The American Marshall Plan Film Campaign and the Europeans: a captivated audience?

摘要

Anybody with an interest in post-war European history will have heard of Marshall Aid or, to give it its official name, The European Recovery Program, the American project which aimed to help European economies overcome the ravages of war. Much less likely is that they will know much or anything at all about the subject of this volume. Fortunately, Maria Fritsche has now provided a thorough, knowledgeable and well-structured account of the efforts of the Information Division of the Economic Cooperation Administration (ECA), the Paris-based body that administered the aid programme, and its successor the Mutual Security Agency to complement the programme of economic aid by the production of films, primarily short documentaries. In that the films were intended to gain popular approval for the Marshall Plan, she is obliged to say something about its nature. In the Introduction, she clearly outlines the American aim of persuading European states to adopt liberal capitalism supported by free trade.