On this day…

… in 1948, President Truman signed the Marshall Plan, which allocated more than $5 billion in aid for 16 European countries.

They don’t make ’em like Truman and Marshall any more. In his marvellous biography, David McCullough quotes Truman as saying something typically self-effacing but profound: “It’s remarkable how much you can accomplish in life so long as you don’t care who gets the credit”. It’s a motto worth trying to live by.