Russia's Life-Saver: Lend-Lease Aid to the U.S.S.R. in World War II

by Albert L. Weeks

Overview

'The United States is a country of machines. Without the use of these machines through Lend-Lease, we would lose this war.' —Josef Stalin (1943), quoted in W. Averell Harriman and Elie Abel, Special Envoy to Churchill and Stalin, 1941-1946, Random House, N.Y., 1975, p. 277 The United States shipped more than $12 billion in Lend-Lease aid to Stalin's Russia during World War II. Materials lent, beginning in late 1941 before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, included airplanes and tanks, locomotives and rails, construction materials, entire military production assembly lines, food and clothing, aviation fuel, and much else. Lend-Lease is now recognized by post-Soviet Russian historians as essential to the Soviet war effort. Wielding many facts and statistics never before published in the U.S., author Albert L. Weeks keenly analyzes the diplomatic rationale for and results of this assistance. Russia's Life-Saver is a brilliant contribution to the study of U.S.-Soviet relations and its role in World War II.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780739145630
Publisher:	Lexington Books
Publication date:	02/03/2010
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	186
Sales rank:	783,672
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Albert L. Weeks has been an expert on Soviet Russia for more than fifty years. Weeks has served as a journalist, policy analyst, and professor and is credited with coining the name Sputnik while working for Newsweek in 1957. His books include Stalin's Other War (Rowman & Littlefield, 2002).

Table of Contents

Preface ix

1 Introduction 1

Assistance to Communist U.S.S.R. 4

Role of Soviet "Agents of Influence" 7

Today's Assessments 7

2 The "Arsenal of Democracy" 11

America Edges toward War 12

The American Factor 14

Stalin Zigzags 15

Two-Pronged Approach 18

The "American Colossus" 20

The Birth of Lend-Lease 22

Lend-Lease Underway 25

Soviet Propaganda on Lend-Lease 28

3 Stalin and America 31

Dealing with the Man in Charge, Stalin 32

Stalin's Weapon of Diplomacy 38

Stalin and FDR 39

Spies and Agents of Influence 41

Armand Hammer's Role 49

4 Historical Roots of Lend-Lease-I 52

Traditional Russian-American Ties 54

Earliest Phase of Friendship 55

Russia in the American Northwest 58

Russia and the American Civil War 59

"Seward's Folly" 63

5 Historical Roots of Lend-Lease-II 65

Russian-American Economic Ties 65

Earliest Period of U.S. Technological Assistance 68

Assistance in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries 71

Railroad Building 72

Agricultural Machinery 74

U.S. Railroad Commission in Russia, 1917 76

Miscellaneous Technological Assistance 78

U.S. Technological Aid during the Soviet Period 80

6 Western-Soviet Relations before "Barbarossa" 86

Ambivalence toward Germany 87

America at a Distance 89

Perishable Nazi-Soviet Alliance 90

Warming toward the U.S.? 92

New Tensions with Germany 93

Shift toward the West 94

Preinvasion D?tente Trend 96

"Ignoring" Warnings of Attack 98

The Welles-Umansky Talks 99

Demarche 103

7 The "Strange Alliance" Is Born 107

The Great Patriotic War Begins 108

Onwards to Aid 110

The First U.S.-Soviet Lend-Lease Talks 111

Planning the Main Routes 112

"The Russians Are Coming" 114

Lend-Lease Details 115

Trusting and Verifying 121

Vital Food Aid 122

Spasibo ... But ... 124

8 Summation: Will the Debt Be Repaid? 128

Silver Bullion to Stalin 129

Settling the Debt Issue 133

The "Gratitude Factor" 135

Appendix Mutual Aid Agreement between the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics: June 11, 1942 137

Tables

Table I Lend-Lease Shipments to the Soviet Union by Time Period, etc. 141

Table II Aircraft Deliveries to the Soviet Union (by Route) 144

Table III Aircraft Deliveries to the Soviet Union (by Type and Route) 145

Table IV Vehicles Delivered to the Soviet Union under the Lend-Lease Program 146

Table V Random Exports to the Soviet Union under the Lend-Lease Program 147

Table VI Distribution of Tonnage by Ship Registry (Vessels Involved in the Transfer of Lend-Lease to the Soviet Union) 152

Table VII Cargo Shipped from the Western Hemisphere to the Soviet Union 152

Bibliography 153

Index 165

About the Author 175

Editorial Reviews

Russia's Life-Saver lifts the curtain on exactly how crucial U.S. Lend-Lease aid was to the USSR's eventual success against Germany in World War II. Until now, all we in the West could really do was guess. We of course knew what we had lent (the numerator) but we didn't know what the secretive Soviets needed (the denominator). Using new evidence from previously-closed Russian archives and new research by native Russian historians, and offering gripping conclusions, Dr. Weeks sets the record straight about this truly pivotal period of twentieth-century history.--Kenneth MacWilliams, U.S. private investor in Russia since 1991; former Wall Street executive

From the Publisher

Russia’s Life-Saver lifts the curtain on exactly how crucial U.S. Lend-Lease aid was to the USSR's eventual success against Germany in World War II. Until now, all we in the West could really do was guess. We of course knew what we had lent (the numerator) but we didn't know what the secretive Soviets needed (the denominator). Using new evidence from previously-closed Russian archives and new research by native Russian historians, and offering gripping conclusions, Dr.
Weeks sets the record straight about this truly pivotal period of twentieth-century history.

Kenneth MacWilliams