To the unknown American taxpayers towhose tax contributions the Austrian economy owes the millionscontributed in good will toward its reconstruction.
So reads the-dedication of a book presented to President Eisenhowerlast week by Austrian Ambassador Wilfred Platzer. The book: an Austriangovernment study of how U.S. aid, a total of $1.4 billion since 1948,enabled Austria to recover from the ravages of World War II and postwarRussian plundering, and build out of the wreckage one of free Europe’smost thriving economies.
“It is to the U.S.’s historic credit,” the study says gratefully, “tohave recognized the vital importance of creating healthy economicconditions as an essential prerequisite for a lasting peace.” WroteAustria’s Chancellor Julius Raab in a foreword : “The generous aid ofthe American people ended the seemingly inevitable decline of the oldcontinent. Today there is no doubt that without this aid Europe wouldhave been engulfed by poverty, suffering and chaos . . . Whenever andhowever we celebrate the anniversary of Austria’s rescue from economiccollapse, we should remember that the means for our reconstruction werecontributed by the American taxpayer … To him Austria owes itsthanks.”