Notes

We were unable to sell goods to other countries as a result of the neutrality acts. The law was changed to allow us to sell to the United Kingdom and France. The first of them, passed in 1935, prohibited the US from supplying weapons to countries at war. The second, passed in 1936, prohibited financing to such countries. The third, passed in 1937, allowed nonmilitary commodities trade with belligerent nations as long as they paid cash and carried the shipment themselves.

However, because we did not export to other countries, it did not work in keeping the United States impartial. The Neutrality Acts made it illegal for the US to sell armaments to countries that were attempting to protect themselves against aggression. As FDR later pointed out, the Neutrality Acts encouraged aggression by doing so.

Roosevelt believed that some countries were our allies and that he wanted to assist them in the event that the United States entered the war. He requested that they enact this bill so that he can begin sending aid to the United Kingdom.

The United States had signed a trade agreement with Japan. Relations between Japan and the United States stifled cross-border trade and stifled Japan's expansion. In addition, American specialists had deciphered a top-secret Japanese code that led to the attack on Pearl Harbor.