199) Plano Marshall, 3 de abril de 1948

Aid Bill is Signed by Truman as Reply to Foes of Liberty
Thus America Meets 'Challenge Facing Free World,' President Declares at Ceremony
MARSHALL PRAISES STEP Hails 'Courage and Wisdom' of Congress --
Goods Reported Already on Way to Europe
By Harold B. Hinton
Special to The New York Times, April 3, 1948

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Washington, April 3 -- President Truman signed today the Foreign Assistance Act of 1948, which made the long debated European Recovery Program an actuality, "This measure," he said, "is America's answer to the challenge facing the free world."

The Chief Executive affixed his signature shortly after his return to the capital aboard the Presidential yacht, Williamsburg, from a visit to Williamsburg, Va. A number of the chief architects of the measure witnessed the signing.It took the European Recovery Program ten months to develop from the bare suggestion known as the Marshall Plan to the detailed legislative project signed today. Its originator, George C. Marshall, the Secretary of State, was attending the Inter-American Conference at Bogota, but the following statement was issued on his behalf at the White House:

"The decision of the United States Government as confirmed by the Foreign Assistance Act of 1948 is, I think, an historic step in the foreign policy of this country. The leaders in the Congress and the membership generally have faced a great crisis with courage and wisdom, and with legislative skill, richly deserving of the approval and the determined support of the people."

Witness President's Signature

Mr. Truman, in his own statement, pointed to the efficacy of a Democratic system of free debate under which a bipartisan foreign policy could effectively be enacted into law. Senator Arthur H. Vandenberg, Republican, of Michigan, President Pro Tempore of the Senate and chairman of its Foreign Relations Committee, who is generally credited with guiding the measure to successful passage, witnessed the signature in the president's office.

Others there who had had a hand in forwarding the progress of the legislation, included Secretary of the Interior Julius A. Krug, who headed a committee to study whether the nation's resources would stand the strain of a program of this magnitude; Secretary of the Treasury John W. Snyder, Attorney General Jesse M. Donaldson; Secretary of Agriculture Clinton P. Anderson; Under Secretary of State Robert A. Lovett; Senator Tom Connally, Democrat, of Texas; Speaker Joseph W. Martin Jr., and representatives Charles A. Eaton, Republican of New Jersey, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Sol Bloom, Democrat of New York, its ranking minority member.

Dozen Pens Are Used

The President used a dozen pens to complete his signature to the bill, giving one to each of the witnesses as a souvenir of the occasion.

The measure, which Mr. Truman called "perhaps the greatest venture in constructive statemanship that any nation has undertaken," authorizes the expenditure in the next twelve months of $6,098,000,000 to provide economic assistance to the sixteen nations of Western Europe along with Western Germany, as well as economic and military aid to China, Greece and Turkey.

It provided for an advance by the Reconstruction Finance Corporation of $1,000,000,000 for European aid and another $100,000,000 for China to finance procurement and shipment until Congress is able to pass the necessary appropriations. The State Department will coordinate all the relief activities for the first thirty days, or until President Truman appoints the Economic Cooperation Administrator provided by the law.

Mr. Lovett, who called the enactment "a terrific accomplishment- a magnificent exhibit of what this government can do in handling a really monumental job," said that some supplies for the program were already moving.

Other officials indicated that Italy, France, Austria, Greece, and The Netherlands, where the need is considered urgent, would be among the first to receive shipments.

Mr. Lovett said that requests from recipient countries must undergo a continual screening. Many of the desired items are in short supply, he pointed out, and substitutions may have to be made. Because of the petroleum shortage, it had been believed that coal could be substituted, but the coal strike has lessened this possibility.

Truman Requests Largely Met

The authorized program with some exceptions, particularly on the administrative set-up, is what President Truman requested in his message to Congress of last Dec. 19. It received final passage a day after the deadline of April 1 which he set at that time.

A major change in the measure was the addition of $463,000,000 for China, of which $125,000,000 may be spent on military equipment for Greece and Turkey beyond the $400,000,000 granted last year.

Foreign developments, including the Communist coup in Czechoslovakia and the electoral maneuvers the Communists are making in Italy, greatly helped the passage of the bill. Another factor was the acceptance by the Administration of practical advice offered by Senator Vandenberg in regard to minor changes which would lessen opposition among the Congressional majority.

The European Recovery Program had its genesis in a suggestion advanced by Secretary Marshall during a speech at Harvard University on June 5, 1947. He recommended that the European nations get together to see what they could do among themselves to speed economic rehabilitation and to calculate the deficiency. He intimated that the United States would consider to what extent it could make up this deficiency in the interest of re-establishing peace and security in the world.

The suggestion, informal though it was, met widespread favor in Europe at once. A meeting of the Foreign Ministers of Great Britain, France and the Soviet Union was convoked in Paris within three weeks, but on July 2, Foreign Minister Vyacheslav M. Molotov announced that his Government could not see any merit in the plan and walked out. The Soviet satellite states then imitated its abstention.

Effect of ERP on U.S. Studied

However, representatives of sixteen nations met in Paris on Aug. 30. Under-Secretary of State William L. Clayton went to Paris and offered advice to the conferees. By Sept. 22 they had cast up their accounts and estimated their mutual efforts would fail by a deficit of $19,000,000,000 to assure recovery in the next four years.

While the Paris meeting was still in session a Congressional committee under Representative Christian A. Herter, Republican, of Massachusetts, was traveling around Western Europe securing data by which to evaluate the requests for aid. At home, President Truman called for three reports.

The Council of Economic Advisers was asked to predict the impact of such a program on the economy of the United States. A committee under Secretary Krug was set to work on an inventory of the national natural resources. Another under Secretary of Commerce W. Averell Harriman was directed to consider the industrial and financial strains such a program would impose.

The Soviet satellite states united, on Oct. 5, in what came to be known as the Cominform, in Belgrade and pledged undying opposition to the so called Marshall Plan.

Congressional committees gathered in Washington early in November to hold hearings on the project, Lewis W. Douglas, Ambassador to Great Britain was brought back to Washington to act as a consultant for Congress on behalf of the Administration.

As the situation in Europe grew more acute, President Truman called a session of Congress to meet on Nov. 17. On Dec. 15, it passed an interim aid bill of $590,000,000 to tide over the neediest countries until April 1.

In another message on Dec. 19, just before the session adjourned, President Truman asked for $17,000,000,000 to be made available for European aid over the next four years. When Congress assembled in January, Senator Vandenberg persuaded the administration to scale down the request to $6,800,000,000 for a period of fifteen months.