That's a common narrative, but it doesn't make sense when you look at the facts on the ground. And putting some thought into it, bombed-out economies are not go

That's a common narrative, but it doesn't make sense when you look at the facts on the ground. And putting some thought into it, bombed-out economies are not good customers. http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2012/11/19/opinion/111912krugman3/111912krugman3-blog480.jpg http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2012/11/19/opinion/11191... As you can see, there was nothing more than a brief spike in the general upward trend in exports. The "Europe bought tons of stuff from us, fueling our economy" story is simply not true. Exports as a share of GDP briefly peaked at 8% and then rapidly returned to prewar levels by the early 1950s.