USA HISTORY

In the Spring of 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed into law a bill which allowed him to sell, loan, or give war material to countries for their defense against Axis forces. This bill was known as the

(A) ** Lend-Lease Act.

(B) Cash and Carry Act.

(C) European Recovery Program.

(D) Destroyers for Bases Agreement.

Concept note-1: -Following two months of debate, Congress passed the Lend-Lease Act, meeting Great Britain’s deep need for supplies and allowing the United States to prepare for war while remaining officially neutral.

Concept note-2: -President Franklin Roosevelt signed the bill into law the same day.

Concept note-3: -For Roosevelt, Lend-Lease was not motivated primarily by altruism or generosity, but was intended to serve the interest of the United States by helping to defeat Nazi Germany without entering the war outright-at least not until the nation was prepared for it, both militarily and in terms of public opinion.

Concept note-4: -The principal recipients of aid were the British Commonwealth countries (about 63 percent) and the Soviet Union (about 22 percent), though by the end of the war more than 40 countries had received lend-lease help. Much of the aid, valued at $49.1 billion, amounted to outright gifts.

Concept note-5: -The Lend-Lease Program, 1941-1945.