Office of the Historian

Truman Papers

No. 1183
President Truman to Prime Minister Churchill
Babelsberg, July 25, 1945.

My Dear Mr. Prime Minister: In reply to your letter of the 24th,1 the Secretary of State is preparing a copy of the memorandum directive to the Joint Chiefs of Staff on the issuance of Lend Lease material.2 It is my intention to abide strictly by the law as passed by the United States Congress on Lend Lease,3 as I explained to you yesterday, although a liberal construction will be given to the distribution of those items referred to in your memorandum from your Chiefs of Staff.

I am making every effort to get a construction of the new Lend Lease renewal act4 so as to cause the least difficulty and embarrassment to our Allies. As soon as the memorandum to our Chiefs of Staff is finally prepared, I shall send you a copy.5

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Very sincerely yours,

[Harry S. Truman]
  1. Document No. 1182.↩
  2. See the enclosure to document No. 1185.↩
  3. For the text of the basic Lend-Lease Act, approved March 11, 1941, see 55 Stat. 31.↩
  4. Approved April 16, 1945 (59 Stat. 52).↩
  5. For the paragraph omitted here, see document No. 1248.↩