Marshall first proposed the plan in a speech at Harvard University in 1947. became worried that communists would take over. He was a five-star general during World War II and secretary of state after the war. He's the author of a book called 'Marshall Plan: Dawn Of The Cold War.' As the name of the plan might suggest, it was spearheaded by George C. It's just, like, this euphemism for, let's spend a lot of money.īENN STEIL: If we were to launch a Marshall Plan of equivalent size today as a percentage of our GDP, we would be talking about $800 billion. ROSALSKY: Candidates are calling for a Marshall Plan to fight climate change, a Marshall Plan to improve national infrastructure, a Marshall Plan for racial equity, but no one is being really specific about what a Marshall Plan actually means or what it would take to do. PETE BUTTIGIEG: I've proposed the most comprehensive vision, marshaling as many resources as one into the Marshall Plan that rebuilt Europe. JULIAN CASTRO: One of the things I propose in my plan is essentially a 21st century Marshall Plan for Central America. GREG ROSALSKY, BYLINE: The Marshall Plan may be one of this political season's hottest buzzwords. So what does a 71-year-old law have to do with today's problems? Greg Rosalsky with NPR's Planet Money went to find out. Candidates keep talking about it as a sort of template. Judging by the debates among Democratic presidential contenders, the Marshall Plan is having a moment.

The marshall plan dawn of the cold war