Ask the Scholar

In this letter to his friend, President Harry S. Truman, Kansas City real estate broker Ray Moseley suggests that people in many European countries are doing well enough and do not really need massive American aid, as provided for in the Marshall Plan and similar programs. Instead, he contends, this relief money should be saved and used to furnish tax relief to Americans. In his reply, the President thanks Moseley for his views but emphasizes that Great Britain, France, Germany, and other European countries were devastated by the war and are in desperate need of U.S. aid for economic reconstruction.