The Export White Paper, 10 September. 1941.

This article explores the issue of the Lend-Lease declaration in Great Britain on September 10, 1941. There were two closely linked factors which caused the dramatic reduction in Britain's overseas trade. First, large sections of Britain's manufacturing industry had to be converted to war production, thus reducing the capacity for manufactured exports. By June 1944, 33 percent of Britain's labor force was engaged in war duties and a further 22 percent was in the armed forces. Secondly, America supplied Britain with food, raw materials, industrial and military equipment, without cash payments, under Lend-Lease. The responsibility for Lend-Lease in the early days was delegated to Harry Hopkins, the person in charge for Lend-Lease, though the official head of the agency in charge of Lend-Lease was nominally General J.H. Burns. Despite Hopkins's renowned energy and drive, Lend-Lease supplies to Britain during 1941 only played a marginal role in the war effort. There was an unavoidable time lag between the inception of Lend-Lease and the American economy's ability to produce the goods.