The primary incentive for the implementation of the Marshall Plan was that American leaders hoped that U.S. economic assistance would prevent Europeans from turning to Communism. In 1948, this plans was enacted by the 80th United States Congress as the response to the European financial crisis that took place a year before. It was an act of economic aid to Western Europe that was meant to help rebuild economies that crashed during the World War II. The main goals were: to erase trade barriers, enact the modernisation of industry and to prevent the spread of Communism.