pitch unfairly

Cheat Codes · Strategy and planning

The Marshall Plan, 1947. Pitched unfairly, 2026.

A cure, not a palliative. Same story, same numbers. Rebuilt the way we'd pitch it today.

Template: Recovery plan

  • $13.3B over four years
  • 16 nations wrote the plan
  • Signed April 3, 1948
Play the 2026 deck Read the real story Steal the structure
1947 Recovery plan

The Marshall Plan

A cure, not a palliative.

Legend
Original craft
Unfair

The story→12 slides

It's a live deck. Press start, then scroll or use the arrow keys, or play it full screen.

Play the 2026 deck

The Marshall Plan's recovery plan, slide by slide

Every slide opens the live deck right where it is.

  1. The Marshall Plan deck, slide 1: A cure, not a palliative. 01A cure, not a palliative.
  2. The Marshall Plan deck, slide 2: Two years on, Europe still can't pay its way. 02Two years on, Europe still can't pay its way.
  3. The Marshall Plan deck, slide 3: The rubble isn't the root cause. The circle is. 03The rubble isn't the root cause. The circle is.
  4. The Marshall Plan deck, slide 4: One goal, one deadline, and an end date written into law. 04One goal, one deadline, and an end date written into law.
  5. The Marshall Plan deck, slide 5: Europe wrote the plan. Washington edited the number. 05Europe wrote the plan. Washington edited the number.
  6. The Marshall Plan deck, slide 6: Four pillars. Production carries the weight. 06Four pillars. Production carries the weight.
  7. The Marshall Plan deck, slide 7: $13.3 billion. Europe split it. 07$13.3 billion. Europe split it.
  8. The Marshall Plan deck, slide 8: The aid has conditions, and gets spent twice. 08The aid has conditions, and gets spent twice.
  9. The Marshall Plan deck, slide 9: Europe proposes. Washington approves. Everyone reports quarterly. 09Europe proposes. Washington approves. Everyone reports quarterly.
  10. The Marshall Plan deck, slide 10: Prewar output, passed in 1949. 10Prewar output, passed in 1949.
  11. The Marshall Plan deck, slide 11: Four risks on the register. Two of them happened. 11Four risks on the register. Two of them happened.
  12. The Marshall Plan deck, slide 12: Twelve months and $5.3 billion to start. Then we report back. 12Twelve months and $5.3 billion to start. Then we report back.

Then · 1947

How it really went

Read the real storyMarshall's Harvard speech and the Act, via the National Archives
  1. Winter of 1946 to 1947: drought, then frost, and a continent on 1,500 calories
  2. June 5, 1947: Marshall speaks at Harvard, with almost no numbers
  3. "The initiative, I think, must come from Europe"
  4. Bevin and Bidault take it up; Molotov walks out of Paris on July 2
  5. Sixteen nations meet as the CEEC and ask for $22.4 billion
  6. Truman asks Congress for $17 billion; critics call it "Operation Rat-hole"
  7. April 3, 1948: Truman signs; Paul Hoffman runs the ECA, the OEEC opens in Paris
  8. Counterpart funds spend the aid twice; output passes prewar in 1949
  9. About $13.3 billion delivered by mid-1952; rearmament ends it early

Now · 2026 · 12 slides

What we changed

  • The vicious circle draws itselfMarshall's own diagnosis (farmers, cities, dollars, factories) loops around the dollar gap until a stamp marks where aid breaks it.
  • The ask gets edited liveEurope asks $22.4 billion, Truman asks $17 billion, $13.3 billion arrives: bars grow and a red pen strikes each draft.
  • Every dollar, by countryA treemap of all sixteen recipients from the ECA ledger. Click Britain, France, or Iceland and read the share.
  • Who decides, who reportsFlip the governance chart between the money flowing out and the quarterly reports flowing back, across the Atlantic.

Steal the structure

Build your recovery plan like The Marshall Plan did.

  1. 01 The promise Name the recovery in one line and say who is writing the plan.
  2. 02 Situation in numbers Three measures against a healthy baseline, with the worst one in color.
  3. 03 Root cause Draw the loop that keeps things broken and mark where you will break it.
  4. 04 Goal and time frame One goal, the program years, and an end date you commit to.
  5. 05 Who wrote the plan Show the people closest to the problem drafted it, and how the ask changed in review.
  6. 06 Pillars Four workstreams at most, with one clearly carrying the weight.
  7. 07 Funding Where every dollar goes, by unit, sized to scale.
  8. 08 Conditions What each recipient commits to in writing, and how the money recycles.
  9. 09 Governance Who decides and who reports, as one diagram that can show either.
  10. 10 Milestones The scoreboard metric by year against the baseline, with dates you will hit.
  11. 11 Risks A register with owners and mitigations, honest about the ones you cannot stop.
  12. 12 The ask The first tranche, the period it covers, and when you come back.

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