The United States pledged about $12 billion to rebuild Western Europe after World War II. Which plan was this?

• A. Open Door Policy
• B. Sykes-Picot Agreement
• C. Marshall Plan
• D. Truman Doctrine

Answer: (C)

The question is asking you to identify a major postwar economic aid effort aimed at rebuilding Western Europe and preventing the spread of communism. The plan that fits this description is the Marshall Plan, officially known as the European Recovery Program. Proposed in 1947 by Secretary of State George C. Marshall, it orchestrated a large-scale package of economic assistance to Western European nations—grants and loans designed to rebuild industry and infrastructure, stabilize currencies, and restart economies. By restoring prosperity and creating markets for goods, the plan also helped solidify Western alignment against the Soviet sphere and contributed to the rapid recovery of Western Europe after the devastation of the war.

Other choices refer to unrelated or narrower ideas: the Open Door Policy aimed at guaranteeing equal trading rights in China in the late 19th and early 20th centuries; the Sykes-Picot Agreement was a WWI-era arrangement dividing Ottoman lands; the Truman Doctrine focused on containing communism by supporting Greece and Turkey rather than broad reconstruction of Europe. The Marshall Plan is the one that matches the description of pledging a substantial aid program to rebuild Western Europe after World War II.