<P> The lend - lease policy, formally titled "An Act to Promote the Defense of the United States", (Pub. L. 77--11, H.R. 1776, 55 Stat. 31, enacted March 11, 1941) was a program by which the United States supplied Free France, the United Kingdom, the Republic of China, and later the Soviet Union and other Allied nations with food, oil, and materiel between 1941 and August 1945 . This included warships and warplanes, along with other weaponry . The policy was signed into law on March 11, 1941 and ended overnight without prior warning when the war against Japan ended . The aid was free for all countries, although goods in transit when the program ended were charged for . Some transport ships were returned to the US after the war, but practically all the items sent out were used up or worthless in peacetime . In return for the aid, the U.S. was given leases on army and naval bases in Allied territory during the war . </P> <P> The program was under the direct control of the White House, with Roosevelt paying close attention, assisted by Harry Hopkins, W. Averell Harriman, Edward Stettinius Jr...Roosevelt often sent them on special missions to London and Moscow, where their control over Lend Lease gave them importance . The budget was hidden away in the overall military budget, and details were not released until after the war . </P>

How did the united states help great britain early in world war ii