141) to provide military, economic, and technical assistance to friendly nations in the interest of international peace and security, but was abolished by Reorganization Plan No.

[4] As the Marshall Plan was ending, Congress was in the process of piecing together a new foreign aid proposal designed to unite military and economic programs with technical assistance.

The measure was intended to signal Washington's resolve to allies and to the Kremlin that the United States was capable of and committed to containing communism globally, even while it fought a protracted land war in Korea.

John M. Vorys of Ohio summed up GOP support for the measure, noting that military aid to "nations who will fight on our side" is "sound economy."

Rapid expansion of national security expenditures during the Korean War had produced alarm over high taxes, large deficits, government controls, and a possible "garrison state" among such prominent conservatives as Senator Robert A. Taft (R‐Ohio).

Truman's decision to send U.S. troops to Europe as part of a standing NATO force further antagonized congressional conservatives and exacerbated their fears that European nations were not doing enough for their own defense.