MARCH

March 11: U.S. Congress passes Lend-Lease Act

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.”