My source for the Churchill quote is President Harry S. Truman, in the source I cited in the Wikipedia entry, “Plain Speaking, An Oral Biography of Harry S. Truman,” by Merle Miller.
Given that he knew General Marshall and Winston Churchill personally, and was the one who created the Marshall Plan, and that the source quotes Truman directly regarding the quote, it seems definitive to me.
Besides, it has always been my understanding that it referred to the Marshall Plan. I had never heard otherwise until I looked on the web following hearing Ambrose’s statement. It makes me wonder how much sloppy historians like Ambrose contribute to such misconceptions.
If errors get picked up by the press, this can perpetuate it. An interesting example is the falsehood that Marconi invented radio. Yet you can still see this today in the press.
And now with the internet, outright lies perpetrated by PR men a century ago can still circulate, such as the nonsense that aluminum cookware causes cancer. Pure PR BS concocted in the 1920s. I have heard this from both a cookware seller and a person from Russia just recently.
BUT, the internet can also be used to set the truth straight. With a little checking I was able to find the source of the aluminum rumor, the false attribution of cancer from using aluminum cookware to the death of Rudolph Valentino, if I remember correctly, by a PR man, about six months after aluminum cookware came on the market.
I don’t contest your interpretation of the air force remark, beyond what I have said previously.
My points are that it is part of a pattern of sloppiness and inaccuracy, which raises questions about his other statements that are more difficult to evaluate.
And, most important, this 1973 interview/monologue shows there were serious problems decades before the books by Ambrose that are being questioned now. Not once does whoever is conducting this “interview” actually ask Ambrose a question on camera, or challenge any of his remarks. Yet many of them are begging for clarification or contradiction. And then Ambrose gets listed as one of the primary sources on the documentary.
I suggest anyone interested in the history of WWII to watch this and judge for yourself. At first glance, it looks like here’s this very smart guy. But on closer examination, it starts to look pretty weird, some guy throwing around all sorts of off the wall judgments.
It should be noted that the Ambrose “interview” is the opposite of the Truman oral biography, which is a constant give and take between Truman and Miller. It is the real thing, unlike the Ambrose concoction with Eisenhower, based on hundreds of hours of recordings over several years.
Miller: Winston Churchill has called the Marshall Plan “the most unsordid act in history.”
Truman: Well, there wasn’t anything unselfish about it. We weren’t trying to put anything over on people. We were in a position to keep people from starving and help them preserve their freedom and build up their countries, and that’s what we did.
[Note that Truman doesn’t mention that this help was offered regardless of whether a country was a former friend or enemy, the key to the greatness of the plan.]
Miller: Mr. President, the plan called for expenditures of sixteen billion dollars. Didn’t that cause a lot of concern in Congress?
Truman: Yes, it did, but it had to be done, so I called in all the favors I was owed, and we got it through …
Sam Rayburn asks how much it will cost, and Truman tells him:
Truman: Well, his face got as white as a sheet, but I said to him, "Now, Sam, I figure I saved the people of the United States about fifteen, sixteen billion dollars with that committee of mine, and you know that better than anyone else.
" ‘Now we’re going to need that money, and we can save the world with it.’
“And he says to me, ‘Harry, I’ll do my damndest. It won’t be easy, but you can count on me to help all I can.’ And he did, too, and so did a lot of others in both parties. There wasn’t anything partisan about any part of this or anything else where foreign policy was concerned. Not when I was in the White House there wasn’t.”
I can’t recommend “Plain Speaking” too highly.