Abstract
It would be difficult to overestimate the importance of Jean Monnet in the history of the postwar reconstruction of Western Europe. In many ways Monnet’s ideas shaped the structure of the economy of postwar Europe, and consequently, determined much of its political evolution as well. Monnet’s influence was not a reflection of any specific position he held. He was first, head of the French Supply Council, the economic purchasing mission that coordinated French imports from the United States to France under Lend-Lease. In January 1946 he became head of the Commissariat du Plan, a newly-created structure to oversee the rebuilding of the French economy, attached directly to the Prime Minister’s office. From that position he later went on to assume the presidency of the European Coal and Steel Community. During the actual work of constructing the European Common Market from 1955–7 he held no official position at all, rather leading a pressure group, the Action Committee for the United States of Europe. Monnet was neither politician nor technocrat, nor a charismatic leader of the masses.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Notes
See the discussion in Richard Kuisel, Capitalism and the State in Modern France (New York, 1981).
Phillippe Mioche, Le Plan Monnet: Genèse et Elaboration (Paris, 1985) 47–52.
Francois Bloch-Lainé et Jean Bouview, La France Restaurée 1944–54: Diologue sur les choix d’une modernisation (Paris, 1986) 76–89.
Alan Milward, The Reconstruction of Western Europe, 1945–51 (London, 1984) 38–62.
See Thomas G. Paterson, Soviet-American Confrontation: Postwar Reconstruction and the Origins of the Cold War (Baltimore, 1973).
Michel Margairaz, ‘Author des accords Blum-Byrnes: Jean Monnet entre le consensus national et le consensus atlantique’, Histoire, Economie et Société, 3 (1982), 439–70.
Jean Monnet, Memoirs (trans. Richard Mayne) (New York, 1978) 253.
For the ‘pessimistic’ interpretation of the Blum-Byrnes agreements see Annie Lecroix-Riz, ‘Négociation et signature des accords Blum-Byrnes (Octobre 1945–Mai 1946) d’après les Archives du Ministère des Affaires Etrangères’, Revue d’histoire moderne et contemporaine, XXI (July–September 1984), 417–48. Lacroix-Riz argues that despite the often ‘humiliating’ terms, France was constrained by the accords to enter into a Western bloc dominated by the United States. I have agreed with Lacroix-Riz on her negative assessment of the agreements, but contested her conclusion that France joined an American-dominated bloc: see Irwin M. Wall, ‘Les accords Blum-Byrnes, la modernisation de la France et la guerre froide’, Vingtième Siècle, 13 (January–March 1987) 45–63.
See John Gimbel, The Origins of the Marshall Plan (Stanford, Ca., 1976), 41–9. Also Irwin M. Wall, L’Influence américaine sur la politique française, 1945–1954 (Paris, 1989) 79–94.
Frances M. B. Lynch, ‘Resolving the Paradox of the Monnet Plan: National and International Planning in French Reconstruction’, Economic History Review, 37,2 (May 1984) 229–43.
See Monnet’s letter to Robert Schuman in Jean Monnet-Robert Schuman, Correspondance 1947–1953 (Lausanne: Fondation Jean Monnet, 1986) 26–8.
Quoted by Robert Frank, ‘Contraints monétaires, désirs de croissance et reves européens (1931–1949)’, in Patrick Fridenson et André Straus, Le Capitalisme Francais, 19e et 20e siècle: Blocages et dynamismes d’une croissance (Paris, 1987) 229.
See Harry Price, The Marshall Plan and its Meaning (Ithaca, N.Y., 1955).
An interesting confirmation of a sort of the work of John Gimbel, The Origins of the Marshall Plan, op. cit.
Benoit Frachon, Au Rythme des jours: Retrospective de vinqt années de luttes de la CGT, T.I., 1944–54 (Paris, 1967) 433.
Gerard Bossuat, ‘Les risques et les espoirs du Plan Marshall pour la France’, Etudes et Documents (Paris, 1989) 213.
See the discussion in Chiarella Esposito, ‘The Marshall Plan in France and Italy, 1948–1950: Counterpart Fund Negotiations’, (unpublished dissertation, State University of New York at Stony-brook, 1985). Also, Irwin Wall, L’Influence américaine sur la politique francaise, op. cit.
See Jean-Pierre Rioux, The Fourth Republic, 1944–58 (Cambridge, 1987) 180.
See the discussions in John Sheahan, Promotion and Control of Industry in Postwar France (Cambridge, Mass., 1963), and Warren C. Baum, The French Economy and the State (Princeton, N.J., 1958).
Annie Lacroix-Riz, ‘Credits américains et coopération européene (1949–1954)’, in Patrick Fridenson et André Straus, Le Capitalisme francais, 19e–20e siècle: Blocages et dynamisme d’une croissance (Paris, 1987) 327–53; Alan Milward, The Reconstruction of Western Europe, 391.
Raymond Poidevin, Robert Schuman, homme d’Etat, 1886–1963 (Paris, 1986) 249–72.
George Ball, The Past Has Another Pattern: Memoirs (New York, 1982); Papiers Jean Monnet, Dossier G. W. Ball, AMG 10/6.
See Edward Fursdon, The European Defense Community: A History (New York, 1980). Also Irwin Wall, L’Influence américaine sur la politique francaise, 1945–1954, op. cit.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 1991 Douglas Brinkley and Clifford Hackett
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Wall, I.M. (1991). Jean Monnet, the United States and the French Economic Plan. In: Brinkley, D., Hackett, C. (eds) Jean Monnet. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-137-12050-2_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-137-12050-2_3
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York
Print ISBN: 978-0-312-08608-4
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-12050-2
eBook Packages: Palgrave Political & Intern. Studies CollectionPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)