In 1947, the pall of smoke from World War II still hung in the skies over western Europe, while to the east, the shadow of a new wara Cold Warloomed on the horizon.

But the United States by then was ready to counter with a war of its own: a war of infrastructure in the form of the Marshall Plan, a revitalization doctrine designed to rebuild the ravaged continent while staving off the westward spread of Communism.

Whats the lasting legacy of the Marshall Plan? And is it still relevant in a post-Sept. 11 world? U.S. Ambassador Constance Morella will take up those particulars at West Virginia University on Monday (Feb. 21), as the first speaker in the Universitys acclaimed Festival of Ideas lecture series for 2005.

Other speakers in this years series include former NAACP head Julian Bond, and documentary filmmaker Morgan Spurlock, a West Virginia native whose film,Supersize Me,is a cholesterol-and-all look at todays fast food fare.

Morella will discussThe Marshall Plan: The Gift That Keeps on Giving, The Legacy of the Marshall Plan,at 7:30 p.m. in the Mountainlair Ballrooms.

A former Maryland lawmaker who served 16 years in the U.S. House of Representatives, Morella in 2003 was given a permanent appointment by President Bush to the European-based overseeing body that was spun off by the Marshall Plan.

That body, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, was formed as an economic counterpart to NATO , and its members work to address social and economic challenges brought on by a changing global economy.

Morella made her national name in politics as a tireless advocate of womens and childrens rights. She is also a champion of science, technology and free trade.

She holds degrees from Boston University and American University and in 2003 served as a Visiting Fellow at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. She and her husband are the parents of three children and also raised the six children of her late sister, who died of cancer in 1976.

Morellas talk coincides with the opening of a traveling Marshall Plan exhibit that tells the history of the plan the plan drafted by its namesake, George Catlett Marshall (1880-1959).

Marshall, who grew up working-class near Morgantown in Uniontown, Pa., was a renowned U.S. Army general who led the Allied effort in Europe and the Pacific and was later named Secretary of State by President Truman.

For WVU President David C. Hardesty Jr., who founded the Festival lecture series as an undergraduate here in the 1960s, the legacy of the Marshall Plan comes in its

acknowledgement of the global realities wrought by any waracknowledgements he hopes can carry over to todays conflicts in the Middle East and other places on the globe.

What I think the Marshall Plan did was recognize that were an interdependent world and when national infrastructures are destroyed, they must be rebuilt if that nation is to restore its ability to participate in the global economy,Hardesty said.

Marshall viewed, correctly, I think, the frailties of the Allied-imposed peace treaties of World War I,Hardesty continued.He took our nation down a different path after World War II. He proved to be very far-sighted. We live in a different world today, but the decisions our policy makers will make today are just as important as they were after World War II.

Dr. Jerry Pops, a WVU public administration professor, draws on Marshalls decisions daily for his students who will go out to be urban planners and other managers of public works.

For him, Marshall was bothsoldierandleader,in the best sense of the words.

He was the embodiment of ethical leadership,said Pops, who has extensively researched Marshalls life and times and is presently working on a book about his effectiveness as a public administrator.

He had impeccable integrity and honesty. And he was able to change and learn, and be an effective leader.

The Marshall exhibit will remain the week of the 21 st in the Mountainlairs Mountaineer Room.

Other Festival speakers:

  • March 2Activist and former NAACP president Julian Bond, discussing the current state of civil rights in America;
  • March 7Carolyn Kepcher, a ranking officer in the Donald Trump organization who regularly appears onThe Apprenticereality TV show, discussing ethics in business;
  • March 21Forensic science expert Dr. Cyril Wecht, discussing the roles of forensic pathology in todays society;
  • March 28Journalists Jonah Goldberg and Peter Beinart, discussing moral values and the political divide in America;
  • April 18Filmmaker Morgan Spurlock, discussing fast food andSupersize Me,his documentary look at what its like to really live on such fare;
  • April 25Investigative reporter Seymour Hersh, who will close the series with a look at Sept. 11 and its aftermath to Abu Ghaib.

All presentations begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Mountainlair Ballrooms. Seating is limited to a first-come, first-serve basis. Festival of Ideas is produced by WVU Arts and Entertainment. Info: 293-SHOW or visitwww.events.wvu.edu.