Graduation Year

2025

Date of Submission

4-2025

Document Type

Campus Only Senior Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

History

Reader 1

Wendy Lower

Reader 2

Jonathan Petropoulos

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Terms of Use for work posted in Scholarship@Claremont.

Rights Information

© 2025 Helena K Macke

Abstract

World War II left Europe in a state of devastation, with Germany’s society deeply permeated by the legacy of Nazism. In the aftermath, the United States assumed an unprecedented role, positioning itself as the new ideological guide for Europe. Recognizing the political and cultural vacuum left by National Socialism, the US acted swiftly to promote democratic capitalism through the Marshall Plan. This thesis examines how the United States used economic and cultural soft power to reorient Germans toward a capitalist system and foster Western European recovery. Focusing on key German-American interactions, this study explores how the Marshall Plan’s media campaigns — through films, re-education initiatives, public speeches, and spectacles — helped transform former Nazis and war criminals into allies during postwar reconstruction. Analyzing the promises of freedom and prosperity communicated through American propaganda materials, this study argues that the Marshall Plan’s soft power efforts were central to reshaping German identity and securing European alignment with American values.

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