Winning the Peace: The Marshall Plan and America's Coming of Age as a Superpower - Hardcover

Mills, Nicolaus

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0470097558 ISBN 13: 9780470097557

Publisher: Trade Paper Press, 2008

Synopsis

Politicians of every stripe frequently invoke the Marshall Plan in support of programs aimed at using American wealth to extend the nation's power and influence, solve intractable third-world economic problems, and combat world hunger and disease. Do any of these impassioned advocates understand why the Marshall Plan succeeded where so many subsequent aid plans have not? Historian Nicolaus Mills explores the Marshall Plan in all its dimensions to provide valuable lessons from the past about what America can and cannot do as a superpower.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

Praise for Winning The Peace

"Nicolaus Mills's fascinating book at once challenges the conventional wisdom about the success of the Marshall Plan and argues that the plan succeeded anyway. I can't imagine a more timely reflection on how the United States once reinforced democracy abroad without losing the world's respect—and its own political soul."
—Sean Wilentz, Dayton-Stockton Professor of History, Princeton University and author of The Rise of American Democracy: Jefferson to Lincoln

"By illuminating the past, Nicolaus Mills's eloquent history of the Marshall Plan also informs thepresent. Marshall's genius was to understand that the power of America's example is as important as the example of its power. As we grapple with new global challenges—from radical fundamentalists to the spread of lethal weapons and from economic dislocation to environmental degradation—Mills's study of Marshall reminds us how urgent it is that we recapture the totality of America's strength."
—Senator Joseph Biden, Chairman, U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee

"Nicolaus Mills has a double purpose in this splendid book. First, he gives us a lively and accessible account of the conception and implementation of the Marshall Plan and a probing analysis of its effectiveness.That is his historical project; he also has a political project of great importance—to remind us of what America can do in the world when its leaders are committed to speak honestly to their own people, to consult with allies abroad (and listen to what they say), and to adapt policy to the circumstances of the 'real world.' "
—Michael Walzer, author of Just and Unjust Wars

"In Winning the Peace, Nicolaus Mills has not only given the reader a clear account of the Marshall Plan—and why it worked—but also a moving and timely reminder of just what a great and selfless American George C. Marshall was. It is an important and very readable work of history."
—Michael Korda, author of Ulysses S. Grant and Ike

"Of all the ambitious undertakings in American foreign policy, the Marshall Plan particularly merits a fresh look, with an eye both to its historical significance and to its lessons for today's world—and tomorrow's U.S. leaders. Nicolaus Mills has given the plan and the man for whom it is named just that. He has done so with admirable clarity, concision, and persuasiveness."
—Strobe Talbott, President of the Brookings Institution and author of The Great Experiment

"Popularly perceived by Americans, the 'Marshall Plan' was simply a welfare program. In reality, it was a nation-building effort aimed at nothing less than the reorganization of European capitalism. Nick Mills's masterful synthesis has captured, in an amazingly brief and accessible treatment, the extreme complexity of the interaction of the seventeen sovereign and competitive nations formally linked by the European Recovery Program."
—Dr. Larry I. Bland, Senior Director, George C. Marshall Foundation

From the Inside Flap:

In September 2003, President Bush announced before the United Nations General Assembly that he was prepared to make "the greatest financial commitment of its kind since the Marshall Plan" to help rebuild Iraq. Sixty years after Secretary of State George Marshall called on the United States to come to the aid of war-ravaged Europe, politicians of every stripe frequently invoke the Marshall Plan in support of programs aimed at using American wealth to extend the nation's power and influence, solve intractable third-world economic problems, and combat world hunger and disease. Do any of these impassioned advocates understand why the Marshall Plan succeeded where so many subsequent aid plans have failed, backfired, or produced only limited success?

In Winning the Peace, historian Nicolaus Mills explores the Marshall Plan in all its dimensions to provide valuable lessons from the past about what America can and cannot do as a superpower.

Mills emphasizes that from the very inception of his plan, Marshall was blunt about its costs, risks, and limited objectives. Marshall stated repeatedly that his policy would require sacrifices from the American people, mostly in the form of higher taxes, and that its purpose was solely to help stabilize shattered economies long enough for them to regain their pre-war vitality. Although he campaigned tirelessly for months to gain congressional and popular approval, Marshall never soft-peddled the burdens the plan would impose, nor oversold its potential benefits.

One of the most distinctive features of the Marshall Plan, Mills argues, was the degree to which its beneficiaries were full partners in determining how American aid would be used and deciding when they were ready to move on to the next level. Marshall and the State Department remained flexible, even when the European nations scheduled to receive aid balked at being drawn into tighter cooperation with the United States than they were prepared for. Realizing that the rebirth of European economies was more important than any specific political, military, or diplomatic objective, the United States often scaled back its demands rather than jeopardize the Marshall Plan.

Could the Marshall Plan serve as a useful template for future successful American foreign policy initiatives? Winning the Peace points out the crucial principles in George Marshall's plan that must be present in any successful aid effort, while emphasizing the need to base any contemporary plan on solid knowledge of the region involved, strong relationships with beneficiary nations, and a flexible approach to achieving limited and realistic goals. This insightful and sure-to-be-controversial study is important reading for anyone interested in American post-war history, foreign policy, and current international affairs.

About this edition

• Publisher: Trade Paper Press
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0470097558
• ISBN 13: 9780470097557
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 304