Within the U.S. government, the Marshall Plan was a model in bipartisan cooperation. Plan administrator Hoffman was a lifelong Republican and senior auto-industry executive. White House staff members originally suggested naming the project the Truman Plan. The president refused, saying a plan bearing his name would never be approved by Congress. Instead, the plan was spearheaded by Marshall. A former Army chief of staff whose integrity was highly trusted by the American public, Marshall came from an era when senior Army officers chose not to vote in presidential elections in order to preserve their nonpartisan independence.