On This Day
On This Day. 1941: President Franklin Roosevelt signed the Lend-Lease Bill, providing war supplies to countries fighting the Axis powers of Germany, Italy and Japan. Between 1941 and the war's end in 1945, the U.S. shipped $50 billion in supplies (equal to some $650 billion today) to Great Britain, the Soviet Union, China, Free France, and other Allied nations. Formally titled An Act to Further Promote the Defense of the United States, the Act effectively ended any American pretense of being neutral during World War II - which the U.S. would, of course, enter nine months later. WWR, in partnership w/The New York Times, presents the Times’ front page on Lend-Lease from Mar. 11, 1941:
On This Day. 1947: President Truman wrote to former Pres. Hoover, thanking him for his help w/post-WWII reconstruction issues in Europe. Truman and Hoover became good friends in 1945, when Truman first consulted the former president on foreign policy matters.