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Economic Cooperation Act
  • This is the official U.S. Government record of The Marshall Plan, which was a financial aid program created by the United States in 1948 under the Economic Cooperation Act to provide foreign aid to European countries following the Second World War.
  • The program helped rehabilitate the economies of 17 western and southern European countries and create stable conditions where democratic institutions could survive.
  • The Marshall Plan was born out of fear that Europe's economic instability following the war would have a domino effect on countries like the United States, which was why it was in the best interest of all parties to support the plan.
  • For Canada, helping to stabilize Europe would only help Canada's economic and security interests in the long-term, while also stabilizing the Canadian dollar to the American dollar, which was a great concern at the time.
  • The Organization for European Economic Co-operation (OEEC) formed in 1947 to help administer Canadian and American aid under the Marshall Plan.
Citation

The Economic Cooperation Act of 1948, S. 2202, 8th Cong., 2nd Sess (1948). https://www.archives.gov/exhibits/featured-documents/marshall-plan

Overlapping Topics
Economy
Policy Type
Legislation