BLOOMBERG NEWS SERVICE
December 29, 2006
Britain will transfer $84 million to the U.S. Treasury today, the final payment on a debt used to finance the defeat of Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany in World War II.
The U.S. extended $4.34 billion in credit in 1945, allowing Britain to stave off bankruptcy after devoting almost all its resources to the war for half a decade. Since 1950, Britain has made payments on the debt at the end of every year except six.
Advertisement At the time it was granted, the loan strained trans-Atlantic relations. British politicians expected a gift in recognition of their contribution to the war effort, especially for the lives lost before the United States entered the war after Pearl Harbor.
“The U.S. didn't seem to realize that Britain was bankrupt,†said Alan Sked, a historian at the London School of Economics. The loan was “denounced in the House of Lords, but in the end, the country had no choice.â€
The loan was double the size of the British economy at the time.
Proud Daughter of Walter (Monday) Poniedzialek
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