ABSTRACT
The State Department and the Congress debated the possible bargaining implications of lend-lease aid; others in the administration were chafing under Franklin D. Roosevelt's noquestions-asked policy regarding aid to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). In the proposals that had been made and the memoranda that had been exchanged within the USSR Branch—and endorsed by key members of the State Department—the bits and pieces of a policy for the cutback of lend-lease on V-E Day had coalesced. The policy of unconditional aid to the Soviet Union was sustained through 1943 by a coalition of supporters who held important positions in the Russian aid program in both Washington and Moscow. Concerning the Soviet Union, the proposed 3-c Agreement would have permitted the Russians to continue receiving lend-lease supplies after the termination of hostilities in exchange for payment on the basis of a long-term credit.
