West Europe in the midst of chaos

On Thursday, June 5, President Bush is scheduled to speak at the groundbreaking of the U.S. Institute of Peace. Thursday is also the 61st anniversary of the day that then U.S. Secretary of State George Marshall laid out a plan to return a devastated continent to economic health after World War II.

There is no word on what Mr. Bush will say on Thursday. But the president last week spoke of the reconstruction of Iraq in the context of the Marshall Plan. Next week, Mr. Bush will travel to Europe, where he will commemorate the anniversary of the Marshall plan and the Berlin Airlift.

VOA's George Lewinski remembers the devastation of Europe at that time, and the four-year foreign aid program that was launched in a speech 61 years ago this week.