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How many of us of a certain age were admonished as children to “clean their plates” at mealtime because “people were starving in Europe.” Wasting food was sinful. Images of shivering, hungry, bone-thin Belgium, French, Dutch and Polish children in tattered clothes and large sunken eyes raced through our minds as we pushed our food around the plate.
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In the post-WWII world, the entire continent was in crises, with millions starving overseas. Somehow in our comfortable suburban kitchens, finishing every last morsel of our meatloaf while under the watchful eyes of our mothers would help the poor Europeans.
Our mothers were not wrong
It did help.
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In 1947, the United States sacrificed for the sake of saving Europe.
Our Commander in Chief asked us to.
Harry Truman could not stomach the idea of allowing millions to starve.
The very first telecast from the oval office was given by Truman. The President discussed the urgent hunger crisis facing Europe and how Americans could help through food conservation.
Ignoring world starvation and disease was not who we were.
This Is Not Who We Are
Today, when millions might starve to death and millions suffer acute hunger as the United States withdraws our assistance, a time when we are at one of the greatest global insecurities of our time, Americans are pulling out our help.
Our country, which for generations served as the beacon of light around the world, now has a President who signed a death warrant for millions of people around the world by cutting off USAID.
This is not the America I grew up in.
The last time the world faced a global famine, America did something astonishing.
They actually chose to go hungry to make food available for shipment overseas.
For starving strangers.
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At that time Europe was struggling in its recovery from World War II. Rebuilding from the devastation of war was difficult enough, but a harsh winter followed by a drought during 1947 ruined crops. Food shortages were rampant and Europe needed food to survive and rebuild.
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As the winter of 1947 approached, millions of Europeans faced mass starvation.
It was feared that mass death, malnutrition, and the spread of disease that accompanied the crises would leave Europe prey to anarchy and communism. Hunger drove people to despair. It would be a strategic disaster as well as a moral one. The United States was already in a global contest with the Soviet Union and Europe was the first battleground.
America had already sent as much surplus grain as it had available, but Europe needed so much before Christmas to avoid an apocalypse. There was simply no grain to send.
Americans needed to find that extra 100 million bushels. And find it quickly.
Taking it to the People
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The President had to persuade the nation to sacrifice on behalf of strangers overseas.
Truman would take it directly to the people.
On October 5, 1947, President Harry Truman gave the first-ever televised presidential speech. It marked a shift in how politics were brought before the American public, and was one of the first occasions that showcased the powerhouse television would become.
President Truman said of Europe:
“The nations of Western Europe will soon be scraping the bottom of the food barrel. They cannot get through the coming winter and spring without help–generous help–from the United States and from other countries which have food to spare.
I know every American feels in his heart that we must help to prevent starvation and distress among our fellow men in other countries…. Their most urgent need is food. If the peace should be lost because we failed to share our food with hungry people, there would be no more tragic example in all history of a peace needlessly lost.”
Save Wheat. Save Meat. Save the Peace.
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Truman urged people to eat less not for health reasons but because others across the Atlantic were hungry.
Americans were asked to eat one less slice of bread a day, to eat no meat on Tuesday, and no poultry or eggs on Thursday, to help stockpile grain for starving people in Europe
He went on to say that overeating and wastefulness would contribute to inflation here and scarcity abroad so that Europe’s battle and ours were one and the same.
The following day, the New York Times explained the goal was to create a surplus of grain to be supplied as emergency food relief to Europe instead of being used to feed livestock. The largest consumer of grain was chicks, not people, so the nation’s poultry producers engaged in an act of mass extermination of baby chicks.
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Americans rallied behind the food drive. Restaurants were asked to not serve bread unless requested. Bakers changed what they produced and how they produced it. Companies pitched in.
Legions of aproned mothers joined the fight encouraging their little tykes to be members of “The Clean Plate Club”, just as they had done as children during WWI.
Food from the United States helped Europe get through the winter of 1947-1948 and helped set the foundation for the Marshall Plan. It was this initiative that brought about Europe’s recovery.
Truman was counting on American basic sense of decency.
And he was right. Americans are decent people.
We still are.
© Sally Edelstein and Envisioning The American Dream, 2025. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Sally Edelstein and Envisioning The American Dream with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.