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After two
months of protracted discussions and in defiance of isolationists’
opposition, Congress passed the Lend-Lease Act. Churchill’s
entreaty from London—“Give us the tools and we will finish the
job”—also had an influence.
The
Lend-Lease agreement authorized the president to lend and lease
military equipment to the anti-Axis powers for direct or indirect
payment. The transfer of mammoth sums of money ($50 billion by the
end of the war) and important war material effectively terminated
the American neutrality policy.
Roosevelt
responded to the passage of the Act by proclaiming: “This decision
is the end of any attempt at appeasement in our land; the end of
urging us to get along with the dictators; the end of compromise
with tyranny and the forces of oppression.” |
