March 11, 1941- FDR Signs Lend-Lease Law
President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs H.R. 1776, the "Lend-Lease" bill, ending America's policy of strict isolation during World War II. The bill gives the President the prerogative to sell, lend, or lease military information or defense technology to any country whose "defense the President deems vital to the defense of the United States." The law is originally aimed at assisting the war efforts of Great Britain; aid will eventually spread to 35 countries at a cost of approximately $49 billion by the end of the program in 1945.
Related resources:
- Audio: Foreign Aid, Free Trade and Shaping a Global Community (Justice Talking)
- Excepts from the 1941 Press Conference of FDR (University of California, Santa Barbara)
- H.R. 1776 (National Archives and Records Administration)
