The Most Noble Adventure: The Marshall Plan and the Time When America Helped Save Europe [Deckle Edge] [Hardcover]

Greg Behrman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 7, 2007

In this landmark, character-driven history, Greg Behrman tells the story of the Marshall Plan, the unprecedented and audacious policy through which America helped rebuild World War II-ravaged Western Europe. With nuanced, vivid prose, Behrman recreates the story of a unique American enterprise that was at once strategic, altruistic and stunningly effective, and of a time when America stood as a beacon of generosity and moral leadership. When World War II ended in Europe, the continent lay in tatters. Tens of millions of people had been killed. Ancient cities had been demolished. The economic, financial and commercial foundations of Europe were in a shambles. Western Europe's Communist parties -- feeding off people's want and despair -- were flourishing as, to the east, Stalin's Soviet Union emerged as the sole superpower on the continent. The Marshall Plan was a four-year, $13 billion (more than $100 billion in today's dollars) plan to provide assistance for Europe's economic recovery. More than an aid program, it sought to modernize Western Europe's economies and launch them on a path to prosperity and integration; to restore Western Europe's faith in democracy and capitalism; to enmesh the region firmly in a Western economic association and eventually a military alliance. It was the linchpin of America's strategy to meet the Soviet threat. It helped to trigger the Cold War and, eventually, to win it. Through detailed and exhaustive research, Behrman brings this vital and dramatic epoch to life and animates the personalities that shaped it. The narrative follows the six extraordinary American statesmen -- George Marshall, Will Clayton, Arthur Vandenberg, Richard Bissell, Paul Hoffman and W. Averell Harriman -- who devised and implemented the Plan, as well as some of the century's most important personalities -- Winston Churchill, Josef Stalin, Joseph McCarthy -- who are also central players in the drama told here. More than a humanitarian endeavor, the Marshall Plan was one of the most effective foreign policies in all of American history, in large part because, as Behrman writes, it was born and executed in a time when American "foreign policy was defined by its national interests and the very best of ideals".

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. The plan conceived by Secretary of State George Marshall to aid the recovery of a ravaged post-WWII Europe was perhaps the most generous act in American history and the world's most successful program of international cooperation and visionary statesmanship. Behrman's comprehensive study of the Marshall Plan could not arrive at a better time, when issues of nation building, postwar reconstruction and American obligations to friend and foe are the stuff of public debate. Behrman (The Invisible People) provides clarity, color and one of the greatest casts of characters in America's history, including Harry Truman, Dean Acheson and Marshall. Readers will also learn of unjustly overlooked men such as Will Clayton, Paul Hoffman and Arthur Vandenberg on the American side and of the statesmanship of Ernest Bevin, Robert Schuman, Jean Monnet and Stafford Cripps on the European. While lasting a mere four years, the $13-billion Marshall Plan rescued Europe from economic catastrophe and possible Communist domination while setting the stage for the continent's integration today. Even if the work lacks a strong enough authorial voice and distinctive style, it's unlikely Behrman's narrative force could be surpassed or that the discovery of further archives would materially alter the author's gripping tale. 16 pages of photos. (Aug.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

A narrative account of the 1947–51 genesis and operation of the European Recovery Program, Behrman's history of how American assistance restored the economy of postwar Europe chronicles the activity and advocacy of officials who created the ERP. The secretary of state for whom it was popularly named, George C. Marshall, in fact delegated the design of what became the Marshall Plan, and his subordinates—George Kennan, William Clayton, Paul Hoffman, W. Averell Harriman, and others—accordingly receive the lion's share of Behrman's historical attention. Nevertheless, Marshall's prestige as the organizer of victory in World War II garnered the project requisite support in Congress; Behrman's telling of Marshall's sway on its debates and votes typifies the detail with which he tracks the entirety of the ERP, including its impact on the cold war. Today the term Marshall Plan symbolizes a desired government program to solve a problem. Behrman's work will reward readers thinking beyond slogans to understand the purposes and achievements of the original. With impressively thorough research, Behrman does exactly that. Taylor, Gilbert

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 464 pages
• Publisher: Free Press; 1st Free Press Hardcover Ed edition (August 7, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743282639
• ISBN-13: 978-0743282635
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.5 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #751,325 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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29 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Behrman does it again..., August 14, 2007

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Solebury Reader - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Most Noble Adventure: The Marshall Plan and the Time When America Helped Save Europe (Hardcover)

It is difficult to follow-up on a definitive book such as the Invisible People, Greg Behrman's factual yet deeply poignant book about AIDS in Africa which has inspired many Americans to take action to help alleviate the tragic pandemic effecting the African people. Yet, I can conclusively write that Behrman has done it again with his recently published book, The Most Noble Adventure. Behrman has taken the Marshall Plan and brought it to life with his description of all the key players such as Paul Hoffman, Averell Harriman, Richard Bissell, Will Clayton and Arthur Vandenberg. Behrman describes a George Marshall who is beholden to none except the interests of his country. The author describes how Marshall viewed the economic conditions in Europe as not only a huge humanitarian issue but also a potentially dangerous bridge to communism. Behrman also introduces Arthur Vandenberg, a major figure in The Noble Adventure, as an inspirational Republican U.S. senator who transcended party politics to "do the right thing". Without Vandenberg, an ex-isolationist, the Marshall Plan would never have passed through congress.Finally, Behrman's narrative takes the reader through the enactment of The Plan and all of its benefits to Europe and the United States as well as the unwinding of The Plan and the surrounding global political climate.
Behrman does an excellent job in educating the reader on what it takes to implement a program as complex as the Marshall Plan. He also describes the necessary bi-partisan support needed to capture the American public as well as the Congress. Behrman introduces us to players that remind us that while Marshall was a key player in The Plan, he was only one player in ensuring its acceptance and implementation. We also get a close view of the flawed Soviet thinking and strategy that eventually led to a Europe beyond its reach. Behrman reminds us that there are many applications of the Marshall Plan in today's world such as in Iraq, the Middle East and Africa. History repeats itself and as Behrman implies, repetition is not always negative but can actually be very positive if all parties come together to choose a noble adventure that, in today's world, can yield very important and life saving results that can also inch us towards world peace.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "Freedom [can] not be maintained by bullets alone", June 23, 2008

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J. Green (Los Angeles, California) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Most Noble Adventure: The Marshall Plan and the Time When America Helped Save Europe (Hardcover)

Detailed history of the plan that helped Europe get back on it's feet after WWII and kept Stalin and the communists from spreading their influence into Western Europe. Greg Behrman gives the account of how Secretary of State George Marshall's speech went from an idea to such an ambitious plan.

Following the War, Europe was in shambles. Germany had been the major manufacturing power but industry and distribution channels had been disrupted and destroyed. The people were discouraged and pessimistic about recovery, and the weather was worse than usual. The US had already given a lot of "relief aid" with nothing to show for it. Marshall envisioned a much more ambitious goal of helping to rebuild those systems that would allow Europe to pull itself out of it's problems, but he wanted to keep it under the Congressional radar long enough to prevent them from changing the essential humanitarian (and expensive) nature of the plan. Even then, it was a tough sell and only through some unlikely allies such as Michigan Senator and ex-isolationist Arthur Vandenburg was it passed. Many continued to try to cut the funding, but extensive propaganda efforts saved it. Other important figures such as Paul Hoffman, Richard Bissell, Will Clayton, Averell Harriman, etc., and their enormous contributions are discussed, as well as some of the mechanics of how it made Europeans a partner in their rebuilding. Also prominent are the essential contributions of important Europeans, such as Bevine (UK) and Bidault (France).

A key point about the Marshall Plan was it's focus on preventing communist influence from spreading and containing Stalin's power. Behrman explains the efforts communists employed to sabotage the plan, everything from Molotov's delay tactics in early negotiations to the strikes and riots by Italian and French communists, and the influence the US had in Italian elections in 1948. But Behrman makes it very clear where the communists overplayed their hand, and instead brought home the necessity of the plan to those in Congress who were more inclined toward an isolationist policy. He explains the reasons for reluctance to offer aid, the efforts that had already been made, the difficulties faced by the starved European countries and the "dollar gap" that prevented them from importing what they needed. US efforts at European economic integration (50 years before the EU!) are also discussed extensively, as well as French fears over a rebuilt Germany.

Interesting and definitely worth reading but not always a very "rousing" or compelling history of what was perhaps America's greatest moment. But the greater story here is entirely relevant to our current situation in and policy toward the Middle-East. The Marshall Plan worked because it made Europeans responsible for rebuilding their economy, and then gave them the help needed to get started. It was administered mostly by selfless men who had the brains to make it work, and corruption was very minimal. It was not heavy-handed and forceful, seeking to dictate all the conditions attached to the aid given, but wasn't simple charity either. And it had true leadership at all levels, something we seem to be missing today.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Where are the George Marshalls of today?, September 21, 2007

By 

Jon Hunt "musician, teacher" (Old Greenwich, Ct. USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Most Noble Adventure: The Marshall Plan and the Time When America Helped Save Europe (Hardcover)

There are many in the United States who believe, rightly so, that the post-World War II period was this country's finest. Having triumphed in war, we then went on to win an even broader peace. The plan to bring that peace, brilliantly conceived by the man after whom it was named, General George C. Marshall, was then (and is now) considered to be the finest overture of any nation helping any other nations in history. Greg Behrman's comprehensive and insightful new book about the Marshall Plan, "The Most Noble Adventure", delves into every aspect of the plan's success...economic, political, historical and social and reveals the personalities that helped the plan get off the ground and keep going. Behrman has a talent for telling the story and he does so in a most compelling way.

This book is as much about Marshall as it is about those who came under his sphere during the years of the plan's conception and deployment. The cast runs far and wide. Will Clayton, whom Behrman describes as the "intellectual architect" of the Marshall Plan was as influential as they come. His business skills were a boon to the plan and without him it is unlikely it would have gotten very far. Dean Acheson and Averell Harriman, two longtime government servants of remarkable note, helped steer European leaders when times and tensions became rough. Richard Bissell was the point man on how the money would be spent. Paul Hoffman, the Republican businessman who agreed to head the Economic Cooperation Administration, lent an air of bipartisanship desperately needed in the Truman administration. His contributions to the Marshall Plan are almost without equal. There are many more Americans, of course, but one cannot overlook the political importance of Senator Arthur Vandenberg of Michigan. Staunchly isolationist before Pearl Harbor, Vandenberg changed his views over time and helped shepherd the Marshall Plan through Congress.

Behrman points out that one of the goals of the Marshall Plan was to ensure that Europe would take the lead in determining its own fate and the plan was to be of assistance to this end. Not only did the United States hope to see Europe recover but the architects of the Marshall Plan hoped for the integration of Europe. That took longer, but the key player was Frenchman Jean Monnet's joint sovereignty proposal that allowed for France's sharing coal and steel resources with Germany along their common border. This magnificent proposal got the integration idea rolling. Another European of merit gets quite a bit of note in Behrman's book, British foreign secretary, Ernest Bevin, who often had to chart a lonely course of his own.

The author is particularly adept at describing the tensions that arose at just about every level and with every country. Grand ideas are hard to implement and the fact that the Marshall Plan was able to circumvent the landmines that were placed before it is a true testament to the courage and will of the people mentioned above and others in the book. All this at a time when Josef Stalin had his own designs in Europe and was solidifying his base in the East. (There is one funny oversight in Behrman's book. He says that "to further discredit Soviet propaganda about American cultural vacuity, some of America's finest performers and minds were flown to Europe"... and goes on to mention George Gershwin. Since Gershwin had died in 1937, this must have been news to the world community, let alone the Gershwin family!)

Greg Behrman has provided us with a wonderful read in "The Most Noble Adventure" and secondhandidly reminds us of America today. We have a "George" now, but compared to George Marshall, the current George seems very small, indeed. With the political climate in Washington these days it's hard to see another Marshall Plan evolving in the same way. But thanks to General Marshall and his broad thinking, the world became a better place, at least for a few years.