Innsbruck, June 1, 1987
The Concert Event
Last night Vladimir Horowitz gave a piano concert in the “Grossen Saal des Musikvereins,” the main concert hall in Vienna. Works by Mozart, Schubert, Liszt, Schumann and Chopin were on the program. The 82-year old artist, who has become a legend, performed after 50 years for the first time again in Vienna. The concert was sold out for weeks. It has been a long time since a piano concert has been such a sensation. The technical brilliance and intuitive understanding with a restraint gesture led to a spiritual, transparent performance. A critic thought that in hearing Horowitz playing Mozart, one could experience the creative process. Wherever Horowitz performed on his European tour, the jubilation was undivided.
Innsbruck, June 5, 1987
The Historic Speech 40 Years Ago
Forty years ago today, on June 5, 1947, then U.S. Secretary of State George C. Marshall delivered an historic speech at Harvard University, which laid the foundation for the European Recovery Program (ERP), or the Marshall Plan. It was the Commencement Address to the graduating students at Harvard that year. With great foresight Marshall recognized what needed to be done in order to rescue a Europe that was ravaged by war and threatened with starvation. No other American action touched the hearts of Europeans as much as the Marshall Plan did. There is a widespread feeling of gratitude for this unique rescue operation. The Marshall Plan was a major factor that Western Europe did not succumb to Communism.
Addendum
[The 50th anniversary of the Marshall Plan in 1997 was observed on both sides of the Atlantic. On May 29, 1997, the heads of state of the countries which had participated in the Marshall Plan met in Rotterdam for a celebration. Also U.S. President Bill Clinton came to Rotterdam for that event. The Marshall Plan was praised as one of the most successful reconstruction projects in modern history.
On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Marshall Plan, the Harvard University Archives organized an exhibition, which showed how the Commencement Address of June 5, 1947 had come about and how the Marshall Plan was realized. U.S. Secretary of State George Marshall had accepted the invitation by Harvard University President James B. Conant to deliver the Commencement Address. However, he wrote Conant that it would not be a “formal address,” but only “a few remarks.” The Commencement on June 5, 1947, took place, as was customary, in open air on the Harvard Yard. In a short address that took only 15 minutes, George Marshall first called attention to the destitution of Europe at the time, which without assistance would lead to an economic and social catastrophe. Then, he briefly outlined his recovery program for the reconstruction of the war-ravaged Europe. At the conclusion, he pointed out that American policy was “directed not against any country or doctrine but against hunger.”
The European Recovery Program (ERP) met at first with resistance in Congress, but was finally accepted and signed into law by President Harry S. Truman in April 1948. Truman insisted that the Program should bear the name of its founder and be called the Marshall Plan. The following 16 countries participated in the Marshall Plan: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, the Federal Republic of Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, and the United States. In the course of the Marshall Plan’s operation from 1948-52, 13 billion dollars were distributed. The Marshall Plan expedited the process of European economic integration.
George C. Marshall (1880-1959) was Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during World War II. He served as Secretary of State in the Truman Administration from 1947-49. For the Marshall Plan he received the Nobel Peace Prize 1953.]
[Transl: While I was on research at the Houghton Library of Harvard University early August, 1997, I was able to visit the 50th anniversary exhibition of the Marshall Plan and by courtesy get the above information.]
Innsbruck, June 12, 1987
In Front of the Brandenburg Gate
“Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”
With these words President Reagan appealed this afternoon to Mikhail Gorbachev to get rid of the Berlin Wall. Reagan’s visit to Berlin for the 750-Year Celebration was accompanied by wild demonstrations that led to violent clashes with police on the Kurfürstendamm, West Berlin’s busiest thoroughfare. Oddly enough, Reagan’s appeal met with greater response by youths in East Berlin, who, a few days earlier, had made similar demands, calling upon Gorbachev as their patron saint. East West politics have been set in motion these days. Should the Berlin question be solved after all?
[Notes taken following travels through West Germany, Austria, and Italy.]