This program of aid, called the "GARIOA Program" (Government and Relief in Occupied Areas), covered part of the urgent import needs. The funds approved by the American Congress assured the German population's food requirement be attained (Kissinger, T L.).
As early as September 6, 1946, Secretary of State Byrnes announced in Stuttgart a fundamental change in U.S. policy on Germany (Delong, J E.) The Moscow Conference, held from March 12 to April 15, 1947, in which George C. Marshall took part as the new Secretary of State, convinced the American Government of the need to counter the advance of communism. Following the Moscow Conference, the then Under-Secretary of State, Dean Acheson, suggested in a speech in Cleveland that the United States was now determined to work on a total reconstruction of Europe's economy (Kissinger, T L.).
Shortly before, on March 12, 1947, President Truman declared that the United States would grant economic assistance to all those countries threatened from within by armed minorities and from without by Communist pressure. This declaration later became known as the Truman Doctrine (Hemmling, H D).
Recognizing that Europe's economic reconstruction was possible only with the help of the United States, the U.S. offered Europe a generous program of aid. The pre-conditions were that the European countries should contribute by their own efforts and by cooperating as closely as possible (Hemmling, H D).
"In a celebrated speech delivered before students at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on June 5, 1947, Secretary of State George Caliett Marshall proposed that the European States themselves should set up a program for the reconstruction of Europe" (Delong, J E.) The United States would contribute towards this program (Hemmling, H D). .
Shortly afterwards, a number of international conferences were held. The Foreign Ministers of Great Britain (Bevin), France (Bidault) and the Soviet Union (Molotov) met on June 27, 1947 in Paris: The U.
