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Lend-Lease: The WWII US Aid Programme for Allies

Lend-Lease (sometimes called Lease-Lend) was a programme of financial and material aid given by the United States to its allies during the Second World War (1939-45). Food, weapons, ammunition, and agricultural equipment were amongst the goods which crossed the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The value of Lend-Lease goods has been estimated at around $50 billion. Payment was expected from the recipient states, although there was flexibility on how much, in what form, and when this was to be given. Lend-Lease was a massive operation, which ensured the US minimised its own military casualties while still using its tremendous economic power to drive the Allied cause. The programme became one of the great logistical achievements of the war effort, immeasurably helping the Allies win WWII.

Helping the Allies

At the outset of the Second World War, the United States, wary of becoming embroiled in a conflict on another continent, remained officially neutral and so could not directly intervene militarily. Giving material aid to participants in a war had been prohibited by the mid-1930s Neutrality Acts. Even loans were restricted by the Johnson Debt-Default Act, which excluded those nations that had not paid back the money lent during the First World War (1914-18). This was a heavy restriction because the only country which had paid off all of its debts to the US was Finland. President Franklin D. Roosevelt was determined to break down the traditional US foreign policy of isolationism any way he could within the law, and so he summoned Congress to repeal parts of the legislation blocking aid for the Allies. First, France and Britain were permitted to purchase arms (provided they paid cash and transported the arms themselves), and then another Congressional decision allowed US merchant ships to enter war zones and carry arms and ammunition as cargo. There was now a way to legally send much-needed assistance to Europe and elsewhere, yet for the United States to remain neutral.

Roosevelt, faced with direct appeals for aid from figures like British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, was even willing to bend the law a little. For example, the US President ensured British warships were repaired in US ports, and he sent warplanes to the USA's Canadian border, which allowed the Canadians to literally haul the planes into their own territory and then send them on to Europe. Another case involved an exchange of US destroyer warships for bases. Under this deal, the US promised to provide Britain with 50 destroyers (they received only 9 by the end of 1940), and in return, it acquired 99-year leases for several naval bases in the West Indies, Bermuda, Newfoundland, and British Guiana.

Roosevelt finally gained more freedom of action following the widespread outrage at the German U-boat attack on the US destroyer Kearny in October 1941 and the consequent repeal of many more restrictive neutrality laws. The US then went into full swing in its efforts to give aid to those defending freedom.

The Lend-Lease programme was designed, then, to give material and financial aid to those Allied nations which were fighting the three common enemies of the free world: Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, and Imperial Japan. As the name suggests, the programme did not give goods for free; recipients were expected to repay the costs, but there was flexibility in terms of both the amount and timing of the repayments. Beneficiaries of the Lend-Lease programme included Great Britain, the USSR, China, South Africa, Egypt, Australia, and New Zealand. In total, over 38 countries received aid from the USA during the war.

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