It is fitting that we should mark the 60th anniversary of these events, not just to commemorate their happening, but to celebrate the economic progress that they made possible – progress that has lifted millions of people out of poverty and, to repeat Marshall's words, "without which there can be no political stability and no assured peace."
As you know, in the latter part of 2008 and early 2009, the Federal Reserve took extraordinary steps to provide liquidity and support credit market functioning, including the establishment of a number of emergency lending facilities and the creation or extension of currency swap agreements with 14 central banks around the world.