The danger of Great Britain being destroyed by a swift, overwhelming blow has for the time being greatly receded. In its place there is a long, gradually maturing danger, less sudden and less spectacular, but equally deadly. . . . Unless we can establish our ability to feed this island, to import the munitions of all kinds which we need . . . we may fall by the way, and the time needed by the United States to complete her defensive preparations may not be forthcoming.
— Winston Churchill to Franklin Roosevelt, December 8, 1940
In late 1940, British resistance to Nazi Germany was hanging by a thread. The RAF had triumphed over the Luftwaffe in the Battle of Britain, eliminating the imminent threat of a German cross-channel invasion. But facing off against a Third Reich with all the industrial capacity of continental Europe at its disposal, Britain’s long-term prospects were bleak. The United States was willing to supply arms to the U.K., but only on a “cash and carry” basis — and the Brits were running out of cash. To carry on the fight, the British government had already spent all of its dollar reserves and forced English investors to liquidate their U.S. holdings for dollars, which the government then took, compensating the investors with bonds denominated in pounds. As the year’s end approached, American ships set sail for South Africa to take possession of Britain’s gold reserves. Soon, there would be nothing left. In a famous letter written December 8, 1940, British prime minister Winston Churchill appealed to U.S. president Franklin Roosevelt for help.
