One of the most poignant passages of Churchill's history is reciting a very candid letter to Roosevelt describing in detail how Britain was broke and unable to continue the war on a cash basis. IIRC, Roosevelt was on a ship and spent a lot of time re-reading the letter and thinking. His brainstorm was Lend-Lease. I suppose Truman was privy to none of that history, but suddenly cutting off aid meant some hard years for Britain.
For a time the Brits carried the torch of Western Civilization all alone and in my opinion deserved some consideration for that.
Made acute by their turn to the bleak existence of socialism.
EternalVigilance: Made acute by their turn to the bleak existence of socialism.
CS Lewis' biography frequently documents his keen appreciation, post-war, of food often mailed to him in Great Britain from appreciative Americans.
I can’t help but thinking that Churchill, instead of publicly protesting American action, would have begun with a persuasive private communication celebrating their shared desire for Britain to stand on her own as soon as possible, mentioning all of the critical mutual initiatives and the incipient progress on them that was being held up by his having to turn his attention to domestic affairs, which he would lay out transparently.
Churchill was not only able to see the world from the viewpoints of those he was negotiating with, but to communicate from within those viewpoints.
Speculation:
Was the move a punishment for voting out Churchill and putting in the Socialists? Doesn't seem reasonable given the number of socialist new dealers in the administration, but perhaps Truman was trying to assert some control over the Rooseveltites.
Alternative theory: weaken the Brits to help out the Soviets.