President Truman signed the Marshall Plan (or European Recovery Program) into law. The plan, introduced by Secretary of State George C. Marshall in June 1947, outlined American assistance in the physical and economic rebuilding of Western Europe in the wake of World War II. Fearing that poverty and other conditions created by the war might make Europe susceptible to Communism, the American government funneled about thirteen billion dollars into Western Europe to rehabilitate and stabilize countries affected by war.