Cash and carry was a policy requested by US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt at a special session of the United States Congress on September 21, 1939, subsequent to the outbreak of war in Europe. It replaced the Neutrality Acts of 1936. The revision allowed the sale of materiel to belligerents, as long as the recipients arranged for the transport using their own ships and paid immediately in cash, assuming all risk in transportation. However, the sale of war materials was not allowed.
Though "Cash and Carry" concepts had been introduced in the Neutrality Act of 1936, it only pertained to materials that could not be used in war efforts, which allowed them to aid warring countries. Originally presented to Congress by Senator Key Pittman (D-NV) earlier in 1939, the bill was designed to replace the Neutrality Act of 1937, which had lapsed in May 1939. The bill had been defeated repeatedly by the Senate and the House on more than one occasion as Isolationists feared that passing the bill would draw the US into the conflict in Europe. However, President Roosevelt felt that further help was needed in Europe after Germany invaded Poland in September 1939. The bill passed in late October, gaining approval from the House on November 5, 1939. The President gave his signature the same day.
The purpose of this policy was to maintain neutrality between the United States and European countries while giving aid to Britain by allowing them to buy non war materials. Various policies, such as the Neutrality Acts of 1935, 1936, and 1937, forbade selling implements of war or lending money to belligerent countries under any terms. The U.S. economy was rebounding at this time, following the Great Depression, but there was still a need for industrial manufacturing jobs. The cash and carry program helped to solve this issue and in turn Great Britain benefited from the purchase goods.
This program also prevented US businesses interests backing the success or failure of any warring nation. Because of the conclusion of the Nye Committee, which asserted that United States involvement in World War I was driven by private interests from arms manufacturers, many Americans believed that investment in a belligerent would eventually lead to American participation in war.
U.S. shipping interests were forbidden from entering into conflict zones and US passengers traveling on foreign ships did so at their own risk.
The "cash and carry" legislation enacted in 1939 effectively ended the arms embargo that had been in place since the Neutrality Act of 1936. It paved the way for Lend-Lease.