Lend Lease Agreement

Under President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the United States maintained an attitude of benevolent neutrality towards Great Britain during this initial period of the Second World War. Churchill made an open request to the United States:
‘Give us the tools and we’ll finish the job.’ Roosevelt was sympathetic and the Lend Lease Agreement came into force. Under this agreement, the United State provided guns, tanks, motor vehicles, aircraft, food, fuel, and machine tools to any of the combatants who collected them, knowing full well that the Royal Navy’s blockade prevented any of these items reaching Germany. Some years earlier, Roosevelt commented that ‘The business of America is business’, so these supplies had to be paid for in due course. In effect, Great Britain’s war effort was being bankrolled by the United States. The Americans charged a high rate of interest on the loan and in the aftermath of the war the British had to endure years of serious austerity to pay it back; the final payment was made at the end of 2006.

President Roosevelt signing the Lend-Lease Act which would get the U.S. one step closer into entering the war.