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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 09 November 2018
This article discusses the main lessons of the Marshall Plan's Technical Assistance Programme. The point of departure is the Danish case, but the perspective is wider, and the article aims at broadening the somewhat narrow chronology and geography often applied in studies on the history of the Marshall Plan. When following the Technical Assistance up until the mid-1950s in a Scandinavian country it becomes clear that American diplomats didn't just want the Europeans to work harder, but that their drive for productivity also promoted Americanisation in the form of an US-style business and consumer culture. The ‘American Way’ presented through the Technical Assistance Programme, though not uncontested, was a powerful and appealing model for prosperity applicable to all areas of the economy, from agriculture to retail.
1 Sanford, William, The American Business Community and the European Recovery Program 1947–1952 (New York: Garland Publising 1987), 73Google Scholar.
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4 The literature on the Marshall Plan is vast, but see, for instance, Lewis Gaddis, John, The United States and the Origins of the Cold War, 1941–1947 (New York: Contemporary American History Series; Columbia University Press, 1972)Google Scholar; Kolko, Joyce and Kolko, Gabriel, The Limits of Power: The World and United States Foreign Policy, 1945–1954 (New York: Harper & Row, 1972)Google Scholar; Hogan, Michael J., The Marshall Plan: America, Britain, and the Reconstruction of Western Europe, 1947–1952 (Studies in Economic History and Policy; Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1987)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Milward, Alan S., The Reconstruction of Western Europe, 1945–51 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984)Google Scholar.
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6 Victoria De Grazia, ‘Visualizing the Marshall Plan. The Pleasures of American Consumer Democracy or the Pains of “the Greatest Structural Adjustment Program in History”’, in Bischof and Stiefel, eds., Images, 34.
7 David W. Ellwood, ‘Film and Marshall Plan’, in Bischof and Stiefel, eds., Images, 63.
8 Including Alan S. Milward, The Reconstruction and Michael J. Hogan, The Marshall Plan. This early focus is even more evident in the Danish literature on the Marshall Plan primarily researched by Sørensen, Vibeke and Dalgas Jensen, Leon. Dalgas Jensen, Leon, ‘Mod en langsigtet erhvervspolitik: De erhvervs- og industripolitiske spørgsmål som anvendelsen af modværdimidlerne rejste’, Økonomi & politik, 60, 4 (1987), 255–62Google Scholar; Dalgas Jensen, Leon, ‘Nogle tal om Marshallplanen og hjælpen til Danmark’, Økonomi & politik, 60, 4 (1987), 210–2Google Scholar; Dalgas Jensen, Leon, ‘Dansk forsvar og Marshallplanen 1947–1960’, Historisk tidsskrift, 91, 2 (1991), 459–506Google Scholar; Dalgas Jensen, Leon, Politisk kamp om Danmarks importpolitik 1945–48 (Dansk politik under forandring 1945–85; København: Statens Humanistiske Forskningsråd, 1993)Google Scholar; Steinicke Sørensen, Vibeke and Rüdiger, Mogens, Denmark's Social Democratic Government and the Marshall Plan, 1947–1950 (Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press, 2001), 360Google Scholar.
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10 Ellwood, David W., Rebuilding Europe: Western Europe, America, and Postwar Reconstruction (New York: Longman, 1992), 94Google Scholar.
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14 Schröter, ‘Economic Culture’, 222–5.
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17 Van Elteren, Mel, Americanism and Americanization: A Critical History of Domestic and Global Influence (London: McFarland & Co., 2006), 136Google Scholar.
18 Van Elteren, Americanism, 103.
19 Van Elteren's conclusions can be supported by many other scholars adopting the idea of the twentieth century as an ‘American century’. See: Hobsbawm, E. J., The Age of Extremes: A History of the World, 1914–1991 (New York: Vintage Books, 1996), 15Google Scholar; Lundestad, Geir, The United States and Western Europe since 1945: From ‘Empire’ by Invitation to Transatlantic Drift (Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2003), 27–32CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Nelson, Richard R. and Wright, Gavin, ‘The Rise and Fall of American Technological Leadership: The Postwar Era in Historical Perspective’, Journal of Economic Literature, 30, 4 (1992), 1931–64Google Scholar.
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22 Milward, Alan S., The Reconstruction, 435 and Jaqueline McGlade, ‘More a Plowshare than a Sword: The Legacy of US Cold War Agricultural Diplomacy’, Agricultural History, 83, 1 (2009), 79–102Google Scholar.
23 See, for instance, for the English, Italian, Dutch and Norwegian cases: Tiratsoo and Tomlinson, ‘Exporting the “Gospel of Productivity”: United States Technical Assistance and British Industry’, 74; Bloemen, Erik, ‘The Technical Assistance and Productivity in the Netherlands, 1945–52’, Le Plan Marshall Et Le Relèvement Économique De L'europe (Paris: Comité pour l'historie économique et financière, 1993)Google Scholar; Erik and Griffiths Bloemen, Richard T., ‘Resisting Revolution in the Netherlands’, in Barjot, Dominique ed., Catching up with America. Productivity Missions and the Diffusion of American Economic and Technological Influence after the Second World War (Paris: Presses de l'Université de Paris-Sorbonne, 2002)Google Scholar; Pedersen, Kai R., ‘The Technical Assistance Program's Promotion of “Corporatism” and “Productivism” in Norway, 1949–1953’, Essays in Economic and Business History, 16 (1998)Google Scholar; Segreto, Luciano, ‘The Impact of the Productivity Philosophy in Italy after World War II’, in Barjot, Dominique, ed., Catching up with America. Productivity Missions and the Diffusion of American Economic and Technological Influence after the Second World War (Paris: Presses de l'Univerité de Paris-Sorbonne, 2002)Google Scholar.
24 Asbjørn Sonne and Christiansen Nørgaard, Munch, Peter, Faste forhold – flygtige forbindelser. Stat og interesseorganisationer i Danmark i det 20. århundrede (Aarhus: Aarhus Universitetsforlag, 2003), 59–65Google Scholar.
25 Report of OSR review team on the agricultural program for Denmark, 26. okt. 1951, NARA, RG 469, Deputy director for technical services office of food and agriculture, Country files 1950–56 box 1. See also the CIA report Agriculture and food supply in Denmark, Extract from NIS–7 sec.61, for Agricultural Subcommittee, NIE, CIA, Sept. 1952, NARA, RG 469, Deputy director for technical services office of food and agriculture, Country files 1950–56 box 2.
26 Rasmussen, Hanne and Rüdiger, Mogens, Tiden efter 1945 (Danmarks Historie, 8; Copenhagen: Gyldendal, 1990), 112Google Scholar.
27 Sørensen and Rüdiger, Denmark's Social Democratic Government, 104–13.
28 The Danish Ministry of Agriculture organised study tours for a total of 234 participants, but out of these a smaller number (mostly women) studied housekeeping. Subtracting those and adding a couple of early participants who went directly through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs the total number of agricultural experts visiting the States was 218 – around one third of the Danish participants distributed on around half of the study tours. Apart from the 218 experts, who typically visited the United States for four to six weeks, eighty-one younger farmers also stayed at different US farms as interns for approximately one year.
29 USIE country paper April 5, 1950, NARA State Department Decimal Files 511.59/5–250.
30 Udenrigsministeriets gruppeordnede sager 1945–1972 journalnr. 73.C.67/4/94–101, Danish National Archives, Copenhagen.
31 Among the many articles discussion these problems in the agricultural journals see, for example, ‘Udstykning og Mekanisering er Landbrugets Fremtidsproblemer’, Maskinhandleren, 14, 25, (1946), 4–5; Krabbe, N., ‘Landbrugets mekanisering i U.S.A. og Danmark’, Tidsskrift for Landøkonomi, 2 (1952), 6Google Scholar; Bjerre, Siliam, ‘Nytaarsønsker for den danske Bonde’, Dansk Landbrug 8 Jan. (1953), 4Google Scholar; Olsen, H. K., ‘Indtryk fra en rejse i Amerika’, i Tidsskrift for Landøkonomi, 9–10 (1951), 391Google Scholar.
32 See, for example, Mekanisering i Landbruget, rapport over studierejse til U.S.A. foretaget fra 3. juni til 25. juli af 6 praktiske landmænd, (København: Udenrigsministeriet, 1952); Rosenstand Schacht, H., ‘Visiting Fireman in U.S.A.’, Ugeskrift for Landmænd, 95 (1950)Google Scholar; Juncker, Flemming, Dansk Landbrugs Fremtid, (København: Westermanns Forlag, 1948)Google Scholar; Juncker, Flemming, ‘Erfaringer med majsdyrkningen på Overgaard 1949’, Tidsskrift for Landøkonomi, 3 (1949), 113–28Google Scholar; Juncker, Flemming, ‘Fortsatte erfaringer med majsdyrkning på Overgaard i 1949’, Tidsskrift for Landøkonomi (1950), 225–45Google Scholar and Juncker, Flemming, ‘7 års erfaringer med majsdyrkning på Overgaard’, Tidsskrift for Landøkonomi, 3 (1954), 121–39Google Scholar.
33 Mekaniseringen i landbruget, rapport over studierejse til USA foretaget fra 3. juni til 25. juli af 6 praktiske landmænd (København: Udenrigsministeriet, 1952), 30.
34 The productivity in the agricultural sector is forty times higher today than it was in 1948. Productivity in industry is just six times higher. See Mackie Brøndum, Birgitte, Nielsen, Marianne, Elkjær, Kamilla ed., 60 År I Tal. Danmark Siden 2. Verdenskrig (København: Danmarks Statistik, 2009), 20Google Scholar.
35 Amerika er anderledes. Med den danske fagforeningsdelegation til U.S.A., (København: Fremad, 1950); Sven Tillge-Rasmussen, ‘De danske arbejderes indtryk i Amerika’, Politiken, 11 Okt. 1949.
36 Carew, Anthony, Labour under the Marshall Plan: The Politics of Productivity and the Marketing of Management Science (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1987), 247–50Google Scholar.
37 For social democratic thoughts about rational planning and productivity see, for example, Daalgaard, Niels, Ved Demokratiets Grænse. Demokratiseringen Af Arbejdslivet i Danmark 1919–1994 (København: Selskabet til Forskning i Arbejderbevægelsens Historie, 1995), 137–8Google Scholar; Lidegaard, Bo, Jens Otto Krag, 1941–1961 (København: Gyldendal, 2001), 415–6Google Scholar; Wium Olesen, Niels, ‘Jens Otto Krag og Fremtidens Danmark’, Historie, 19, 1 (1991), 72Google Scholar; Petersen, Klaus, Fra legitimitet til legitimitetskrise. Velfærdsstatens udvikling i Danmark i perioden 1945–1973 (København: Københavns Universitets Prisopgave, 1995)Google Scholar; Petersen, Klaus, ‘Om formuleringen af velfærdsstaten som politisk projekt i 1950’erne’, Arbejderhistorie, 4 (1996), 62–78Google Scholar.
38 Programming and budgeting TA for 1950–51 and 1951–52, 21. Sept. 1950, NARA, Productivity and technical assistance division, office of the director, technical assistant country subject files, 1949–52, Denmark box 4.
39 Denmark, Survey of Results of TA, 1953, NARA, RG 469, Office of the Assistant Administrator for Production, Productivity and Technical Assistance Division, box 3. See also Kryger Larsen, Industri, 137–9, Sørensen and Rüdiger, Denmark's Social Democratic Government, 156 for industry's hesitancy towards state interference.
40 Vi kan lære af Amerikansk Industri, (København: Industrirådet 1952).
41 Kleinschmidt, Christian, Der produktive Blick: Wahrnehmung amerikanischer und japanischer Management- und Produktionsmethoden durch deutsche unternehmer 1950–1985 (Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 2002), 308–12Google Scholar.
42 Based on a systematic reading of the industrial journals Ingeniøren, Arbejdsgiveren and Tidsskrift for Industri between 1945 and 1957.
43 See, for example, ‘Rationaliseringsgevinstens fordeling’, Arbejderen, 50. årg. nr. 19, 1. Dec. (1954), 277–9.
44 Axel Odel, ‘Produktivitets-problemet’, Tidsskrift for Industri, nr. 21, 1. Nov. (1950), 256.
45 For example, the discussion about bonus wage ‘Bonusordninger og rationel produktion’, Arbejdsgiveren, 17, Sept. (1951), 273; ‘Atlas’ fællestillidsmand udtaler sig’, Arbejdsgiveren, 19, Oct. (1951), 310.
46 ‘Selvbetjening den moderne detailhandels våben mod for høje omkostninger’, Arbejderen, 49. årg. nr. 19, 1. Oct. (1953), 231–4.
47 ‘Selvbetjening i U.S.A.’, Arbejdsgiveren, 20, Oct. (1953), 330–2.
48 See the report Amerikansk beklædningsindustri (København: Udenrigsministeriet 1951).
49 Summary and conclusions of report on the US shoe manufacturing industry, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Copenhagen 1954, 3, NARA, RG 469, Assistant administrator for production, productivity and Technical Assistance Division, Country and Regional File, 1949–1954 box 2.
50 De danske industriarbejdere i USA (København: Udenrigsministeriet, 1954), 69–70 and Rapport Nov. 21, 1952, NARA, RG 469, Mission to Denmark, Labor information division, Press stories and photographs, 1950–53 box 3.
51 Jacqueline McGlade: ‘NATO Procurement and the Revival of European Defense, 1950–60’, in Schmidt, Gustav, A History of Nato: The First Fifty Years (Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2001)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
52 Kleinschmidt, Der Produktive Blick, 80–1.
53 Productivity and technical assistance programme, fiscal years 1953 and 1954, MSA Mission to Denmark, Office of the Special Representative in Europe (1948–53), Productivity & Technical Assistance Division, Country Files, 1949–54, box 5.
54 ‘Hvad vil der ske i dansk varedistribution i de næste fem år?’, Speach by George R Lindahl jr. in Salgs- og Reklameforeningen, København 1. april 1954 i NARA, RG 469, Mission to Denmark, Labor Division Subject Files 1949–54, box 3.
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58 ‘Masseproduktionens forudsætning er i dag massemennesket’, Danmarks Handels Tidende nr. 25, 13. Dec. (1955).
59 Notat vedrørende oprettelse af et udvalg til behandling af spørgsmål om fremme af handelens effektivitet. 21. Jan. 1953, Økonomi- og Erhvervsministeriet ujournaliserede sager, kasse 599–7–53, Danish National Archives, Copenhagen.
60 Implementation of self-service program in NARA, RG 469, Mission to Denmark, Productivity & technical Excharge Division, subject files, 1948–54 box 1and memorandum by Erik Jensen to O'Neill Osborn 28. May 1952 in NARA, RG 469, Mission to Denmark, Productivity & technical Excharge Division, subject files, 1948–54 box 1.
61 Memorandum by Erik Jensen, Produktivitetsudvalget to O'Neill Osborn 28 May 1952 i NARA, RG 469, Mission to Denmark, Productivity & technical Excharge Division, subject files, 1948–54 box 1.
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