• ECA - ECONOMIC COOPERATION ADMINISTRATION: The U.S. government agency established by Congress in April 1948 to administer nearly $13 billion in aid to Europe. It morphed into MSA at the end of 1951.

  • ERP - EUROPEAN RECOVERY PROGRAM: The official name of the Marshall Plan aid program, a popular acronym widely recognized in Europe.

  • FOA - FOREIGN OPERATIONS ADMINISTRATION: The agency that succeeded MSA, operating from August 1953 through June 1955, under the aegis of which films continued to be made.

  • ICA - INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION ADMINISTRATION: Succeeded FOA.

  • MSA - MUTUAL SECURITY AGENCY: The successor to ECA, it continued the European recovery effort but with a greater emphasis on military security.

  • OEEC - ORGANIZATION FOR EUROPEAN ECONOMIC COOPERATION: The European nations’ counterpart agency to ECA, established to coordinate European aid requests. Succeeded in 1961 by OECD, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

  • OMGUS - OFFICE OF MILITARY GOVERNMENT/U.S.: The U.S. occupational authority in Germany operating between 1945 and 1949 with headquarters in Berlin. Its Documentary Film Unit produced the first "Marshall Plan" film, Me and Mr. Marshall, before the ECA Motion Picture Section in Paris was formed.

  • USIA - UNITED STATES INFORMATION AGENCY: Agency that took over U.S. public information and film production activities abroad during the 1960's.