The Lend-Lease Act was enforced on March 11th, 1941, as a way for the US to provide military support to other foreign countries during World War II. This act allowed the president to transfer weapons and other materials to countries in need. It was mainly targeted towards aiding Britain and allied countries while allowing the US to remain neutral in the war.
During the election of 1940, Roosevelt ran for president under the idea of keeping the US out of WWII. Thus, when he proposed the Lend-Lease Act, it was strongly opposed by many isolationists since it brought the US closer towards war. Furthermore, people were unsure of whether the act would be able to effectively support other countries. Additionally, the act was also criticized because it gave the president too much power, as was believed by Robert Taft. Taft thought that it would "give the President power to carry on a kind of undeclared war all over the world."
While many people opposed the Lend-Lease Act, other internationalists supported it because it would bring the US close to war. Ensuing the Pearl Harbor attack and the US's joining of the war, the act persisted as the US continued to send supplies to its allies. In fact, it actually proved to be very effective in aid. For example, the Red Army had two-thirds of its trucks built by Americans. Additionally, the Soviet Union also received roughly 2,000 vehicles from the US through the act.
In return for the US aiding the Allies, it also received goods and services in return under the Reverse Lend-Lease scheme. The US gained about $7.8 billion from the Reverse Lend-Lease, mostly coming from Great Britain.
Overall, the Lend-Lease Act established a bond or "alliance-law" between the US and the Allies. Roughly $50.1 billion worth of supplies was given to support the Allies during WWII. This aid contributed towards allowing the Allies to defeat the Axis Powers in the war and officially ended in 1945, following the end of the war. While the act did bring the US closer to war, it could be argued that war may have been inevitable because of the Pearl Harbor attack.
Sources:
http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/lend-lease-act
https://www.thoughtco.com/the-lend-lease-act-2361029
https://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=false&doc=71
Freedom From Fear Chapter 15
This was an interesting post. While I have heard about the Lend-Lease Act before, I have never heard of the Reverse Lend-Lease Act. I was fascinated to learn that some of the Allies' payment for the Lend-Lease act came during the course of the war, when they would build/assemble and manage the camps for the American soldiers in Europe and make sure all needs were attended to for the US troops. https://www.historians.org/about-aha-and-membership/aha-history-and-archives/gi-roundtable-series/pamphlets/how-shall-lend-lease-accounts-be-settled/how-much-help-do-we-get-via-reverse-lend-lease
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