In the Greek Civil War, communist partisans, who had been organized to fight the Germans, were by 1946 strongly supported by the Tito's Yugoslavia but received no support from the Soviet Union. If the Communists won, Turkey, with its large but weak and antiquated army, would be at very high risk. Truman won bipartisan support in March 1947 for the Truman Doctrine, which gave $300 million in military and economic aid to Greece and $100 million to Turkey. They were grants, not loans. Truman declared to Congress on March 12: It must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures. In a larger sense, the Truman Doctrine formalized a policy of Soviet containment in which the United States would oppose the further spread of Communism. The policy meant rejecting any rollback strategy to end communist rule where it already existed. The United States also contributed hundreds of millions of dollars to rebuild Greece's buildings, agriculture, and industry as part of the Marshall Plan. Tito's split with Stalin and American aid helped the Greek government and Army to win the war; by 1949, the government forces had won the civil war. Greece joined NATO in 1952. Postwar The U.S. provided Greece with more than $11.1 billion in economic and security assistance after 1946. Economic programs were phased out by 1962, but military assistance continued. In the fiscal year 1995, Greece was the fourth-largest recipient of U.S. security assistance, receiving loans totaling $255.15 million in foreign military financing. In 1953, the first defense cooperation agreement between Greece and the United States was signed, providing for the establishment and operation of American military installations on Greek territory. The current "mutual defense cooperation agreement" provides a continued U.S. military support to Greece and the operation by the U.S. of a major military facility at Souda Bay, Crete. Relations between the two countries were later strained by the Cyprus dispute and after the end of the Greek military junta, which particularly the Greek left considered to be backed by the U.S. In 1974, Greece temporarily left the military branch of NATO to protest the Turkish invasion of Cyprus. In 1980, it rejoined the military branch and stayed a close US-ally during the Cold War and until now. Truman statue in Athens A 12-foot bronze statue of Harry Truman was erected