Rough & Harsh

Harry Truman's abrupt termination of Lend-Lease (TIME, Aug. 27) reverberated around the world. Most nations took it philosophically, but Britain was hurt and worried. The blow fell while Britain was tightening its belt against a winter of bleak prospects (see FOREIGN NEWS).

In the House of Commons, Prime Minister Clement Attlee, pale and plainly disquieted, officially broke the bad news, lamely admitted that Britain had not been prepared for it. Other Allied nations had seen it coming, but not Britain. It had come, the Prime Minister said, "without consultation and prior discussion."

To his rescue went Loyal Oppositionist Winston Churchill. He seconded the plea for no debate--"the utmost restraint must be exercised ... in all comments on the American situation at this time." Then Winston Churchill proceeded to comment: "I cannot believe that this is the last word of the United States. I cannot believe that so great a country . . . would proceed in such a rough and harsh manner."

Rough and harsh as the decision may have seemed to Britons (and to some U.S. worriers), it was apparently the last word on Lend-Lease. Harry Truman had long been on record that it would end when hostilities ended; that was the law's language--as official Britain well knew. Well did Britain also know that the machinery for continuing U.S. foreign aid had been set up in the Import-Export Bank (see BUSINESS). Leo Crowley's Foreign Economic Administration was geared to make such loans effective in less than 24 hours.

Psychological Effect. Reaction in the U.S. was almost all in President Truman's favor. Not a single Senator was publicly critical of the Administration's action; most editorialists praised it.

By week's end almost everyone realized that the President had not shut off U.S. aid to foreign countries. He had merely substituted one lending device for another. But the psychological effect of chopping off Lend-Lease was immense. The President had notified the world that the U.S. would not be played for a sucker. And he had bolstered his own reputation as a hard-headed Missourian who could be trusted to handle money in a businesslike way.

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