March 8, 1941 Lend Lease passes the Senate

 The Senate passed the Lend Lease Act by a comfortable majority.

Studebaker 6x6, a truck that was heavily supplied to the Soviet Union via Lend Lease.

We dealt with this before, but when we did it was in the context of the House of Representatives passing the bill.  Now it had passed Congress and would go on to be enacted into law on March 11, 1941.

The passage reflected a major shift in American official policy at this point in the war.  At first the US  had been officially neutral and now, while not a belligerent, the US was far from neutral.  The Lend Lease Act put U.S. industry into the war as part of the Allied logistical chain, and one that was free from direct Axis attack at the production end.

Common recollection would hold, as we know, that the Allied cause was at its darkest hour at this point in the war, and there were those who viewed it that way. But in reality, at this point the British were holding their own as were the Greeks.  The British, as of the day prior, were back on continental Europe with a military expedition force in Greece, suggesting that at least they viewed their chances as sufficiently good to commit forces there in spite of already being fully engaged in Africa.

The Luftwaffe hit the UK hard on this day, and baseball was hit by conscription.  You can read more about that here:

Today in World War II History—March 8, 1941

and here:

The Café de Paris bomb