Another area Yergin argues was a motivation behind the Marshall plan was humanitarian aid to Europe. Yergin claims that this was mostly done through economic help. Yergin argues a reason the plan was introduced was “to cover the entire range of European economic problems”. He makes it clear though that the motive behind this was less to do with the “impending American depression”,which Kolko argues is the centre of the plan. But more based around helping Europe from its “economic crisis” and preventing its “complete collapse”. Yergin also makes a clear point that the economic motives were of a humanitarian nature as he makes reference to the “visible destruction”, that needs repairing, as well as the the capital destruction that affected the people of Europe “Western Europe was no longer able to obtain food stores from traditional sources in Eastern Europe”. This indicates Yergins awareness of the state of the people and not just the economy or politics.

Yergins assessment of the motives can be explained as some historians have said…

“Yergin has largely escaped from the arid conceptual desert of all those revisionist versus traditionalist tracts. He appreciates that neither the orthodox blame-it-on-the-Russians approach, nor the revisionist blame-it-on-the-Americans,”.

This could be explained as he was writing in 1990, when primary sources became widely available for use, especially some from the soviet archives which were released after USSR began to collapse in 1990. Also his jobs provide an insight to why he holds the views he does. He is a director of the Council on Foreign Relations and also teaches in the program on National and international Affairs. This provides evidence towards his international views.
Evaluation

The Kolko’s argument is more narrow than others as he claims that the motives behind the Marshall plan were purely of economic self-interest as the US wanted to “secure their own immediate gains”. This already strays Kolko’s argument away from those of Rees and Yergin who have more diverse views on the motives such as humanitarian and political. Kolko’s particular focus economically for the basis of his argument is on the self-interests of the American government and particularly the dollar crisis which at the time was viewed as critical for the condition of the world economy. Similarly, to add support to Kolko’s specific argu