Churchill, Roosevelt and the
"Grand Alliance"
World War Two and Anglo-American
relations
WW2 & US / UK
Roosevelt wrote to Churchill at the very
beginning of the war:
"My dear Churchill,
It is because you and I occupied similar positions
in the World War that I want you to know how
glad I am that you are back again in the Admiralty
... I shall at all times welcome it if you will keep
me in touch personally with anything you want
me to know about" (Sept 11 1939)
WW2 & US / UK
The two men continued corresponding throughout
the war
Churchill "former naval person"
WW2 & US / UK
The United States began the war on a strongly
isolationist footing.
Many saw the war between Germany, Britain and
France as a resumption of the "European Civil
War" which had begun in 1914 and which had
ultimately required US involvement (contrary to
the principles of the Montoe Doctrine). The
"America First" movement campaigned hard and
effectively to keep the US out.
WW2 & US / UK
A number of Neutrality Acts were passed to
restrict arms sales to belligerents. 1935, 1936,
1937 and 1939.
However 1939 Act allowed "cash and carry": i.e.
British could buy from US in cash and transport
the matériel themselves.
The burden soon became difficult to bear.
WW2 & US / UK
Phoney War (though naval engagements ...)
Churchill became PM on May 10. End of phoney
war: German invasion of Low Countries and
France. With the evacuation of Dunkirk in May
1940 and the unexpected collapse of France in
June (surrender 17 June), Britain found itself
standing alone.
http://www.winstonchurchill.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=393
WW2 & US / UK
Britain needed resources fast and, facing a very
real threat of invasion, spared no effort to
mobilise energies behind defence.
WW2 & US / UK
Keynes threw fiscal rectitude to the winds.
Churchill realized US essential.
Bases for destroyers. Criticised.
WW2 & US / UK
The Secretary of State (Hull) to the British Ambassador (Lothian),
Department of State, Washington, September 2, 1940.
" ... I have received your note of September 2, 1940, of which the text is
as follows:
I have the honour under instructions from His Majesty's Principal
Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs to inform you that in view of the
friendly and sympathetic interest of His Majesty's Government in the
United Kingdom in the national security of the United States and their
desire to strengthen the ability of the United States to cooperate
effectively with the other nations of the Americas in the defence of the
Western Hemisphere, His Majesty's Government will secure the grant to
the Government of the United States, freely and without consideration, of
the lease for immediate Establishment and use of naval and air bases
and facilities for entrance thereto and the operation and protection
thereof, on the Avalon Peninsula and on the southern coast of
Newfoundland, and on the east coast and on the Great Bay of Bermuda.
WW2 & US / UK
Furthermore, in view of the above and in view of the desire of the United
States to acquire additional air and naval bases in the Caribbean and in
British Guiana, and without endeavouring to place a monetary or
commercial value upon the many tangible and intangible rights and
properties involved, His Majesty's Government will make available to the
United States for immediate establishment and use naval and air bases
and facilities for entrance thereto and the operation and protection
thereof, on the eastern side of the Bahamas, the southern coast of
Jamaica, the western coast of St. Lucia, the west coast of Trinidad in the
Gulf of Paria, in the island of Antigua and in British Guiana within fifty
miles of Georgetown, in exchange for naval and military equipment and
material which the United States Government will transfer to His
Majesty's Government.
WW2 & US / UK
All the bases and facilities referred to in the preceding paragraphs will be
leased to the United States for a period of ninety- nine years, free from
all rent and charges other than such compensation to be mutually
agreed on to be paid by the United States in order to compensate the
owners of private property for loss by expropriation or damage arising
out of the establishment of the bases and facilities in question.
His Majesty's Government, in the leases to be agreed upon, will grant to
the United States for the period of the leases all the rights, power, and
authority within the bases leased, and within the limits of the territorial
waters and air spaces adjacent to or in the vicinity of such bases,
necessary to provide access to and defence of such bases, and
appropriate provisions for their control.
WW2 & US / UK
Without prejudice to the above-mentioned rights of the United States
authorities and their jurisdiction within the leased areas, the adjustment
and reconciliation between the jurisdiction of the authorities of the United
States within these areas and the jurisdiction of the authorities of the
territories in which these areas are situated, shall be determined by
common agreement.
The exact location and bounds of the aforesaid bases, the necessary
seaward, coast and anti-aircraft defences, the location of sufficient
military garrisons, stores and other necessary auxiliary facilities shall be
determined by common agreement. His Majesty's Government are
prepared to designate immediately experts to meet with experts of the
United States for these purposes. Should these experts be unable to
agree in any particular situation, except in the case of Newfoundland and
Bermuda, the matter shall be settled by the Secretary of State of the
United States and His Majesty's Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
WW2 & US / UK
I am directed by the President to reply to your note as follows: The
Government of the United States appreciates the declarations and the
generous action of His Majesty's Government as contained in your
communication which are destined to enhance the national security of
the United States and greatly to strengthen its ability to cooperate
effectively with the other nations of the Americas in the defense of the
Western Hemisphere. It therefore gladly accepts the proposals.
The Government of the United States will immediately designate experts
to meet with experts designated by His Majesty's Government to
determine upon the exact location of the naval and air bases mentioned
in your communication under acknowledgment.
In consideration of the declarations above quoted, the Government of
the United States will immediately transfer to His Majesty's Government
fifty United States Navy' destroyers generally referred to as the twelve
hundred-ton type. ..."
WW2 & US / UK
Give us the tools
http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/churchill/images/wc0113s.jpg
Lend-lease: the "most unsordid act in history"?
Lend Lease Act 11 March 1941
http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq59-23.htm
but in return for US aid, a number of conditions.
Master lend-lease agreement Feb 23 1942
http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/decade/decade04.htm
WW2 & US / UK
22 June 1941 - Hitler orders attack on the Soviet
Union.
Atlantic Charter, 14 August 1941.
intensive talks on board the American cruiser, USS Augusta, and the
British battleship, HMS Prince of Wales, anchored in Placentia Bay in
Newfoundland.
WW2 & US / UK
WW2 & US / UK
The Atlantic Charter
"The President of the United States of America and the
Prime Minister, Mr. Churchill, representing His Majesty's
Government in the United Kingdom, being met together,
deem it right to make known certain common principles in
the national policies of their respective countries on which
they base their hopes for a better future for the world."
WW2 & US / UK
First, their countries seek no aggrandizement, territorial or other;
Second, they desire to see no territorial changes that do not accord with
the freely expressed wishes of the peoples concerned;
Third, they respect the right of all peoples to choose the form of
government under which they will live; and they wish to see
sovereign rights and self government restored to those who have
been forcibly deprived of them;
WW2 & US / UK
Fourth, they will endeavor, with due respect for their existing obligations,
to further the enjoyment by all States, great or small, victor or
vanquished, of access, on equal terms, to the trade and to the raw
materials of the world which are needed for their economic prosperity;
Fifth, they desire to bring about the fullest collaboration between all
nations in the economic field with the object of securing, for all,
improved labor standards, economic advancement and social
security;
WW2 & US / UK
Sixth, after the final destruction of the Nazi tyranny, they hope to see
established a peace which will afford to all nations the means of dwelling
in safety within their own boundaries, and which will afford assurance
that all the men in all the lands may live out their lives in freedom from
fear and want;
Seventh, such a peace should enable all men to traverse the high seas
and oceans without hindrance;
WW2 & US / UK
Eighth, they believe that all of the nations of the world, for realistic as
well as spiritual reasons must come to the abandonment of the use of
force. Since no future peace can be maintained if land, sea or air
armaments continue to be employed by nations which threaten, or may
threaten, aggression outside of their frontiers, they believe, pending the
establishment of a wider and permanent system of general security, that
the disarmament of such nations is essential. They will likewise aid and
encourage all other practicable measures which will lighten for peaceloving peoples the crushing burden of armaments.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Winston S. Churchill
WW2 & US / UK
Pearl Harbor (7 Dec 1941) - US joins war, after
surprise Japanese attack. WW2 becomes truly
world war.
WW2 & US / UK
Joint Chiefs of Staff (regular meetings to organise
running of the war).
Friction over strategy.
British presence in Indian Ocean gravely
compromised. "Three-ocean war" impossible.
Singapore (Feb 14 1942)
WW2 & US / UK
At last success in North Africa: El Alamein
November 1942.
WW2 & US / UK
Tube Alloys and the Manhattan Project
In the 1930s Britain led the field in research into
nuclear physics. On the suggestion of nuclear
scientists a letter was sent to Roosevelt to indicate
potential for a super bomb. In 1942 US suggested
research be carried out in US: the Manhattan
project. The British called it Tube Alloys.
WW2 & US / UK
Quebec agreement 19 August 1943* and aidemémoire 19 Sept 1944 after discussions at
Roosevelt's apartment at Hyde Park, New York
"Full collaboration between the United States and the British
Government in developing tube alloys for military and commercial
purposes should continue after the defeat of Japan unless and until
terminated by joint agreement" DBPO I, vol. 2, London: HMSO,
p. 516
* www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/wwii/quebec/q002.htm
WW2 & US / UK
Intelligence:
The British had (with the help notably of a Polish
contingent, decoded ENIGMA. In 1943 (British
and United States Agreement) was signed.
Principle of JIC (Joint Intelligence Committee)
system adopted by American intelligence services.
Bletchley Park http://www.gchq.gov.uk/about/bletchley.html
(Echelon) http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/503224.stm
and EU report http://www.fas.org/irp/program/process/rapport_echelon_en.pdf
WW2 & US / UK
The beginning of the end?
Conferences.
Big Three or Big Two and a half?
US / UK
First use of the expression Special Relationship:
Letter from R.M.K. Slater, Foreign Office, to Rt. Hon.
Arthur Henderson, MP, 5 May 1965, PRO FO 371/179574
"You asked for a brief note on the origin of the term
‘Special Relationship’.
As far as we can discover the phrase was first used by the
late Sir Winston Churchill in the House of Commons on 7
November, 1945. In the course of his speech, in which he
outlined some suggested principles for British foreign
policy, he said :
US / UK
‘May I in conclusion submit to the House a few simple points
which, it seems to me, should gain its approval ? First, we should
fortify in every way our special and friendly connections with the
United States, aiming always at a fraternal association for the
purpose of common protection and world peace. Secondly this
association should in no way have a point against any other
country, great or small, in the world, but should, on the country, be
used to draw the leading victorious Powers ever more closely
together on equal terms and in all good faith and good will.
Thirdly, we should not abandon our special relationship with the
United States and Canada about the atomic bomb, and we should
aid the United States to guard this weapon as a sacred trust for the
maintenance of peace.’
US / UK
As you will see the connotation of this term has changed during
the past 20 years and has been misconstrued to imply that there is
some kind of preferential relationship between this country and the
U.S.A. This is certainly not our view. The ‘special relationship’ is a
fact, e.g. we speak the same language and have the same cultural
antecedents ; a ‘preferential relationship’ is part of popular
mythology and is frequently put up as a cock-shy to enable its
detractors to knock it down."
US / UK
Post-war friction:
Cessation of lend-lease and "financial Dunkirk"
"American loan"
McMahon Act
US / UK
Official announcement end of lend-lease 21
August 1945.
British sent a team of negotiators to Washington:
"Our delegation originally went to Washington in the hope that
they would be able to secure from the United States a broad and
generous settlement which would take account of our financial
sacrifices during the war and permit us to join freely with them in
promoting a world-wide commercial expansion. We had hoped at
best for a grant in aid of $5,000,000,000 and at the worst an
interest-free loan for this amount. » DBPO, I, vol IV, p. 23
US / UK
"American loan"
Difficult negotiations: agreement only signed 7 Dec
1945. Loan $3.75 billion dollars, at 2%, to be repaid over
50 years and on condition Britain agree to converttibility
one year after final signature, i.e. July 1947. US also
liquidated lend-lease debt for $650 million. The
Economist felt that it was galling after having sacrificed a
quarter of the country's wealth to fight the war to have to
give money to a country which had proposered a sa result
of the war. Vote in Commons only 343 to 200, with 169
absentions. Conservative MP talked of an
"economic Munich".
US / UK
US, UK and the bomb
Oct 1945 Truman declared US would share atomic
secrets with no-one, but would keep the bomb in trust for
humanity. Aug 1946 McMahon Act forbade any sharing
of atomic secrets.
26 Oct 1946 Bevin is quoted a having said " … we’ve
got to have this … We’ve got to have the bloody Union
Jack flying on it." Attlee felt that there were so many
areas of tension between US and UK that Britain had to
have its own bomb or find itself entirely in US hands.
Britain made its own A-bomb.
US / UK
Military cooperation: Joint Chiefs of Staff wanted
to continue even though there was reluctance
politically to do so publicly:
"Joint Staff Mission (Washington) to Cabinet Office
Immediate. Top SecretWashington, 9 February 1946, 10.33
p.m.
We had lunch with the United States Chiefs of Staff
yesterday and a very good informal discussion afterwards.
US / UK
We explained how anxious you were that collaboration in
all fields of service interest should continue and the
United States Chiefs of Staff spoke emphatically in the
same vein. They said they wanted collaboration to
continue in peace on exactly the same scale as it had in
war and in all the same fields (i.e. exchange of views on
policy, together with collaboration in the technical,
scientific, tactical doctrine, intelligence and training
fields).
US / UK
After much deliberation, however, they said that they had
come to the conclusion that it will be impossible for them
to obtain permission to continue this collaboration openly
for an indefinite period. They were all emphatically of
the opinion that while they wished to extend to us the
privilege of a ‘most favoured nation’ and hoped that we
would do the same for them, it would be impossible for
the United States administration to recognise officially a
special degree of United States/British collaboration.
US / UK
So much now has been said about UNO and the need for
collaboration with everyone on an equal footing, that the American
people simply would not understand discrimination in our favour.
The Combined Chiefs of Staff machinery as a formal expression of
this collaboration would therefore have to go underground when
peace conditions are resumed in the United States and our war
commitments are liquidated … Leahy, Eisenhower and Nimitz
(Spaatz was not present) were all firmly of this opinion.
They were equally of strong opinion, however, that ways and
means should be found for continuing full collaboration under
cover of other activities …" DBPO I vol IV, p. 93-94
US / UK
Fulton Missouri: the Sinews of Peace, the Iron
Curtain and the Special Relationship.
5 March 1946
Truman had invited Churchill to give speech.
Theme: US - UK alliance necessary to secure
world peace against background of risk of Societ
expansionism. Cool, if not downright hostile,
response from US press.
US / UK
Palestine
Britain had mandate from UN, following League
of Nations mandate before the war. Commitment
to respect Arab interests. Balfour declaration
Jewish homeland. Incompatible?
Post war Jewish / Zionist pressure for Jewish
state. Terrorism in Palestine (Irgun).
British limited Jewish entry, Arabs feared they
would become a minority.
US / UK
Palestine
US keen to help Jewish settlement in Palestine.
Tension. Creation Anglo-American Committee of
Enquiry regarding the problems of European
Jewry and Palestine, report published July 1946.
Truman insisted 100,000 a year and was quick to
show US support for this and creation state of
Israel.
US / UK
Attlee was furious.
"I have received with great regret your letter refusing
even a few hours grace to the Prime Minister of the
country which has the actual responsibility for the
government of Palestine in order that he might acquaint
you with the actual situation and the probable results of
your action. These may well include frustration of the
patient efforts to achieve a settlement and the loss of still
more lives in Palestine."
FRUS 1946, vol 7, 704-5, cité dans Alan Bullock, op. cit., p.305
US / UK
Greece, Turkey and the Truman doctrine
Britain had commitments to defend Greece and Turkey
("Southern Tier") which it was finding increasingly
difficult to sustain. Arranged for US to take over.
Astonishingly smooth.
Truman doctrine.
http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/trudoc.htm
US / UK
US / UK
Cold War. Increasing polarisation. But Attlee still
had doubts. On 1 Dec 1946 he wrote to Bevin:
"Of course it is difficult to tell how far Russian
policy is dictated by expansionism and how far by
fear of attack by the U.S. and ourselves. Fantastic
as this is, it may well be the real grounds for
Russian policy … "
Attlee to Bevin, 1 December 1946, PRO FO 800/475/ME/46/22,
quoted in Alan Bullock, p.340
US / UK
Meanwhile in 1947 Britain, probably
overestimating the extent of its immediate
recovery from the war, honoured its promise to
make sterling convertible. However this led to a
fast drain on Britain's reserves and convertibility
was suspended later in 1947.
US / UK
Marshall Plan
Under-Secretary of State Dean Acheson spoke of poverty
and distress in Europe: seeds of discontent.
8 May 1947. Secretary of State General George Marshall
5 June 1947 at Harvard. Acheson had tipped off British
journalists about importance of speech, summed up in
BBC report on the radio, which Bevin listened to. Bevin
saw importance of " … the initiative, I think, must come
from Europe". http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1947marshallplan1.html
US / UK
Marshall Plan
Bevin later told journalists:
I assure you gentlemen … it was like a life-line to sinking men. It
seemed to bring hope where there was none. The generosity of it
was beyond belief. It expressed a mutual thing. It was ‘Try and
help yourselves and we will try to see what we can do. Try and do
the thing collectively and we will see what we can put into the
pool.’ I think you understand why, therefore, we responded with
such alacrity and why we grabbed the life-line with both hands. »
Alan Bullock, p.405
US / UK
Prague coup, 25 February 1948
Seen in the West as an example of Soviet opportunist
expansionism. In the reading The Soviet Union had taken
advantage of political instability, exacerbated by
economic weakness, to seize control in Czechoslovakia.
US / UK
Marshall Plan
With Bevin's active support an organisation was
created in Paris on 16 April 1948 by UK, Benelux and
France to coordinate European response:
OEEC (Organization for European Economic
Cooperation)
OECE (Organisation Européenne de Coopération
Economique).
http://www.oecd.org/document/48/0,2340,en_2649_201185_1876912_1_1_1_1,00.html
US / UK
June 1948, US and UK signed "UKUSA SIGINT"
agreement (UK and USA Signals Intelligence).
US / UK
European defence
March 1947 Treaty of Dunkirk (France)
March 1948 Treaty of Brussels (Benelux)
Berlin blockade and airlift 1948-1949
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_Blockade
US / UK
In 1949 the Soviet Union exploded its first atom
bomb. Apparently this was facilitated by
espionage. Klaus Fuchs.
China's nationalists under Chiang Kai Shek were
losing the battle. The US was supplying arms
which were almost immediately falling into
communist hands. In 1949 Mao Zedong took
effective control of the mainland (PRC)
US / UK
Britain quite rapidly agreed to recognise--at least
de facto--the new PRC (Jan 1950). Wanted to
"keep a foot in the door" and not send China into
Stalin's waiting arms. Wanted to keep some kind
of communication and trade. Britain didn't really
believe the Chinese would go collectivist ...
The US was--at least outwardly--furious.
US / UK
NATO (4 April 1949)
http://www.nato.int/docu/basictxt/treaty.htm
Global strategy
see DBPO series 2 vol IV
The British Commonwealth and the
Continental Powers, whether individually or
collectively, cannot fight Russia except in
alliance with the United States: nor could the
United States fight Russia without the help of
the British Commonwealth.
Financial weakness
Although the Marshall plan provided $1.26
billion in aid, speculative pressure increased on
the pound and in 1949 sterling was devalued
from $4 to the pound to $2.80, a reduction of
over 30 percent.
This made imports more expensive and put even
more pressure on domestic consumption
("austerity"), and was moreover felt to be
something of a humiliation. However it seems to
have provided the stimulus for durable recovery.
US / UK
Korean War
… underneath the thoughts and emotions engendered at times by
difficulties and disagreements between us and them there is a
steady and unquestioning assumption that we are the only
dependable ally and partner. This derives from our position in the
world over past decades, our partnership with them in two world
wars and their judgement of the British character. The Americans
in Korea will be in a tough spot for a long time. They look round
for their partner.
US / UK
Korean War
… The United States Administration know that out economy is
only just recovering to sustain our commitments. They know we
have these commitments all over the world. They know that in
many of them, especially in the Far East, we are taking a heavy
load in the same struggle. nevertheless, the United States
Administration faces and shares the expectation of the American
people that we shall show we are with them on the ground in
Korea. Oliver Franks, DBPO II, vol 4, p.77