[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 81 (Wednesday, June 11, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1186-E1187]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




LEGACY OF THE MARSHALL PLAN--REMARKS OF SECRETARY OF STATE MADELEINE K. 
 ALBRIGHT AT THE GEORGE C. MARSHALL FOUNDATION DINNER CELEBRATING THE 
                 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE MARSHALL PLAN

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. TOM LANTOS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, June 11, 1997

  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, this past week the United States and the 
countries of Western Europe celebrated the 50th anniversary of the June 
5, 1947, Commencement Address at Harvard University by then Secretary 
of State George C. Marshall in which the idea of the Marshall plan was 
first publicly discussed.
  Just a few days ago here in Washington on June 5--the anniversary of 
former Secretary of State Marshall's address at Harvard--our current 
outstanding Secretary of State, Madeleine K. Albright, delivered 
excellent remarks at the dinner of the George C. Marshall Foundation 
celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Marshall plan.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask that Secretary Albright's remarks be placed in the 
Record and I urge my colleagues to give her statement serious and 
thoughtful attention.

       President Ford, thank you for that wonderful introduction. 
     Excellencies, distinguished colleagues and guests, in the 
     last few years, we seem to have observed the 50th anniversary 
     of everything. Today, we have been brought together by a 
     foundation dedicated to the memory of a man who made 
     everything possible.
       As much as anyone else, it was George Marshall who 
     engineered our victory in the Second World War and who helped 
     us prevent a third.
       The United States entered World War II because we had to, 
     because our immediate survival was at stake. The same cannot 
     be said about the Marshall Plan.
       In 1947, the American people were weary of war and wary of 
     new commitments. They wanted nothing more than to come home, 
     stay home and make the baby boom boom. It was not self 
     evident that our nation would come together to support the 
     act of unparalleled generosity which was the Marshall Plan. 
     But we did. And we did it in a way that was uniquely 
     inclusive in design, uniquely expansive in scope, and 
     uniquely American in spirit.
       We used Marshall aid to encourage the creation of a united 
     Europe, which was an amazingly ambitious goal just a few 
     years after the most terrible war in European history. We 
     offered Marshall aid to the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, 
     though the Iron Curtain had already begun to descend. Our 
     vision specifically embraced our former adversaries, even 
     though this was hard for many people to accept.
       Soon, we would launch the Berlin airlift, though the 
     experts said it was not possible to feed a whole city by air. 
     We would pledge to defend Greece and Turkey, though many said 
     that these nations were too distant and remote to be a part 
     of our community.
       Today people ask: How can we best live up to the spirit of 
     the Marshall Plan? The answer is that we must do what is 
     right, even though it is hard. That is the spirit in which 
     our soldiers and diplomats are working in Bosnia. That is the 
     spirit in which we are enlarging NATO, forging new ties with 
     all of

[[Page E1187]]

     Europe's new democracies, and building a new partnership with 
     Russia.
       Each of these commitments entails risks and costs. But that 
     just reminds me of something Senator Arthur Vandenberg said 
     during a debate on the Marshall Plan 49 years ago. I quote, 
     ``The greatest nation on earth,'' he said, ``either justifies 
     or surrenders its leadership. I have no quarrel with those 
     who disagree because we are dealing with imponderables.'' He 
     said, ``But I cannot say to those who disagree that they have 
     escaped to safety by rejecting or subverting this plan. They 
     have simply fled to other risks, and I fear far greater 
     ones. For myself,'' Senator Vandenberg said, ``I can only 
     say that I prefer my choice of responsibilities.''
       In the letter that President Clinton asked me to deliver to 
     all of you today, he writes that ``our generation has been 
     blessed with the chance to complete the great endeavor that 
     Marshall's generation began--to build a democratic, peaceful, 
     undivided Europe for the first in history.'' He reminds us 
     that the Marshall Plan's success is evident not just in the 
     recovery of Western Europe's economies, but in the process of 
     European integration that it sparked; the reconciliation 
     between old adversaries that it enabled; and America's 
     lasting engagement in Europe, which it sealed. ``No one 
     better understands,'' the President continues, ``all those 
     transatlantic strands than your honoree tonight, my friend 
     Helmut Kohl.''
       At the beginning of this miraculous decade of coming 
     together, Chancellor Kohl engineered the unification of 
     Germany within the NATO Alliance and the European Union. This 
     was not an easy thing to do. It was an act of faith, 
     requiring great sacrifice. But it was right. And today we 
     look back upon it as the founding act of a Europe that is 
     becoming whole and free.
       Chancellor Kohl was a child of the Europe that the Marshall 
     Plan rebuilt and transformed. All his life, he has been a 
     champion of the kind of Europe that Marshall's generation 
     envisioned--a Europe where borders unite rather than divide.
       Chancellor Kohl, we thank you for your many years of 
     statesmanship, and we salute you for your leadership in the 
     present. It is my great privilege to introduce you to this 
     audience today. (Applause.)

     

                          ____________________