Paper Project

Teacher: Doc. PhDr. Milo Calda

Course Code: JMM012
Course name: Interpretations of U.S. History 1877-1989
Academic year: 2014/2015
Authors name & surname: Kristna Slavkov
Authors e-mail address: kristyna.slavickova@gmail.com
Date of submission: 27.10.2014
Paper Characteristics:
The aim of this seminar paper will be to provide two different historical
interpretations traditional and revisionist of the Marshall Plan, its development,
underlying motivations, application and consequences. The first chapter will focus on
the historical context and facts concerning the Marshall Plan and its emergence, while
the following chapters will interpret these through two competing perspectives.
Firstly, the orthodox, or traditionalist view, in which the USSR actions and ambitions
were the one principally responsible for the Cold War, whereas the US politics was
just an ad hoc reaction to Soviet acts; and Marshall Plan was but a selfless act of the
US helping the war struck Europe get back on its feet. On the other hand, the
revisionists claim that the US pursued active, not passive politics that directly
contributed to the Cold War in the same way, if not even more, as the USSR, and that
the Marshall Plan had an agenda on its own that differed from the promoted
intentions.

Paper Title: The Marshall Plan Selfless or Self-help?

1. Introduction
2.: The Marshall Plan How It Came to Be
3.: Traditionalist View The Helping Hand
4.: Revisitonist View The Extended Hand of the US

5. Conclusion
6. Literature, Sources:
COX, Michael a Caroline KENNEDY-PIPE. The Tragedy of American Diplomacy?: Rethinking
the Marhsall Plan. Journal of Cold War Studies. 2005, vol. 7, no. 1.
GIMBEL, John. The origins of the Marshall plan. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press,
1976, xii, 344 p. ISBN 08-047-0903-3.
HOGAN, Michael J. The Marshall Plan: America, Britain, and the rekonstruction of Western
Europe, 1947-1952. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, c1987, xiv, 482 s. Economic
history and policy. ISBN 05-213-7840-0.
KUNZ, Diane B. The Marshall Plan Reconsidered. Forreign Affairs. 1997, May/June.
MAIER, Charles S. The Marshall Plan and the Division of Europe. Journal of Cold War Studies.
2005, vol. 7, no. 1.
MASON, Edward S. The Marshall Plan and American Foreign Policy. Bulletin of the Atomic
Scientists. 1948, vol. 4, no. 1.