President Roosevelt's announcement of the principle of lend lease did not mean immediate finance for supplies to Britain. Rather it left open the details of the coverage of the principles as embodied in a Bill and the problem of interim finance before the Bill became law—the means of meeting the commitments which Britain had undertaken in 1940 and those she might make in the coming months. In addition, the Americans continued their pressure for the liquidation of Britain's overseas assets to meet current demands for funds.

After concerning himself initially with the details of the draft legislation before Congress and their interpretation, Keynes turned his attention increasingly to the problems of interim finance and the old commitments. On 31 January, he talked with Mr Harry Hopkins over the interpretation of the Bill before providing the Chancellor with a draft aide memoire reflecting the conversation.

AIDE MEMOIRE

The outcome of the Lend and Lease Bill will be extremely satisfactory and will go nearly the whole way towards meeting British financial requirements, provided that the President can see his way to interpret it and use his discretion along the following lines:-

1. To treat British type munitions equally with common type munitions as defence articles within the meaning of the Bill.

2. To regard as within the ambit of the Bill machines and raw materials such as steel, oil, machine tools, drop forgings, alloy metals etc. which are used directly or indirectly for defence purposes but are also capable of being used for general as well as munition purposes.