece led in turn to the unprecedented and radical Marshall Plan itself: the decision to aid not only U.S. allies but - for the first time in history - its former enemies as they all rebuilt from the ruins of the calamitous war. Indeed, with this aid Germany and Japan became economic powerhouses and, with most of Europe, staunch allies of the U.S.-and almost eighty years on the benefits of this extraordinary decision are still being felt, albeit threatened in our current political environment.

James Holland's deep knowledge of WWII gives him unique insight and appreciation for its historic aftermath.