BIRTH OF THE MARSHALL PLAN: On June 5, 1947, Gen. George C. Marshall, then Secretary of State, gave a speech at Harvard University at which he called for what came to be called “the Marshall Plan.” Said he: “The truth of the matter is that Europe’s requirements for the next three or four years of foreign food and other essential products—principally from America—are so much greater than her present ability to pay that she must have substantial additional help or face economic, social, and political deterioration of a very grave character.”

It seems to have worked pretty well. One downside: Many later policymakers saw the Marshall Plan’s $13 billion lesson as throwing very large sums of money at a problem—no matter how different from postwar Europe—will solve that problem. No such luck.