Oliver Shewell Franks; Played Role in Marshall Plan Success

Oliver Shewell Franks, the university provost turned diplomat who helped make the Marshall Plan a dominant factor in Europe’s recovery after World War II, has died, it was reported Sunday. He was 87.

Franks died Thursday at his home in Oxford. The cause of death was not given.

Lord Franks’ career was as varied as it was significant.

He was ambassador to the United States from 1948 to 1952 and formed a close working relationship with U.S. Secretary of State Dean Acheson in the early years of the Cold War.

Thirty years later, in 1982, Franks assumed the last of his high-level appointments, as head of an investigation into Britain’s war with Argentina over the Falkland Islands. His report exonerated Margaret Thatcher’s administration of allegations that it failed to anticipate the Argentine invasion of the islands.

Franks came to international diplomacy from academia. He was a professor of philosophy and provost of Queen’s College, and head of Worcester College, both at Oxford. He also taught at the University of Chicago and the University of Glasgow.

He swiftly rose to national prominence when he took a sabbatical from universities in 1939 to work as a wartime administrator. He held the critical post of permanent secretary of the Ministry of Supply from 1945 to 1946.

In 1947, he headed Britain’s delegation to the Organization for European Economic Cooperation, a 16-nation conference in Paris that drafted recommendations for dividing up American aid under the Marshall Plan.

Franks was credited with resolving the conflicting needs and interests of the 16 European countries.

After leaving the diplomatic service and returning to England, he was chairman of Lloyds Bank from 1954 to 1962. He headed Worcester College from 1962 to 1976.

Lord Franks was made a commander of the British Empire in 1942, was knighted in 1945 and given a life peerage in 1962.