"I believe that it must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who      are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures."        -President Harry S. Truman, Truman Doctrine, 1947

At the end of WWII, diplomatic relations between the U.S. and the Soviet Union broke down almost instantly as tensions rose between their competing ideologies. Both superpowers sought to expand their influence and Europe, which was in ruins, was the next target for Soviet expansion. To protect American allies in Europe, President Harry Truman signed the Economic Recovery Act of 1948, also known as the Marshall Plan. The plan organized the provision of economic and agricultural aid, which rebuilt European nations and kept them from Soviet influence. By its end in 1951, the Marshall Plan was a massive success that laid the foundation for the future of U.S. aid and the global containment of communism.