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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 __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ 2. “Sixteen countries came together to estimate their economic needs for recovery.” __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ 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.” __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ 4. “Our hope is that this program will produce economic, political, and self-defense unity in the continent, protecting it from Russian aggression.” __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ 5. “…Created to provide hope for the entire world…” __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ 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 __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ 7. “… Intended to allow one nation to rebuild…” __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ 8. “He took away all political power from the emperor and encouraged the development of fair elections.” __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ 9. “… Helped an entire continent recover…” __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ 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.” __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________