Reverse Lend-Lease and the Program’s Impact on the US Military in World War II
Between 1941 and 1945, the U.S. spent $296 billion on expenditures related to World War II, which is approximately $5.2 trillion in 2024 money.[i] This represented 35.8 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), a dramatic increase from the 1.4 percent of the GDP spent on defense in 1940 or the 2.7 percent (projected) spent in 2024.[ii] But not all of this money was used by the 16,000,000 Americans who served in uniform; about $50 billion, or 17 percent, was sent to allies and partners through the lend-lease program.[iii] One of the major U.S. contributions to friendly countries in the Grand Alliance was America’s industrial base. Even before the U.S.’s entrance into the war, the Cash and Carry program, followed by the Lend-Lease program, allowed the U.S. to provide assistance. The Lend-Lease Act, passed on March 11, 1941, formalized the system for the U.S. government to lend or lease materiel and/or supplies to its allies. This included vehicles, equipment, food, and medicine, which allied countries needed to continue to fight against the Axis Powers.[iv] More than forty countries received lend-lease aid.
As a part of the Lend-Lease Act,
nations receiving aid could repay the U.S. through a program called reverse lend-lease.
About $8 billion, or 16 percent, of lend-lease support was repaid through reverse
lend-lease.[v] Reverse lend-lease repayment
schemes included allowing U.S. military personnel to use a nation’s military
bases, airfields, and ports; providing natural resources, like rubber or oil, to
the U.S.; or feeding and providing uniforms to forward-deployed U.S. troops.
Even with efforts to inform the public
about these programs, then, as now, there is little secondary information
written about reverse lend-lease and even less about the impact of reverse lend-lease
programs on the U.S. military beyond financial statistics. The U.S. military
benefitted from reverse lend-lease in many ways, including building
multinational partnerships and gaining access to bases that facilitated U.S.
combat operations around the world. These activities supported U.S. military
operations for years after the war. This dissertation will explore the range of
reverse lend-lease activities, including the countries and types of programs,
and will consider the lasting effects of these activities on U.S. diplomatic
relationships and military activities.
The research plan is twofold. The first
part includes researching and reviewing available online resources to find primary
and secondary sources. The second part comprises identifying collections and
records in their holdings that are unavailable electronically. Since there
are few secondary sources available specifically about reverse lend-lease, the
weight of effort for this dissertation will be primary sources. Considering the research already conducted, the best U.S. sources of primary information are
U.S. government documents and contemporary newspaper articles. The National
Archives and Records Administration (NARA), Library of Congress (LOC), Franklin
Roosevelt and Harry Truman presidential libraries, Department of State Office
of the Historian, and the American Presidency Project have significant
electronic holdings related to the executive branch, especially concerning the
diplomatic negotiations between the U.S. and other countries to come to an agreement over lend-lease/reverse lend-lease support. Each branch of the U.S. military
has its own historical primary and secondary holdings. The best non-U.S. sources
of primary information are the national archives of the countries that repaid the
U.S. using reverse lend-lease. For example, the U.K., Australia, and India, were
three of the most significant countries related to reverse lend-lease; few of
the related documents are available online. This might drive international
travel to support research efforts.
I chose a World War II
topic because I have studied this complex global conflict for years. After I
read all the World War II books in my junior high library, I had my older
sister check out books for me from the high school library. I set a goal to start
a PhD in history after I retired from military service, going all the way back
to when I was an undergraduate student. Even then, I knew I wanted to
specialize in World War II.
As for how this evolved
into focusing on reverse lend-lease, I took a World War II class this spring
where I disagreed with the professor about the significance of the lend-lease program
on coalition warfare during World War II in one of the class’s major papers. This
drove me to do more research on lend-lease, and where I formally learned about
reverse lend-lease. When I took an economic history class this summer, I wrote
a reverse lend-lease paper, focusing on the diplomatic and military aspects of
the program. For my job, I am an assistant professor at an Army school; I teach
master’s level classes on related topics including joint and multinational
operations and strategy. This professor suggested that I write my dissertation
on reverse lend-lease, in part because there is little information focused on this interesting and impactful program.
INITIAL BIBLIOGRAPHY
Primary Sources
Acheson, Dean. “Memorandum by the Acting
Secretary of State to President Truman,” 814.24/5–1546, May 14, 1946. Office
of the Historian, US Department of State.
https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1946v11/d753.
“Agreement Between the Governments of
the United States of America and of Liberia Relating to Defence Areas Within
the Republic of Liberia.” No. 137, March 31, 1942. World Legal Information
Institute. http://www.worldlii.org/int/other/treaties/UNTSer/1949/8.
“Agreement Between the Government of the
United States of America and The Government of The Republic of Ghana on Defense
Cooperation, The Status of United States Forces, And Access to And Use of
Agreed Facilities and Areas in The Republic of Ghana.” 18-531. Department of
State. May 9, 2018. https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/18-531-Ghana-Defense-Status-of-Forces.pdf.
“Agreement Between the United States and
Mexico Regarding Principles Applying to Mutual Aid in the Prosecution of the
War, Signed at Washington March 27, 1942.” 812.24/3–2742, March 27, 1942. Office
of the Historian, US Department of State.
https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1942v06/d495.
“Agreement Between the United States of
America and Mexico Respecting the Transit of Military Aircraft.” April 1, 1941.
Office of the Historian, US Department of State.
https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1941v07/ch35.
Biddle, A. J. Drexel. “The Ambassador to the Belgian Government
in Exile (Biddle) to the Secretary of State.” 855A.24/93. July 14, 1942. Office
of the Historian, US Department of State. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1942v02/d14.
“Britain, Russia Receiving 70% Of U.S.
Lend-Lease Weapons: Roosevelt Issues Lend-Lease Report.” Washington Post,
September 15, 1942; 1,
https://www.proquest.com/docview/151543337/pageviewPDF/AF42F14E791D4806PQ/6?accountid=12085&sourcetype=Historical%20Newspapers.
Byrnes, James F. “Memorandum by the
Secretary of State to President Truman.” 855.24/10–1845. October 18, 1945. Office
of the Historian, US Department of State. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1945v04/d87.
“Convention of November 19, 1941.” US
Treaty Serial No. 980. United Nations Reports of International Arbitral
Awards, 2006. https://legal.un.org/riaa/cases/vol_IV/765-769.pdf.
“Declaration by the United Nations,
January 1, 1942.” Avalon Project, Yale Law School.
https://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/decade03.asp.
“Exchange of Notes at Washington
September 3, 1942 – The Australian Minister to the US Secretary of State.” 56
Statute 1608; Executive Agreement Series 271, September 3, 1942. Library of
Congress.
https://maint.loc.gov/law/help/us-treaties/bevans/b-au-ust000005-0146.pdf.
“How Much Help Do We Get Via Reverse
Lend-Lease?” GI Roundtable Series. American Historical Association.
January 1, 1945.
https://www.historians.org/resource/how-much-help-do-we-get-via-reverse-lend-lease/.
Hull, Cordell. “Destroyers for Bases
Agreement, 2 September 1940.” Letter to the British Ambassador. Naval
History and Heritage Command.
https://www.history.navy.mil/research/library/online-reading-room/title-list-alphabetically/d/destroyers-for-bases-agreement-1941.html.
“Joint Leaders Statement on AUKUS.” Prime
Minister of Australia. September 16, 2021.
https://web.archive.org/web/20210927191438/https://www.pm.gov.au/media/joint-leaders-statement-aukus.
“Lend-Lease Act (1941).” National
Archives. Accessed June 18, 2024.
https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/lend-lease-act.
“Lend‐Lease Became Mutual Aid.” The Argus
(Melbourne, Australia), June 28, 1945, 10.
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/968655.
“Memorandum by Mr. Theodore G. Achilles
of the Division of European Affairs.” 845.24/404, February 15, 1943. Office
of Historian, US Department of State. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1943v04/d288.
“Memorandum of Agreement Between the
United States and the Republic of Guatemala.” November 16, 1942. Office of
Historian, US Department of State.
https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1942v06/d464.
Philips, William. “Mr. William Phillips,
Personal Representative of President Roosevelt in India, to the Secretary of
State.” 845.24/395, April
9, 1943. Office of Historian, US Department of State. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1943v04/d301.
Philips, William. “Mr. William Phillips,
Personal Representative of President Roosevelt in India, to the Secretary of
State.” 845.24/341, January
14, 1943. Office of Historian, US Department of State.
https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1943v04/d285.
“Preliminary Agreement Between the
United States and the United Kingdom.” February 23, 1942. Avalon Project,
Yale Law School. https://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/decade04.asp.
“Reverse Lend-Lease Stressed by British:
Aid to Us in Supplies and Services Totals $1,526,170,000.” New York Times,
March 20, 1944, 9.
https://www.proquest.com/docview/107035896/47BB2590AA434341PQ/8?accountid=12085&sourcetype=Historical%20Newspapers.
Roosevelt, Franklin D. “Address at
Chautauqua, N.Y., August 14, 1936.” American Presidency Project.
https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/address-chautauqua-ny.
Roosevelt, Franklin D. “Fireside Chat,
December 29, 1940.” American Presidency Project.
https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/fireside-chat-9.
Roosevelt, Franklin D. “Message to
Congress on Exchanging Destroyers for British Naval and Air Bases.” American
Presidency Project, September 3, 1940. https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/message-congress-exchanging-destroyers-for-british-naval-and-air-bases.
Roosevelt, Franklin D. “President
Roosevelt to the Chairman of the Council of People’s Commissars of the Soviet
Union (Stalin).” October 30, 1941. Office of Historian, US Department of
State. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1941v01/d799.
Roosevelt, Franklin D. “Report to
Congress on Reverse Lend-Lease.” American Presidency Project. November
11, 1943.
https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/report-congress-reverse-lend-lease.
Roosevelt, Franklin D. “Seventeenth
Report to Congress on Lend-lease Operations: Reverse Lend-Lease Aid from the
British Commonwealth of Nations.” Transmitting the Seventeenth Report to
Congress on Lend-lease Operations. November 24, 1944. Hathi Trust. https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/report-congress-reverse-lend-lease.
“The Acting Secretary of State to Mr.
William Phillips, Personal Representative of President Roosevelt in India.”
845.24/373a, March 3, 1943. Office of Historian, US Department of State.
https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1943v04/d293.
“The Australian Minister for External
Affairs (Evatt) to the American Minister in Australia (Johnson).” 847.24/775,
January 28, 1944. Office of Historian, US Department
of State. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1944v03/d137.
“The Department of State to the Indian
Agency General.” 811.20/1211a, October 6, 1943. Office of Historian, US
Department of State.
https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1943v04/d314.
“The Officer in Charge at New Delhi
(Merrell) to the Secretary of State.” 845.24/303, January 2, 1943. Office of
Historian, US Department of State. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1943v04/d282.
“Ukraine Democracy Defense Lend-Lease
Act of 2022. Public Law No: 117-118.” May 9, 2022. Congress.gov.
Accessed 30 June 2024.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/senate-bill/3522.
Secondary Books
Atkinson, Rick. An Army at Dawn: The
War in North Africa, 1942-1943. New York: Henry Holt, 2002.
Building the Navy’s Bases in World War
II, Vol. I. Washington,
DC: US Government Printing Office, 1946.
https://www.history.navy.mil/research/library/online-reading-room/title-list-alphabetically/b/building-the-navys-bases.html.
Byfield, Judith A., and others, editors.
Africa and World War II. Cambridge University Press; 2015. https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/africa-and-world-war-ii/85E6161614C18AA08EDBD5E6D031FA52.
Conn,
Stetson, and others. Guarding
the United States and its Outposts. Washington, DC: Center of Military
History, 2000. https://history.army.mil/html/books/004/4-2/CMH_Pub_4-2.pdf.
Conn, Stetson, and Byron Fairchild. The
Framework of Hemisphere Defense. Washington,
DC: Center of Military History, 1989. https://history.army.mil/books/wwii/Framework/index.htm#contents.
Crowley, Mark, ed. Home Fronts –
Britain and the Empire at War, 1939-1945. Martlesham, England: Boydell and
Brewer, 2017.
Jackson, Ashley. Distant Drums: The
Role of Colonies in British Imperial Warfare. Liverpool: Liverpool
University Press, 2012. https://www.jstor.org/stable/jj.4116409.7.
Jackson, Ashley. The British Empire
and the Second World War. London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2006.
https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/liberty/detail.action?docID=5309769.
Stoler,
Mark A. Allies in War: Britain and America Against the Axis Powers,
1940-1945. London: Hodder Arnold, 2007.
The Abyssinian Campaigns: The Official
Story of the Conquest of Italian East Africa. London: His Majesty’s Stationary Office, Ministry of
Information, 1942.
Secondary Articles
Akingbade, Harrison. “U.S. Liberian
Relations during World War II.” Phylon 46, no. 1 (1st Quarter 1985):
25-36. https://www.jstor.org/stable/274943.
Allen, R. G. D. “Mutual Aid Between the
U.S. and The British Empire, 1941-45.” Journal of the Royal Statistical
Society 109, no. 3 (1946): 243-277. https://www.jstor.org/stable/2981369.
“America Sent Gear to the USSR to Help
Win World War II,” US Embassy and Consulates in Italy. May 2, 2023.
Accessed May 30, 2024.
https://it.usembassy.gov/america-sent-gear-to-the-ussr-to-help-win-world-war-ii/#:~:text=At%20a%20dinner%20toast%20with,we%20would%20lose%20this%20war.%E2%80%9D.
“Australian Made Reverse Lend-Lease
Uniforms (1942‐44).” US
Army Uniforms in World War II. Accessed May 31, 2024.
http://www.usww2uniforms.com/ArmyUniformProfile_AustralianMadeEnlisted42-44.html.
Clayton, Mark. “Cutting the Gordian
Knot: Reassessing Australia’s Lend-Lease Settlement.” Australian Journal of
Politics and History, 2023.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/ajph.12894.
Craven,
Wesley F., and James L. Cate. The Army Air Force in World War II, Volume
Seven: Services Around the World. Washington, D.C.: Office of Air Force
History, 1983.
Daggett, Stephen. “Costs of Major U.S.
Wars.” Federation of American Scientists. June 29, 2010. https://sgp.fas.org/crs/natsec/RS22926.pdf.
Diaz, Matt. “Task Force 82 and
Multinational Allies Successfully Complete Allied Spirit 24.” US Army,
March 21, 2024.
https://www.army.mil/article/274720/task_force_82_and_multinational_allies_successfully_complete_allied_spirit_24.
Egorov, Boris. “How Lend-Lease Helped
the Red Army Win in World War II.” Russia Beyond, October 7, 2022.
https://www.rbth.com/history/335471-how-lend-lease-helped-ussr.
Fishback, Price. “World War II in
America: Spending, Deficits, Multipliers, and Sacrifice.” Centre for
Economic Policy Research. November 12, 2019.
https://cepr.org/voxeu/columns/world-war-ii-america-spending-deficits-multipliers-and-sacrifice#:~:text=Markets%20Economic%20history-,World%20War%20II%20in%20America,%2C%20deficits%2C%20multipliers%2C%20and%20sacrifice&text=The%20US%20became%20the%20'arsenal,spending%20are%20less%20than%20one.
Giron, Victoria. “Good Neighbors:
Stories from Latin America in World War II.” Library of Congress Blogs,
August 28, 2018.
https://blogs.loc.gov/headlinesandheroes/2018/08/good-neighbors-stories-from-latin-america-in-world-war-ii/#:~:text=%E2%80%9CRutas%20Vitales%20Para%20Los%20Aliados,and%20the%20other%20Axis%20powers.
Grieb, Kenneth J. “Guatemala and The
Second World War.” Ibero-Amerikanisches Archiv 3, No. 4 (1977): 377-394.
https://www.jstor.org/stable/43750578.
Holzer, Joshua, and Tobias T. Gibson.
“Ultra Diplomacy and the Origin of the Five Eyes Alliance.” Intelligencer
Journal of U.S. Intelligence Studies 28, no. 1 (Winter-Spring 2023), 61-64.
https://www.afio.com/publications/HOLZER_GIBSON_Ultra_Diplomacy-WIMAD_AFIO_Intelligencer_WinterSpring_2023_Vol28_No1.pdf.
“Inflation Calculator.” Federal
Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. Accessed June 25, 2024.
https://www.minneapolisfed.org/about-us/monetary-policy/inflation-calculator.
Julian, Thomas A. “Operations at the
Margin: Soviet Bases and Shuttle-Bombing.” Journal of Military History
57, no. 4 (October 1, 1993), 627-652.
https://www.proquest.com/docview/1296649701?accountid=12085&imgSeq=1&pq-origsite=summon&sourcetype=Scholarly%20Journals.
“Lend-Lease and Military Aid to the
Allies in the Early Years of World War II.” Office of the Historian,
Department of State. Accessed June 25, 2024.
https://history.state.gov/milestones/1937-1945/lend-lease.
“Lend-Lease to China and India.” Science.org.
97, no. 2515, 12. Accessed June 16, 2024.
https://www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1126/science.97.2515.12.s.
“Monrovia Roberts International
Airport.” Monrovia
Roberts International Airport.
Accessed June 30, 2024.
https://www.monrovia-airport.com/en/monrovia_international_airport.php#:~:text=The%20facility%20with%20its%2011%2C000,the%20first%20President%20of%20Liberia.
Morgan, Thomas D. “The Industrial
Mobilization of World War II: America Goes to War.” Army History 30
(Spring 1994): 31-35. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26304207.
“Readout of the 7th U.S.-Guatemala
Defense Bilateral Working Group.” Department of Defense, June 5, 2024. https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/3804343/readout-of-the-7th-us-guatemala-defense-bilateral-working-group/.
Smith, Charles. “Lend-Lease to Great
Britain 1941-1945.” Southern Quarterly 10, no. 2 (January 1, 1972):
195-208.
https://www.proquest.com/docview/1416156051?fromopenview=true&pq-origsite=gscholar&sourcetype=Scholarly%20Journals&imgSeq=1.
Teter, Jennifer Rigdon.
“Destroyers-for-Bases: A Win-Win for Allied Maritime Superiority.” Naval
History 35 no. 2 (April 2021). https://www.usni.org/magazines/naval-history-magazine/2021/april/destroyers-bases-win-win-allied-maritime-superiority.
“The Atlantic Conference & Charter,
1941.” Office of the Historian, US Department of
State. Accessed
June 29, 2024.
https://history.state.gov/milestones/1937-1945/atlantic-conf#:~:text=The%20Atlantic%20Charter%20was%20a,U.S.%20and%20British%20war%20aims.
“The Belgian Congo at War.” New York:
Belgian Information Center, 1942.
https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/UN/Belgium/Congo/index.html.
“The Neutrality Acts, 1930s,” Office
of the Historian, US Department of State. Accessed June 27, 2024.
https://history.state.gov/milestones/1921-1936/neutrality-acts#:~:text=After%20a%20fierce%20debate%20in,transporting%20goods%20to%20belligerent%20ports.
“US Relations With Guatemala.” Department
of State, September 13, 2023. https://www.state.gov/u-s-relations-with-guatemala/.
Vandenbroucke, Guillaume. “Which War Saw
the Highest Defense Spending? Depends How It’s Measured.” Federal Reserve
Bank of St. Louis. February 4, 2020. https://www.stlouisfed.org/on-the-economy/2020/february/war-highest-defense-spending-measured.
Williamson,
Corbin. “Expeditionary Airfields in the Pacific, 1941–1945.” Air University,
July 19, 2021.
https://www.airuniversity.af.edu/DesktopModules/ArticleCS/Print.aspx?PortalId=10&ModuleId=25611&Article=2699821.
“World War II Allies: U.S. Lend-Lease to
the Soviet Union, 1941-1945.” U.S. Embassy & Consulates in Russia.
May 10, 2020. https://ru.usembassy.gov/world-war-ii-allies-u-s-lend-lease-to-the-soviet-union-1941-1945/
[i]
Stephen Daggett, “Costs of Major U.S. Wars,” Federation of American
Scientists, June 29, 2010, 2, https://sgp.fas.org/crs/natsec/RS22926.pdf;
“Inflation Calculator,” Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, accessed
August 21, 2024, https://www.minneapolisfed.org/about-us/monetary-policy/inflation-calculator;
Department of Defense, “Defense Spending as a % of Gross Domestic Product (GDP),”
Defense.gov, accessed August 31, 2024, https://www.defense.gov/Multimedia/Photos/igphoto/2002099941/.
[ii]
Price Fishback, “World War II in America: Spending, Deficits, Multipliers, and
Sacrifice,” Centre for Economic Policy Research, November 12, 2019, https://cepr.org/voxeu/columns/world-war-ii-america-spending-deficits-multipliers-and-sacrifice#:~:text=Markets%20Economic%20history-,World%20War%20II%20in%20America,%2C%20deficits%2C%20multipliers%2C%20and%20sacrifice&text=The%20US%20became%20the%20'arsenal,spending%20are%20less%20than%20one.
[iii]
“Lend-Lease and Military Aid to the Allies in the Early Years of World War II,”
Office of the Historian, Department of State, accessed June 25, 2024, https://history.state.gov/milestones/1937-1945/lend-lease.
[iv]
“America Sent Gear to the USSR to Help Win World War II,” U.S. Embassy and
Consulates in Italy, May 2, 2023, accessed August 19, 2024,
https://it.usembassy.gov/america-sent-gear-to-the-ussr-to-help-win-world-war-ii/#:~:text=At%20a%20dinner%20toast%20with.
[v]
Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce. Foreign Aid by the United States
Government, 1940-1951, US Department of Commerce (Washington, DC: U.S.
Government Printing Office, 1951): 34, https://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PCAAA605.pdf.
Comments
Post a Comment