The Lend-Lease Act was signed into law on March 11, 1941 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. This act set up a system that would allow the United States to lend or lease war supplies to any nation deemed vital to the defense of the United States. This letter from Tennessee Valley Authority's Chairman of the Board, David Lilienthal, to Harry Hopkins, the administrator of the Lend-Lease program, shows the introduction of TVA into the Soviet Lend-Lease program.