Page "Morgenthau Plan" Paragraph 69

On 10 May 1945 President Truman approved JCS ( Joint Chiefs of Staff policy ) 1067 which directed the U. S. forces of occupation in Germany to "... take no steps looking toward the economic rehabilitation of Germany steps designed to maintain or strengthen the German economy ".

This was a modified version of the Morgenthau Plan.

The net effect was that Germany wasn't allowed to realistically produce goods for export in order to purchase food ; millions of Germans were supplied only meager starvation rations, with 1947 being the worst year.

It took 2 years ( 1945 to 1947 ) of death and disease, and fears that starving Germans might " go Communist " before U. S. Secretary of State James F. Byrnes made his Stuttgart speech.

Byrnes had some questionable history: he agreed at Potsdam in July 1945 to " temporarily assign " an area of southern Silesia to " Polish Administration " which was more than the Poles and Soviets had expected to be agreed to.

The British were not happy with Mr. Byrnes's maneuver.