Editing Marshall Plan (section)

==Negotiations==
Turning the plan into reality required negotiations among the participating nations. Sixteen nations met in Paris to determine what form the American aid would take, and how it would be divided. The negotiations were long and complex, with each nation having its own interests. France's major concern was that Germany not be rebuilt to its previous level of might. The [[Benelux]] countries (Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg), despite also suffering under the Nazis, had long been closely linked to the German economy and felt their prosperity depended on its revival. The Scandinavian nations, especially [[Sweden]], insisted that their long-standing trading relationships with the Eastern Bloc nations not be disrupted and that their neutrality not be infringed.{{sfn|Cini|2001|p=24}}

The United Kingdom insisted on special status as a longstanding belligerent during the war, concerned that if it were treated equally with the devastated continental powers, it would receive virtually no aid. The Americans were pushing the importance of free trade and European unity to form a bulwark against communism. The Truman administration, represented by [[William L. Clayton]], promised the Europeans that they would be free to structure the plan themselves, but the administration also reminded the Europeans that implementation depended on the plan's passage through Congress. A majority of Congress members were committed to free trade and European integration and were hesitant to spend too much of the money on Germany.{{sfn|Cini|2001|p=24}} However, before the Marshall Plan was in effect, France, Austria, and Italy needed immediate aid. On December 17, 1947, the United States agreed to give $40 million to France, Austria, China, and Italy.{{sfn|Sorel|Padoan|2008|pp=15–16}}

Agreement was eventually reached, and the Europeans sent a reconstruction plan to Washington, which was formulated and agreed upon by the [[Committee of European Economic Co-operation]] in 1947. In the document, the Europeans asked for $22 billion in aid. Truman cut this to $17 billion in the bill he put to Congress.
On March 17, 1948, Truman addressed European security and condemned the Soviet Union before a hastily convened [[Joint Session of Congress]]. Attempting to contain spreading Soviet influence in the Eastern Bloc, Truman asked Congress to restore a peacetime military draft and to swiftly pass the '''Economic Cooperation Act''', the name given to the Marshall Plan. Of the Soviet Union Truman said, "The situation in the world today is not primarily the result of the natural difficulties which follow a great war. It is chiefly due to the fact that one nation has not only refused to cooperate in the establishment of a just and honorable peace but—even worse—has actively sought to prevent it.{{sfn|Truman|1948}}

Members of the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican-controlled]] [[80th United States Congress|80th Congress]] (1947–1949) were skeptical. "In effect, he told the Nation that we have lost the peace, that our whole war effort was in vain.", noted Representative [[Frederick Cleveland Smith|Frederick Smith]] of Ohio. Others thought he had not been forceful enough to contain the USSR. "What [Truman] said fell short of being tough", noted Representative [[Edward E. Cox|Eugene Cox]], a Democrat from Georgia, "there is no prospect of ever winning Russian cooperation." Despite its reservations, the 80th Congress implemented Truman's requests, further escalating the Cold War with the USSR.{{sfn|Truman|1948}}

Truman signed the Economic Cooperation Act into law on April 3, 1948; the Act established the [[Economic Cooperation Administration]] (ECA) to administer the program. ECA was headed by economic cooperation administrator [[Paul G. Hoffman]]. In the same year, the participating countries (Austria, [[Belgium]], Denmark, France, West Germany, the United Kingdom, Greece, [[Iceland]], Ireland, Italy, [[Luxembourg]], the [[Netherlands]], Norway, Sweden, [[Switzerland]], Turkey, and the United States) signed an accord establishing a master financial-aid-coordinating agency, the [[Organisation for European Economic Co-operation]] (later called the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development or [[OECD]]), which was headed by Frenchman [[Robert Marjolin]].{{cn|date=January 2023}}