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American Lessons in Mass Production and Mass Consumption: Danish Study Visits to the United States under the Marshall Plan's Technical Assistance Programme

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 November 2018

SISSEL BJERRUM FOSSAT
SISSEL BJERRUM FOSSAT*
Affiliation:
Odense City Museums, Overgade 48, 5000 Odense C, Denmark; sibfo@ odense.dk
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Abstract

This article discusses the main lessons of the Marshall Plan's Technical Assistance Programme. The point of departure is the Danish case, but the perspective is wider, and the article aims at broadening the somewhat narrow chronology and geography often applied in studies on the history of the Marshall Plan. When following the Technical Assistance up until the mid-1950s in a Scandinavian country it becomes clear that American diplomats didn't just want the Europeans to work harder, but that their drive for productivity also promoted Americanisation in the form of an US-style business and consumer culture. The ‘American Way’ presented through the Technical Assistance Programme, though not uncontested, was a powerful and appealing model for prosperity applicable to all areas of the economy, from agriculture to retail.

Type
Article
Information
Contemporary European History , Volume 27 , Issue 4 , November 2018 , pp. 582 - 600
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

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References

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28 The Danish Ministry of Agriculture organised study tours for a total of 234 participants, but out of these a smaller number (mostly women) studied housekeeping. Subtracting those and adding a couple of early participants who went directly through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs the total number of agricultural experts visiting the States was 218 – around one third of the Danish participants distributed on around half of the study tours. Apart from the 218 experts, who typically visited the United States for four to six weeks, eighty-one younger farmers also stayed at different US farms as interns for approximately one year.

29 USIE country paper April 5, 1950, NARA State Department Decimal Files 511.59/5–250.

30 Udenrigsministeriets gruppeordnede sager 1945–1972 journalnr. 73.C.67/4/94–101, Danish National Archives, Copenhagen.

31 Among the many articles discussion these problems in the agricultural journals see, for example, ‘Udstykning og Mekanisering er Landbrugets Fremtidsproblemer’, Maskinhandleren, 14, 25, (1946), 4–5; Krabbe, N., ‘Landbrugets mekanisering i U.S.A. og Danmark’, Tidsskrift for Landøkonomi, 2 (1952), 6Google Scholar; Bjerre, Siliam, ‘Nytaarsønsker for den danske Bonde’, Dansk Landbrug 8 Jan. (1953), 4Google Scholar; Olsen, H. K., ‘Indtryk fra en rejse i Amerika’, i Tidsskrift for Landøkonomi, 9–10 (1951), 391Google Scholar.

32 See, for example, Mekanisering i Landbruget, rapport over studierejse til U.S.A. foretaget fra 3. juni til 25. juli af 6 praktiske landmænd, (København: Udenrigsministeriet, 1952); Rosenstand Schacht, H., ‘Visiting Fireman in U.S.A.’, Ugeskrift for Landmænd, 95 (1950)Google Scholar; Juncker, Flemming, Dansk Landbrugs Fremtid, (København: Westermanns Forlag, 1948)Google Scholar; Juncker, Flemming, ‘Erfaringer med majsdyrkningen på Overgaard 1949’, Tidsskrift for Landøkonomi, 3 (1949), 113–28Google Scholar; Juncker, Flemming, ‘Fortsatte erfaringer med majsdyrkning på Overgaard i 1949’, Tidsskrift for Landøkonomi (1950), 225–45Google Scholar and Juncker, Flemming, ‘7 års erfaringer med majsdyrkning på Overgaard’, Tidsskrift for Landøkonomi, 3 (1954), 121–39Google Scholar.

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34 The productivity in the agricultural sector is forty times higher today than it was in 1948. Productivity in industry is just six times higher. See Mackie Brøndum, Birgitte, Nielsen, Marianne, Elkjær, Kamilla ed., 60 År I Tal. Danmark Siden 2. Verdenskrig (København: Danmarks Statistik, 2009), 20Google Scholar.

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40 Vi kan lære af Amerikansk Industri, (København: Industrirådet 1952).

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46 ‘Selvbetjening den moderne detailhandels våben mod for høje omkostninger’, Arbejderen, 49. årg. nr. 19, 1. Oct. (1953), 231–4.

47 ‘Selvbetjening i U.S.A.’, Arbejdsgiveren, 20, Oct. (1953), 330–2.

48 See the report Amerikansk beklædningsindustri (København: Udenrigsministeriet 1951).

49 Summary and conclusions of report on the US shoe manufacturing industry, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Copenhagen 1954, 3, NARA, RG 469, Assistant administrator for production, productivity and Technical Assistance Division, Country and Regional File, 1949–1954 box 2.

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54 ‘Hvad vil der ske i dansk varedistribution i de næste fem år?’, Speach by George R Lindahl jr. in Salgs- og Reklameforeningen, København 1. april 1954 i NARA, RG 469, Mission to Denmark, Labor Division Subject Files 1949–54, box 3.

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59 Notat vedrørende oprettelse af et udvalg til behandling af spørgsmål om fremme af handelens effektivitet. 21. Jan. 1953, Økonomi- og Erhvervsministeriet ujournaliserede sager, kasse 599–7–53, Danish National Archives, Copenhagen.

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