Download Post-WWII Conferences/Plans: United Nations, Marshall Plan, and

Post-WWII Conferences/Plans: United Nations, Marshall Plan, and MacArthur Plan in Japan
1. The United Nations
2. The Marshall Plan
3. Rebuilding Japan
The United Nations is an organization
created to promote international security
and prevent future wars. In April 1945 ,
right after Franklin D. Roosevelt’s death
and Harry Truman’s taking over the
presidency, the UN’s founding charter
was drafted, resembling the document that
created the unsuccessful League of
Nations after World War I. Because
World War II had demonstrated that the
United States could not remain isolated
from things happening around the world,
the United Nations charter quickly went
through the Senate ratification process
that summer. According to the charter, the
“Big Five” (the U.S, Great Britain,
France, China, and the Soviet Union) each
would have a permanent spot and veto
power on the United Nation’s leadership.
The United Nations still exists today and
has its headquarters in New York City.
After WWII, the Soviet Union wanted to
take revenge on Germany by demanding
extreme war reparations. President
Truman realized, however, that doing this
would only hurt Germany more, just as it
had after the signing of the
unforgiving Treaty of Versailles that had
ended World War I and led to WWII.
The process of rebuilding Japan began
right after World War II ended. The
commander of the Allied forces in the
Pacific, U.S. Army general Douglas
MacArthur, led the reconstruction
process—a difficult task considering the
widespread devastation throughout Japan.
General MacArthur rounded up ranking
officers in the Japanese military
leadership and tried them as war criminals
in the Tokyo trials. The Japanese, for their
part, worked hard to rebuild their country
under U.S. guidelines, emphasizing an
increase in democracy.
In 1947 , the United States Secretary of
State, George Marshall, promised that
the United States would offer over
$10 billion to help rebuild Europe if the
European nations themselves actually
agreed to work together to meet this goal.
Great Britain, France, Italy, and Germany
complied and came together to lead
postwar Europe. In a sense, this
foreshadowed the European Union that
now exists. The Marshall Plan, helped to
stabilize Western Europe financially and
prevent economic collapse. After just one
decade, European factories had already
surpassed pre-WWII production levels,
increasing the standard of living and
helping to ensure that Russian
Communism would not thrive.
Within a year, MacArthur and the
Japanese drafted a new democratic
constitution, and the United States
pledged military protection in exchange
for a promise that Japan would not build
up its military and weapons again. The
new constitution and reforms allowed
Japan to recover quickly from the war and
eventually boast one of the largest
economies in the world.
Which of the three post-World War II developments (United Nations, Marshall Plan, or MacArthur’s
Plan for Japan) is the speaker describing? Circle the correct answer and explain why you chose it.
1. “The citizens have fully recovered from the physical destruction caused by the war and have demonstrated
the capability of the country to recover.”
President Harry Truman
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2. “Sixteen countries came together to estimate their economic needs for recovery.”
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3. “Many people were concerned it would fail, after what happened at the end of World War I. But opinion in
the United States had changed in those thirty years.”
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4. “Our hope is that this program will produce economic, political, and self-defense unity in the continent,
protecting it from Russian aggression.”
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5. “…Created to provide hope for the entire world…”
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6. “It made a decisive contribution to the renewal of the transport system, the modernization of industrial and
agricultural equipment, the resumption of normal production, the raising of productivity, and the facilitating of
trade within countries.”
Economic historian Herman Van der Wee
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7. “… Intended to allow one nation to rebuild…”
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8. “He took away all political power from the emperor and encouraged the development of fair elections.”
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9. “… Helped an entire continent recover…”
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10. “We are allowing these countries to have special privileges within the organization, as we believe they will
be world powers for years to come.”
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