Question: Arthur A. Kimball helped establish the Economic Cooperation Administration for administering a plan that was in operation for how many years?
Context: The Economic Cooperation Administration (ECA) was a United States government agency set up in 1948 to administer the Marshall Plan.  It reported to both the State Department and the Department of Commerce.  The agency's head was Paul Hoffman, a former head of Studebaker.  Much of the rest of the organization was also headed by major business figures.  A key administrator was Arthur Kimball who was a key creator of the ECA.  Another early employee at the ECA was David K.E. Bruce who was earlier with the Office of Strategic Services in Europe during World War Two. The Marshall Plan (officially the European Recovery Program, ERP) was an American initiative to aid Western Europe, in which the United States gave over $13 billion (approximately $132 billion in current dollar value as of September 2017) in economic support to help rebuild Western European economies after the end of World War II.  The plan was in operation for four years beginning on April 8, 1948.  The goals of the United States were to rebuild war-devastated regions, remove trade barriers, modernize industry, make Europe prosperous once more, and prevent the spread of communism.  The Marshall Plan required a lessening of interstate barriers, a dropping of many regulations, and encouraged an increase in productivity, labour union membership, as well as the adoption of modern business procedures. The Locke Mission refers to the 1951–1953 attempt by the administration of Harry S Truman to create a regional office for the Near East (encompassing much of the modern day Middle East) in Beirut, Lebanon.  This office operated under the guidance of Edwin A. Locke Jr.  to coordinate all aspects of United States economic policy toward the region, with a particular focus on U.S. aid.  In 1951, this aid was primarily provided to Arab refugees through the United Nations Relief and Works Administration and to specific nations and social classes through the Mutual Security Program and the Technical Cooperation Administration.  A variety of factors doomed the mission, the office was quickly closed down, and today the Locke Mission is primarily noteworthy as one of the first examples of a drift from bilateralism toward regionalism in the Near East. The Mutual Defense Assistance Act was a United States Act of Congress signed by President Harry S. Truman on 6 October 1949.  For US Foreign policy, it was the first U.S. military foreign aid legislation of the Cold War era, and initially to Europe.  The Act followed Truman's signing of the Economic Cooperation Act (the Marshall Plan), on April 3, 1948, which provided non-military, economic reconstruction and development aid to Europe.  The Act was reauthorized in 1950 , but in 1951, it and the Economic Cooperation Act were succeeded by the Mutual Security Act, and its newly created independent agency, the Mutual Security Administration, to supervise all foreign aid programs, including both military assistance programs and non-military, economic assistance programs that bolstered the defense capability of U.S. allies. Republic of Korea–United States relations (Hangul: 한미 관계 ; Hanja: 韓美 關係 ; RR: "Hanmi gwangye "; MR: "Hanmi kwan'gye " ) have been extensive since 1950, when the United States helped establish the modern state of South Korea, also known as the Republic of Korea, and fought on its UN-sponsored side in the Korean War (1950–1953).  During the subsequent four decades, South Korea experienced tremendous economic, political and military growth, and significantly reduced U.S. dependency.  From Roh Tae-woo's administration to Roh Moo-hyun's administration, South Korea sought to establish an American partnership, which has made the Seoul–Washington relationship subject to some strains, especially with the Anti-US/Korean sentiments.  However, relations between the United States and South Korea have greatly strengthened under the conservative, pro-U.S. Lee Myung-bak administration.  At the 2009 G-20 London Summit, U.S. President Barack Obama called South Korea "one of America's closest allies and greatest friends."  In addition, South Korea has been designated as a Major non-NATO ally. The Mutual Security Agency was established by Congress on October 10, 1951.  It was created under the principle that strengthening America's allies in Europe through military assistance and economic recovery would be beneficial to America's long-term security.  It superseded the Economic Cooperation Administration, which only had oversight over economic aid.  The Mutual Security Agency was responsible for the development and administration of military and economic assistance programs other than those administered by the Technical Cooperation Administration. John Blandford Jr. was the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East's second Director from 1951 to 1953.  Blandford served as chairman of the UNRWA Advisory Commission before becoming director of UNRWA.  Blandford had been deputy chief of U.S. Economic Cooperation Administration in Greece and a consultant to president Harry Truman on the Marshall Plan. The Economics of Land Degradation (ELD) Initiative is a global initiative which aims to increase awareness of the economic consequences of land degradation and promote sustainable land management.  The ELD Initiative provides a platform for discussion between stakeholders from the policy, science, and private sectors, and is focused on developing globally relevant data and methodology on the economic benefits of land and land based ecosystems for decision makers.  The Initiative highlights the benefits derived from adopting sustainable land management practices and seeks to establish a global economic analyses of land management.  The ELD Initiative was co-founded by the Secretariat of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the European Commission (EC) and is hosted by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH.  The ELD Secretariat is based in Bonn, Germany. Pension administration in the United States is the act of performing various types of yearly service on an organizational retirement plan, such as a 401(k), profit sharing plan, defined benefit plan, or cash balance plan.  Increasingly these plan types are also being implemented in combination arrangements for greater contribution potential, such as the pairing of a cash balance plan with some variety of 401(k).  The basic purpose of Pension Administration is to ensure that an organizational retirement plan does not discriminate against the lower level employees while also ensuring that the plan is not used as an abusive tax shelter.  Stress tests include the average benefits test, Average Deferral Percentage, and minimum coverage.  Yearly pension administration work involves filing a Form 5500 with the Internal Revenue Service.  There are several professional designations available to those who perform this work, such as those offered by the National Institute of Pension Administrators and the American Society of Pension Professionals and Actuaries.  Pension Administration firms more often than not rely on financial brokers (or financial advisors) for their business prospects, although they do have other referral sources.  Some pension administration firms carry out the financial advisory work within an internal unit of their own company, as well as accepting referrals from an independent broker network.  Examples of firms with which these brokers are associated are Raymond James, Edward Jones Investments and Morgan Stanley.  The brokers may be employees of these firms or independent contractors.  The plan assets of the organizational retirement plans in question sometimes reside on a trading platform controlled by the administration firm.  But more often than not the assets are held by large financial institutions who provide a variety of investment options for plan participants.  Examples of large firms in this market space are Principal Financial Group, John Hancock Insurance, ING Group and Mass Mutual, although there are many others.  Plans which contain over one-hundred participants must perform an independent audit each year, necessitating yearly coordination with representatives of a public accounting firm.  In cases where a defined benefit plan is being managed the pension administration firm must employ an actuary to certify the plan's present and future benefit liabilities and compliance with minimum funding standards set by the IRS.  Pension administration firms with a large block of defined benefit plans often employ an actuary directly.  But they may also retain the actuary as an independent contractor, and this is almost certain to be the arrangement in cases where the pension administration firm only works on a small collection of defined benefit plans.  The actuary completes contribution calculations for the plan and provides a Schedule SB so that the yearly Form 5500 may be completed.  Without this Schedule the yearly filing for a defined benefit plan would be incomplete.  In addition to the Internal Revenue Service, organizational retirement plan operation and maintenance falls under the regulation of the United States Department of Labor. Arthur Alden Kimball (1908–1996) was a career civil servant who was part of the prosecution staff for the Nuremberg Trials, and also helped establish the Economic Cooperation Administration for administering the Marshall Plan.
Answer: four