The Anglo-American alliance was the cornerstone of Churchill's policy after 1940, and from then on, the "special relationship" has always been a feature of Anglo-American relations. This study, based upon extensive work in American and British archives, strips away the myth surrounding this subject to reveal the unsentimental relaity. Churchill carried on the war in 1940 because he believed that the American help could save the British Empire, but this book argues that his faith was misplacecd. In the post-war period British politicians sought to escape from the uncomfortable reality that the war had made them and American "pensioner".