The United States recognized that the Soviet Union's expansion threatened not only Europe but it developed nations of the world. For this reason, in 1949 President Truman proposed and Congress approved nearly $400 million for technical development programs in Latin America, Asia, and Africa. The goal of this Point Four Program was to modernize and strengthen the economies of developing nations and thereby discourage the growth of communism. This policy of containment has worked very effectively. There are less communist countries today then there were before the Cold War.