USA HISTORY

AMERICAN IMPERIALISM(1890 1919)

THE UNITED STATES IN WORLD WAR I

[SOURCES]
Before Pearl Harbor, the U.S. passed the Cash and Carry and Lend-Lease Acts to help

(A) Germany

(B) ** Britain

(C) Russia

(D) Japan

EXPLANATIONS BELOW

Concept note-1: -Passed on March 11, 1941, this act set up a system that would allow the United States to lend or lease war supplies to any nation deemed “vital to the defense of the United States."

Concept note-2: -Before passage of the Neutrality Act of 1939, Roosevelt persuaded Congress to allow the sale of military supplies to allies like France and Britain on a “cash-and-carry” basis: They had to pay cash for American-made supplies, and then transport the supplies on their own ships.

Concept note-3: -The lend-lease program provided for military aid to any country whose defense was vital to the security of the United States. The plan thus gave Roosevelt the power to lend arms to Britain with the understanding that, after the war, America would be paid back in kind.

Concept note-4: -Lend-Lease effectively ended the United States’ pretense of neutrality which had been enshrined in the Neutrality Acts of the 1930s. It was a decisive step away from non-interventionist policy and toward open support for the Allies. Lend-Lease’s precise significance to Allied victory in WW2 is debated.