Cutting the Gordian Knot: Reassessing Australia's Lend-Lease Settlement1

IF 0.6 4区 社会学 Q1 HISTORY Australian Journal of Politics and History Pub Date : 2023-05-21 DOI:10.1111/ajph.12894
Mark Clayton
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Abstract

During the Second World War, Australia received almost $2 billion worth of Lend-Lease aid from the United States — the largest foreign debt ever incurred by the Commonwealth. The settlement terms for this debt, however, were never defined or discussed during that conflict, remaining “an uncertain obligation to be assessed by an unknown person on an unspecified day of judgment.”2 This paper examines the economic, military, and geopolitical factors that shaped Australia's Lend-Lease Settlement Agreement of June 1946. It focusses on the military aircraft which accounted for a quarter of this foreign debt. The least saleable of all Lend-Lease surpluses, these also proved the most challenging for US and Australian negotiators. Having contested initial US claims and secured sizeable debt reductions, Lend-Lease settlement was trumpeted by the Chifley government as a great diplomatic success. Findings from this investigation indicate instead that Australia's Lend-Lease settlement terms were restrictive, and possibly punitive, having been substantially determined by US domestic and partisan-political considerations. Moreover, these details and their significant implications were withheld from the public, the media, and the parliamentary opposition in the months leading to the September 1946 federal election.

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快刀斩乱麻:重新评估澳大利亚的租借协议1
第二次世界大战期间,澳大利亚从美国获得了价值近 20 亿美元的租借援助--这是澳大利亚联邦有史以来最大的一笔外债。然而,这笔债务的清偿条款在冲突期间从未被确定或讨论过,仍然是 "一项不确定的义务,由一个不知名的人在不确定的审判日进行评估"。本文的重点是占这笔外债四分之一的军用飞机。在所有租借法案盈余中,军用飞机最不容易出售,这也是美国和澳大利亚谈判人员面临的最大挑战。由于对美国最初的要求提出了质疑,并确保了可观的债务削减,奇夫利政府大肆宣扬租借法案的解决取得了巨大的外交成功。调查结果表明,澳大利亚的租借法案和解条款是限制性的,甚至可能是惩罚性的,在很大程度上是由美国国内和党派政治因素决定的。此外,在 1946 年 9 月联邦大选之前的几个月里,这些细节及其重大影响都被隐瞒,没有向公众、媒体和议会反对党公布。
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来源期刊
CiteScore
0.60
自引率
12.50%
发文量
59
期刊介绍: The Australian Journal of Politics and History presents papers addressing significant problems of general interest to those working in the fields of history, political studies and international affairs. Articles explore the politics and history of Australia and modern Europe, intellectual history, political history, and the history of political thought. The journal also publishes articles in the fields of international politics, Australian foreign policy, and Australia relations with the countries of the Asia-Pacific region.
期刊最新文献
Issue Information Issue Information Western Australia July to December 2023 Commonwealth of Australia July to December 2023 Issues in Australian Foreign Policy July to December 2023
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