How did the Marshall Plan differ from the Truman Doctrine?

Answer 1

Excellent answer. The Marshall Plan, the brainchild of George C. Marshall (who had been head of the Allied Chiefs of Staff during WW II), really had no intended connection to the Truman Doctrine and the policy of "Containment." It did, however, bring the US and USSR into conflict over the rebuilding of Germany and the western sectors of Berlin, and so became entangled in the Containment Policy, which was the invention of George Keenan. By rebuilding Western Europe and seeking to prevent the spread of Communism by all means possible, not only military means, the two policies became for a time two integral parts of Truman's foreign policy. The Marshall Plan, of course, ended when it's purpose was finished, but Containment remained a vital part of US policy until the economic collapse of the Soviet Union. That economic collapse was the very point of Keenan's plan.

Answer 2

The similarity of these two US programs is that they both attempted t assume responsibility for the state of the world, and to guide the affairs of other countries in a way that was intended to benefit them as well as the US. The difference is that while the Marshall Plan consisted only of foreign aid, the Truman Doctrine involved military intervention.

Answer 3

The Truman Doctrine was the first attempt by Harry Truman to scare Congress into action. The Marshall Plan was a 13 billion dollar investment that led to rapid growth.