During World War II there was very little cooperation between the United States and Great Britain in dealings with the Soviet Union. Before the conference at Tehran the British wanted to meet with the Americans to “decide on tactics and strategy before meeting the Russians.” The Americans refused because they thought “’it would be a terrible mistake if [Stalin] thought [they] had ganged up on him on military action.’” Americans (and Roosevelt in particular) most likely wanted to gain the trust of the Russian government and felt that they couldn’t do this if they worked too closely with the British. This was shown at Tehran when Roosevelt not only limited coordination between the British and Americans but even went so far as to physically
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Whether or not this should be seen as a breakdown in cooperation between the British and Americans is a matter of one’s own opinion. In the meetings in which all three leaders were present, Roosevelt did not consistently support either Stalin or Churchill. It’s important to realize that Roosevelt wasn’t obligated to agree with every strategy that Churchill proposed at these meetings. Therefore the lack of uniformity when it came to views on strategy did not represent a lack of cooperation. Roosevelt was almost certainly aware of the paranoia of the General Secretary. He didn’t just refuse to form a united front, but also refused to send joint messages to Stalin as well. When Churchill wanted to send a joint message to the Russians making clear the American and British views on the Warsaw rising, Roosevelt replied that “[he did] not consider it advantageous to the long-range general war prospect for [him] to join with [Churchill] in the proposed message to U.J.” U.J stands for Uncle Joe which was Roosevelt’s nickname for Stalin. The president may have deliberately limited cooperation with the British in order to avoid poisoning relations with the Russians. Newspapers on the Tehran conference reveal nothing about any tension between the different
Whether or not this should be seen as a breakdown in cooperation between the British and Americans is a matter of one’s own opinion. In the meetings in which all three leaders were present, Roosevelt did not consistently support either Stalin or Churchill. It’s important to realize that Roosevelt wasn’t obligated to agree with every strategy that Churchill proposed at these meetings. Therefore the lack of uniformity when it came to views on strategy did not represent a lack of cooperation. Roosevelt was almost certainly aware of the paranoia of the General Secretary. He didn’t just refuse to form a united front, but also refused to send joint messages to Stalin as well. When Churchill wanted to send a joint message to the Russians making clear the American and British views on the Warsaw rising, Roosevelt replied that “[he did] not consider it advantageous to the long-range general war prospect for [him] to join with [Churchill] in the proposed message to U.J.” U.J stands for Uncle Joe which was Roosevelt’s nickname for Stalin. The president may have deliberately limited cooperation with the British in order to avoid poisoning relations with the Russians. Newspapers on the Tehran conference reveal nothing about any tension between the different