On this day in 1948 President Harry Truman signed the Marshall Plan which authorized $5 billion in aid for 16 countries in Europe who were trying to rebuild their economies. The United States have never spent $5 in a better way. The idea was to halt the spread of Soviet Communism in Europe. It was really the Truman Plan but Harry Truman was wise enough to know it had a better chance of passing Congress with Secretary of State George Marshall’s name on it instead of his own.