Defending the West : The Truman-Churchill Correspondence, 1945-1960 [Hardcover]

This work provides a documentary record of the correspondence, official and private, between Harry S Truman and Winston Churchill, from Truman's accession to the presidency in April 1945. Official communications between the two resumed during Churchill's second premiership (1951-1955) and more personal correspondence would continue into Churchill's retirement. Subjects of note range from events surrounding German surrender to the Cold War.

Completing previously published wartime correspondence between Churchill and Roosevelt up to the latter's death in 1945, this material records the thoughts and decisions of Truman and Churchill from April 12, 1945, nearly a month before Germany's surrender, until Churchill's defeat in the General Election in late July at Potsdam, shortly before the dramatic close of the Pacific war against Japan little more than a fortnight later. The two would subsequently maintain personal contact, first as associates and later as friends, a situation shaped by their meeting at Fulton, Missouri, where Churchill would deliver his famed Iron Curtain speech.

G. W. Sandis adjunct professor of history at the Saint Louis College of Pharmacy. He holds a PhD in American and Modern European history from Saint Louis University. He has also been a member of the Liberal Arts faculty of Concordia University Wisconsin, St. Louis Center, since 1994, and is the author of two books in 20th century history and international relations. In 1999-2000, he was a visiting fellow at Churchill College, Cambridge, England.

Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Editor's Note
Introduction
The End of the Second World War
Ending the War in Europe
Preparing for Potsdam--and After
Cold War to the Korean War
Journey to Fulton, 1945-1946
The Cold War, 1947-1951
Churchill's Second Premiership
The Last Years
The Years 1953-1955
The Last Phase
Conclusion
Appendixes
Bibliographic Essay
Index