However the United States did send large sums and loans and relief supplies, though in an uncoordinated fashion with no long-term plan. Western Europe was slowly recovering by 1947; Eastern Europe was being stripped of its resources by Moscow. Churchill warned that Europe was "a rubble heap, a charnel house, a breeding ground for pestilence and hate." American leaders feared that poor economic conditions could lead to Communism in France and Italy, where the far left was under Stalin's control. With the goal of containing Communism and increasing trade between the U.S. and Europe, the Truman administration devised the Marshall Plan. Dean Acheson was the key planner, But Marshall's an enormous worldwide prestige was used to sell the program at home and abroad. It sought to rejuvenate, Coordinate and modernize the economies of Europe. The Kremlin forced its satellites to reject Marshall Plan aid. To fund the Marshall Plan, Truman asked Congress to approve an unprecedented, multi-year, $25 billion appropriation. Congress, under the control of conservative Republicans, agreed to fund the program for multiple reasons. The 20-member conservative isolationist wing of the Republican Party, based in the rural Midwest, was led by Senator Kenneth S. Wherry. Wherry argued that it would be "a wasteful 'operation rat-hole'"; that it made no sense to oppose communism by supporting the socialist governments in Western Europe; and that American goods would reach Russia and increase its war potential. The isolationist bloc opposed loans or financial aid of any sort to Europe, opposed NATO, and tried to void presidential power to send troops to Europe. Their political base included many German-American and Scandinavian American communities that had suffered nasty attacks on their American patriotism during World War I. No matter what the issue, they could be counted on as vocal enemies of the Truman administration. Wherry was outmaneuvered by the emerging internationalist wing in the Republican Party, led by Michigan Senator Arthur H. Vandenberg. With support from Republican Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., Vandenberg admitted there was no certainty that the plan would succeed, but said it would halt economic chaos, sustain Western civilization, and stop further Soviet expansion. Senator Robert A. Taft, a leading conservative Republican who was generally skeptical of American commitments in Europe, chose to focus on domestic issues and deferred to Vandenberg on foreign policy. Major newspapers were highly supportive, including pro-business conservative outlets like "Time Magazine". Both houses of Congress approved the initial appropriation, known as the Foreign Assistance Act, by large majorities, and Truman signed the act into law in April 1948.