During World War II the "special relationship" between the United States and Great Britain cemented the alliance that won the war. But the ultimate victory of that partnership has obscured many of the conflicts behind Franklin Roosevelt's grins and Winston Churchill's victory signs, the clashes of principles and especially personalities between and within the two nations. Synthesizing an impressive variety of sources from memoirs and letters to histories and biographies, Lewis Lehrman explains how the Anglo-American alliance worked--and occasionally did not work.

The Joseph Kennedy conundrum -- William J. Donovan and William Stephenson: master secret agents -- Roosevelt: his own secretary of state -- Roosevelt as commander in chief -- Harry Hopkins -- John Gilbert Winant -- Lord Beaverbrook -- Lord Lothian and Lord Halifax -- Pearl Harbor -- Anthony Eden -- George C. Marshall and Dwight D. Eisenhower -- Unsung stalwarts of the alliance -- W. Averell Harriman -- Edward Stettinius, Jr. -- Churchill and Roosevelt: increasingly suspicious -- Churchill and Roosevelt: increasingly exhausted -- The wages of war: health problems in the alliance -- Harry Dexter White and John Maynard Keynes -- The Soviet connection of Harry Dexter White -- The Morgenthau Plan -- Yalta and victory -- Epilogue: themes and conclusions.