1947

This year began the headlong plunge into global welfarism: The Marshall Plan.

 “economic assistance is one of the most effective weapons at our disposal to influence European political events in the direction we desire…”

- stated by Harriman early in 1944

January 1947 George C. Marshall becomes Sec of State. He relied on Dean Acheson (lawyer and Under Sec of State) and George Kennan (a career foreign service officer and head of policy planning staff)

June 5th 1947, Secretary of State George C Marshall outlined the "Marshall Plan" in a speech. – Truman Doctrine? His speech was written by players behind the the man. The original pitch was for money to end “hunger poverty desperation and chaos” but really it was to “loot US tax-payers to keep influential US corporations on government dole.”

This was not altruism. By 1947 US planners could see that the European economy wasn’t recovering from the devastation of war, and decided that major intervention was needed. The Martial Plan was conceived entirely to create overseas markets for products of American industry and to ensure that US industry which had benefited so much from the wartime economy continued to benefit. Every dollar spent abroad came back home. European imports were paid for by dollars from the American aid, and so the US got it all back. It did help build up their industry. They were already the world's biggest industrial producer.

Europe to be provided with more than $12bn in loans and grants between 1948 & 1951, funds to purchase a third of US exports to Europe in 1949, the peak year.

US planners could see that European recovery just wasn’t happening. So they put forward a plan for major intervention. Michael Hogan: “it’s primary motivation was encouragement of a European economic federation much like the US, with over $2bn annually in US aid in the early years’ to avert “economic, social and political” chaos in Europe, contain communism, both Soviet Union and indigenous, prevent collapse of America’s export trade, and achieve the goal of multi-literalism.”

The Marshall plan also served to achieve US foreign policy goals to “ensure German-based Europe and Japan firmly within US dominated world order.” And “undermine anti-fascist resistance and labour (Italy, Greece, France), install traditional conservative rule (French and British empires) and use violence when necessary (Greece and Korea).” It was foreign aid funnelled through the corporate establishment and cloaked in rhetoric of opposition to foreign communism.

Truman made good use of Russia, which had been a US ally. His co-conspirators in this – the architects of the New World Order – Averell Harriman, Charles Kindelberger, Dean Acheson, under Sec of state and menacing statist of the post-war era. Acheson persuaded Navy Secretary James Forrestal and domestic fixer Clark Clifford, to show Truman how he could elevate the political scam of the Marshall Plan into a mighty ideaological struggle on the world’s stage. This illustrates the importance of PR – how to sell a lie to the public. Soviets attacked the Marshall Plan – they’d seen through the subterfuge and refused to get involved.

An example of how the Marshall Plan helped the US get their way in world politics, is the case of Great Britain, who had been collaborating with the US to develop the nuclear bomb, but locked out once their assistance was no longer needed. When GB approached the US in 1947 for technical assistance, contrary to agreements, this was refused. It was even decided that Britain shouldn’t have its own nuclear capability. In December the US tried to use the Marshall Plan (threat to withhold aid) to force Britain to hand over its share of uranium ore.

According to Chomsky: “During WW2 quasi-totalitarian measures at last overcame the effects of the great depression, more than tripling US production and teaching valuable lesson to the corporate managers who ran the wartime economy. There has been no challenge since to their conclusion that private wealth and power, which were nurtured by large-scale intervention in the first place, can be sustained and enhanced only by the same means.”

Economist Tyler Cowen has noted that countries that received the most Marshall Plan money (GB, Sweden and Greece) grew the slowest between 1947 and 1955 while those that received the least (Germany, Austria, Italy) grew the most.

The policy proved very successful for Truman. For the next 5 years “Marshall Plan” money corrupted every Christian Democrat Party in Europe turning them into versions of the US Democrats. The bureaucracies that were built by these parties hindered European growth to the present day.

National Security Act? - the establishment of a Department of Defence. US armed services unified after WW2 - 1945?

In 1947 Truman had a major reshuffle:

Sec of state – George C Marshall; Sec of Treasury – John W Snyder remained in post; Sec of War – Kenneth C Royall although this post was abolished and the new position of Sec of Defence came in during 1947 -  James V Forrestal moved over from Navy to take it, perhaps a sign of how important the navy was for US defence back then; Attorney General – Tom C Clark remained; PMaster General – Jessee M Donaldson; Sec of Navy abolished; Sec of Interior – Julius A Krug remained in post; Sec of Agriculture – Clinton P Anderson remained in post; Sec of Commerce – W Averell Harriman remained; Sec of Labor – Lewis B Schwellenbach remained; Sec of Defense – James V Forrestal.

FIND DATE

Anti-Communist Witch hunt

In March 1947 Truman initiated a loyalty program ordering security checks on government employees to root out commies. Within four years the Loyalty Review Board dismissing workers as security risks if there was ‘reasonable doubt’ of their loyalty. Thousands of government workers lost their jobs – guilt by association.

In October – commencement of HUAC’s next series of investigations into the entertainment industry. Under chairmanship of J Parnell Thomas a notoriously anti-labour congressman they pitched on the “Hollywood Ten” – leftwing writers. Each cited his first amendment right to refuse to respond to “are you now, or have you ever been, a member of the communist party?” – all ten blacklisted and jailed for contempt.

IATSE – the mob backed union – threatened every major industry figure that they must support IATSE or they would be made subject to industry boycott and investigation by HUAC.

Brewer quoted with full support of Eric Johnson who went on to replace for more liberal Will Hays at Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA).

-              “Waldorf statement”?

Among the first to capitulate to HUAC and Brewer’s blacklist were the leaders of the Screen Actors Guild = one time liberal FDR supporter Reagan and George Murphy who hastily convinced their membership to reject Sorrell and CSU and support the IATSE. It was the end for Sorrell and the CSU.

How much did the government create this situation: during 1947 the State Department employed a PR officer, Melton Davis, who cleverly moved the climate in the US to the right.

Paranoia began driving politics in America - fear of Communism allowed one Congressman to elevate himself at the expense of almost everyone else. McCarthy .

HUAAC held hearings indicating that Commies had flourished in the Agricultural and Treasury Dept. in 1930s.

J Edgar Hoover passed information to McCarthy . William Sullivan, FBI agent, said “we were the ones who made the McCarthy hearings possible. We fed McCarthy all the material he was using.”

The Army was anti-communist, wanted to take Korea, but brought McCarthy down.

McCarthy was friends with Kennedy clan – Joe was firmly pro-Wall Street. His kids Bobby and John became problems years later.

The Justice Dept charged 11 officials of the communist party with advocating the violent overthrow of the government. They were found guilty and given prison sentences and fines.

The Supreme Court upheld the conviction in 1951.

Disarmament

Bernard Baruch (a financier) was appointed in 1947 to present a disarmament plan and international agency to control A-bombs, to the UN. Baruch put in bit about sanctions against violators and exempted the international agency from the UN veto, arguing “we cannot at this time limit our capability to produce or use this weapon.”

Andrei Gromyko, Soviet diplomat, called for a total ban on atomic weapons and destruction of existing bombs.

May1st AF General Vandenberg was replaced with Rear Admiral Roscoe H Hillenkoetter as head of Central Intelligence – he remained director of the CIA when it was created by the National Security Act in 1947.

The Act also created a Department of Defense and unified the armed services and created the National Security Council and under it the CIA.

[In 1964 – The NSC was composed of the President, the VP, the Sec of State, the Sec of Defense, and Director of the Office of Emergency Planning] – Wise & Ross pp92, 93

A big discovery of phosphate by still-Fascist Spain. Geleogists discovered 1.7 billion tons of phosphate lying near the surface of a place called Bu Craa, in Spanish Sahara. Phosphate – the basic material of fertilisers. It soon became one of the largest phosphate mines in the world. The Spnaish Foreign legion guarded the 100 km converyor belt that carried the rock to the coast. The French and Spanish took the profits.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Sahara

X Files

July 4th to July 6th, the Roswell incident occurred. Now entered into folklore, it is almost impossible to tease out the truth from the tangle of absurd lies and fantasy that has built up over the years. The core of it seems to be that the local paper reported a UFO (not alien space craft) had crashed near Roswell and had been investigated by the Air Force. It was embellished into a story involving alien bodies and governmental conspiracies. See 1942 for LA crash. See Special Operations Manual SOM1-01.

Operation Majestic 12 established by classified presidential order on September 24th 1947 at request of Forrestal and Dr. Vannevar Bush. See www.majesticdocuments.com

The Indian subcontinent was partitioned creating two independent countries, India and Pakistan. India became indeoendent on the 15th of august and Pakistan on the 14th. Problems were caused by East and West Pakistan being two distinct and geographically unconnected parts of the same country.

October 1th 1947 Captain Charles E. “Chuck” Yeager broke the sound barrier – rocket powered Bell X-1 over the Mojave Desert in Southern California.

NACA was moving ahead with new research facilities devoted to transonics, supersonics and hypersonics. Hypersonics describes the speeds around Mach 5 where aerodynamic heating effects become significant.

Joe Kennedy’s daughter, Kathleen, died in a plane crash.