Economic Cooperation Administration
The US government agency, created in 1948 under the Economic Cooperation Act, that administered Marshall Plan aid to Europe until 1951.
Organization for European Economic Co-operation: The European body, founded in 1948, that allocated American aid among sixteen participating countries. The ECA dealt with Europe through the OEEC, which proposed the country programs the ECA approved.
Paul Hoffman: The Studebaker chief executive who served as ECA Administrator from 1948 to 1950. The first Administrator, chosen for business credibility, who set the agency's tone in Washington and Europe.
Marshall Plan: The 1948–1952 US economic aid program that rebuilt Western European economies with about $13 billion in grants. The initiative from which the agency grew; the ECA was its administrative answer to a legislative demand.
Mutual Security Agency: The 1951 agency that absorbed the ECA's functions when aid shifted from recovery to rearmament. The direct successor into which the ECA was wound up on October 31, 1951.
Marshall Plan in West Germany: The West German aid program channeled largely through counterpart funds into industrial investment. The largest single recipient program, run under occupation constraints the ECA had to navigate.
European Recovery Program: The formal four-year program of US grants for Western European recovery, of which the ECA was the operating agency. The statutory program the ECA existed to execute, defining its budget, lifespan and reporting duties.
William Chapman Foster: ECA's first Deputy Administrator, later US Secretary of Defense under Kennedy and Johnson. Ran the agency's day-to-day operations while Hoffman handled public advocacy for the program.
William Clayton: Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs in 1947 who pressed for large-scale European aid. His May 1947 memorandum warning of European economic collapse helped trigger the planning that produced the agency.
United States Agency for International Development: The US agency, established in 1961, that administers civilian foreign aid and development assistance. Institutional descendant of the ECA model: a semi-independent agency running country programs abroad.
Marshall Plan in the United Kingdom: The largest ECA grant allocation, about $3.2 billion, aimed mainly at imports and the sterling balance crisis. The biggest country allocation, and the one whose conditions strained relations with London most.