The Russians Often Took Advantage Of Lend-lease.

Conferences At The Top Level Are Always Courteous. Name-calling Is Left To The Foreign Ministers.

Yet The Whole Preamble Of The Second Authorization Act For The Marshall Plan Showed The Direction Congress Was Ready To Take About Breaking Down Barriers Within Europe.

This Was The Period When I Used All The Influence I Had To Get The British To Abandon Their Export Trade, And As Much As Possible Convert All Of Their Manufacturing Facilities To The Immediate Needs Of The War, Including Civilian, As Well As Military Requirements.

It Never Occurred To Me That We Would Have As Grandiose A Program As The Marshall Plan, But I Felt That We Had To Do Something To Save Europe From Economic Disaster Which Would Encourage The Communist Takeover.

Poland, Of Course, Was The Key Country. I Remember Stalin Telling Me That The Plains Of Poland Were The Invasion Route Of Europe To Russia And Always Had Been, And Therefore He Had To Control Poland.