Thomas Sparks, age 16, of Reno, Nev., for his question:

WHAT WAS LEND LEASE?

Lend lease was a program of military and economic aid given by the United States to nations warring against the Axis powers in World War II. Despite the proclaimed neutrality of the U.S., Congress passed the Lend Lease Act of 1941 which empowered President Franklin D. Roosevelt to lend, sell, transfer title, exchange, lease or otherwise dispose of any defense article not expressly prohibited.

In addition to Great Britain, China and the USSR, 35 other governments received lend lease aid.

By August 1945, when the war ended, lend lease appropriations totaled about $48 billion. The U.S. had also received more than $6 billion in reverse lend lease.

Arrangements for the repayments by the recipient nations were begun shortly after hostilities ceased. Except for the Soviet debt, of which less than one third was repaid, repayment was virtually completed by the late 1960s.

The U.S., in 1972, accepted an offer by the Soviet Union to pay $722 million in installments through 2001 to settle the indebtedness.