The Marshall Plan was the United States’ large-scale effort to aid Europe’s recovery from war and thwart the spread of communism by providing economic stability to key Western European governments. This cartoon shows Soviet leader Joseph Stalin trying to block a ball labeled “Marshall Plan” from a basket labeled “European Recovery.”

Did the Marshall Plan make the Cold War colder? “Can He Block It?” Political Cartoon, ca. 1947.

Cartoon shows Soviet leader Joseph Stalin as a basketball player trying to block a ball labeled "Marshall Plan" from a basket labeled "European Recovery." Probably drawn in 1947 as the Russians vainly tried to prevent the Western European nations from accepting U.S. aid through the Marshall Plan.

Standard 1B: The student understands why global power shifts took place and the Cold War broke out in the aftermath of World War II. Explain the causes and international and local consequences of major Cold War crises. Standard 2B: The student understands how increasing economic interdependence has transformed human society.

This cartoon of 1 October 1947 by EH Shepard for the British magazine Punch shows Marshall (on the left) telling 'Uncle Sam' - i.e. the American nation - that American Aid is needed to shore up the countries of western Europe: 'Come on Sam! It's up to us again.'

Editorial cartoon showing a Russian man yoked to a plow and turning the soil of the "Marshal Stalin Plan", as Joseph Stalin tries to persuade other Russians that "it's the same thing without mechanical problems"; in the background, a man rides on a new tractor "Marshall Plan."

“The New Map Of Europe.” [Cartoon] Herbert L. Block collection (Library of Congress). Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2012631851/. A 1947 Herblock cartoon, copyright The Herb Block Foundation.

The Clifford "Baldy" Baldowski cartoon depicts Uncle Sam's arm, labeled "Marshall Plan," handing a Soviet bear a piece of paper labeled "peace." The bear is tearing into it with his teeth. Title supplied by cataloger

In March 1948, referring to the Marshall Plan, German cartoonist Lang illustrates the solidarity binding the countries of Western Europe, which are uniting to protect convalescent Germany from the Soviet threat.

Throughout the late 1940's the USA poured money into Western Europe in the form of the Marshall Plan, in order to prevent the spread of communism. Cartoon referring to efforts by the Soviet Union and the United States to win friends during the Cold War.