Changes

==The Arsenal of Democracy==

==The Arsenal of Democracy==

The United States, by adopting lend-lease became what FDR called, "The Arsenal of Democracy." The U.S. dedicated its economic resources to the smashing of Nazi Germany. Lend-lease was the logical outgrowth of the cash purchases which the Allies, and Britain in particular, had made in the United States since the beginning of the war. President Roosevelt had referred to the United States in this role as the "arsenal of democracy." With their dollar balances in 1940 approaching zero, the British could not continue purchasing vital war materials in America. The Lend-Lease Act, passed by Congress seven months after the destroyer transfer, authorized the President to procure from government facilities or elsewhere "any defense article for the government of any country whose defense the President deems vital to the defense of the United States." The term "defense article" included nearly everything directly or indirectly used for war purposes. The President was also given broad power not only to sell, transfer, exchange, or lease any such article, including "defense information," but also to prescribe any kind of payment he deemed satisfactory. These flexible and general provisions, allowing the bill to be adjusted to the changing circumstances of war, were later found to be highly important to Allied strategy. [[Winston Churchill]] called it "the most unsordid act."

The United States, by adopting lend-lease became what FDR called, "The Arsenal of Democracy." The U.S. dedicated its economic resources to the smashing of Nazi Germany. Lend-lease was the logical outgrowth of the cash purchases which the Allies, and Britain in particular, had made in the United States since the beginning of the war. President Roosevelt had referred to the United States in this role as the "arsenal of democracy." With their dollar balances in 1940 approaching zero, the British could not continue purchasing vital war materials in America. The Lend-Lease Act, passed by Congress seven months after the destroyer transfer, authorized the President to procure from government facilities or elsewhere "any defense article for the government of any country whose defense the President deems vital to the defense of the United States." The term "defense article" included nearly everything directly or indirectly used for war purposes. The President was also given broad power not only to sell, transfer, exchange, or lease any such article, including "defense information," but also to prescribe any kind of payment he deemed satisfactory. These flexible and general provisions, allowing the bill to be adjusted to the changing circumstances of war, were later found to be highly important to Allied strategy. [[Winston Churchill]] called it "the most unsordid act."

==Master Lend-Lease Agreements==

==Master Lend-Lease Agreements==

After Pearl Harbor (Dec. 7, 1941), when it became a full belligerent, the United States and fourteen of its allies signed master lend-lease agreements<ref>http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/decade04.asp</ref><ref>http://avalon.law.yale.edu/wwii/angam42.asp</ref> providing for reciprocal aid and the pooling of human and material resources directed and coordinated toward the common goal. From that date forward the United States furnished nearly every kind of material and service to its allies, and received in return much the same kind of aid. Mindful of the World War I debt fiasco, as a result of American loans to its allies and the hard feelings that followed, the negotiators drafted Article VII of the master lend-lease agreements to provide that "the terms and conditions thereof shall be such as not to burden commerce between two countries but to promote mutually advantageous economic relations between them and the betterment of world-wide economic matters."  The British provided numerous bases and supplies for American forces, and furthermore gave the Americans the Rolls Royce Merlin engine for the [[P-51 Mustang]] fighter, the blueprints for the [[proximity fuze]], and vital information on the [[atomic bomb]].

After Pearl Harbor (Dec. 7, 1941), when it became a full belligerent, the United States and fourteen of its allies signed master lend-lease agreements<ref>http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/decade04.asp</ref><ref>http://avalon.law.yale.edu/wwii/angam42.asp</ref> providing for reciprocal aid and the pooling of human and material resources directed and coordinated toward the common goal. From that date forward the United States furnished nearly every kind of material and service to its allies, and received in return much the same kind of aid. Mindful of the World War I debt fiasco, as a result of American loans to its allies and the hard feelings that followed, the negotiators drafted Article VII of the master lend-lease agreements to provide that "the terms and conditions thereof shall be such as not to burden commerce between two countries but to promote mutually advantageous economic relations between them and the betterment of world-wide economic matters."  The British provided numerous bases and supplies for American forces, and furthermore gave the Americans the Rolls Royce Merlin engine for the [[P-51 Mustang]] fighter, the blueprints for the [[proximity fuze]], and vital information on the [[atomic bomb]].

 

==Commonwealth==

==Commonwealth==

[[Canada]], [[Australia]], and [[New Zealand]] had their own lend-lease programs to help the British. Australia and New Zealand imposed rationing on their own people to ship food to Britain.  

[[Canada]], [[Australia]], and [[New Zealand]] had their own lend-lease programs to help the British. Australia and New Zealand imposed rationing on their own people to ship food to Britain.