The German blitzkrieg was largely successful. France fell early and Britain seemed on the verge of collapse. Europe needed more resources to support its resistance, but the United States was bound by the Neutrality Act which established a policy of isolationism and prohibited it from supporting foreign wars in any way. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt circumvented these restrictions. He lobbied Congress to reinstate a provision in the law called Cash and Carry, which would allow other countries to purchase U.S. war equipment with cash and transport it into the zone themselves. of war. He also struck a deal that allowed him to place American military bases in British colonies in exchange for destroyer ships, thereby protecting the UK's borderlands from possible Axis invasions. When it turned out that the English had won the Battle of Britain and successfully repelled the Nazi attempt at conquest, America decided to support them in a more substantial and long-term manner. Thus the Lend-Lease Act was signed: the United States would lend equipment to its strategic partners (who were not yet the Allies). Even though the equipment was supposedly to be returned, it was pretty obvious that the war materiel would not return in the same condition, if at all. So it was actually the largest donation of war supplies ever. But this in turn ended up benefiting the United States, as increased production galvanized an economy that had been stagnant since the Great Depression. It also sparked the involvement of the United States Merchant Marine, which was among the first American citizens to give their lives during World War II and suffered the highest percentage of casualties of any branch of the service. These unarmed ships sailed through submarine-infested waters to bring much-needed supplies to Europe, North Africa, and Asia. Despite this, their service has remained largely unrecognized and unrewarded as they are still denied many veterans' benefits and were not even officially thanked by Congress until 2012.
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