The British Imperial Establishment, Post Imperial Era, and the ‘Churchillian’ World View, 1945-2016. (Adjustments & Challenges in Contemporary British Diplomatic Strategy)

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The
United States, being proud of having neither rivals nor colonies, had
not throughout her history
developed any real conception of inter-state relations.
“Not having known the realities that spring
from a constant struggle for national
self-preservation, the United States became a world power with a
historical
experience very different from that of the European states.”44

Additionally, Americans were brought up to distrust the very notion of
imperialism, whether they were
descendants of American revolutionaries or
refugees from the old tyrannies of the European continent.
Therefore, contrary to
the British, who in the previous century had considered themselves entitled
to
interference with slavery, the Americans regarded themselves as destined to lead
the way to
universal self-determination. This is to say that if America interferes
in other nations’ affairs it
is meant to free them from another state’s rule.

As a
result “the American certainly did not propose to support the British
Empire after the war, however
special the Special Relationship. ROOSEVELT
himself was a vehement critic of the Empire – ‘the
British would take land
anywhere in the world’, he once remarked, ‘even if it were only a rock or
a
sandbar’.”45 For example “as early as 1942 Roosevelt
was suggesting to Churchill
that India should be given immediate Dominion status, with freedom to
secede
from the Empire altogether.”46

But
it was in the winter and spring of 1943 that it became clear to the British
that colonial independence
was the explicit American goal. Of the several
discussions that the British Foreign Secretary, Anthony
Eden, had with the
American officials, one in particular brought out the President’s elaborate
ideas
for colonial reorganisation. President Roosevelt and the British Foreign Secretary
met on the
27th March 1943 in order to discuss the possible structure of the post-
war international organisation.
In that meeting Roosevelt insisted on the central
part of China as one of the four foundation members.
This made them discuss the
Far East’s future. It included the fate of the Japanese mandated islands.
Eden

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