Marshall Plan Document 22

Through the Marshall Plan, the U.S. poured money into rebuilding Western Europe after the ravages of war. Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin refused to allow the Eastern European nations to join the Marshall Plan and announced in its place a Council for Economic Mutual Assistance. The Soviet Union had no intention of underwriting the costs of recovery, and the plan existed primarily as a propaganda device.  Famed American cartoonist Herbert Block, or “Herblock” satirizes Stalin’s Council for Economic Mutual Assistance in this image.