Benjamin Gilman: “Mr. Speaker, this timely resolution draws our attention to the 50th anniversary of the Marshall plan which will be…”

“Mr. Speaker, this timely resolution draws our attention to the 50th anniversary of the Marshall plan which will be celebrated on June 5. It reminds us of the grand commitment made by Secretary of State George Marshall and President Harry Truman, supported by a farsighted bipartisan group of Congressmen and Senators. It was this commitment that made possible the economic prosperity which we have now come to take for granted in Western Europe and allowed democratic institutions to develop and thrive. Most importantly, it allowed the peoples of Western Europe, who are now our closest allies, to emerge from the ashes of the Second World War and to rebuild their lives anew. As we reflect back on those troubled and uncertain times that followed the end of World War II, we should renew the commitment to the principles that underlaid our actions at that time, and remember that there remain people in Central and Eastern Europe as well as the former Soviet Union who were prevented from benefiting from the Marshall plan, and who now look to us to do for them what was done for the Europeans some 50 years ago.”