ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the United States’ involvement in South Asia during the Second World War. It traces the evolution of American policy towards India against the backdrop of US grand strategy during the war and its plans for a post-war international order. In this context it analyses the tensions between American attitudes towards the Indian freedom movement and war-time imperatives of collaborating with the British Empire. By bringing into focus America’s policy towards the region at a time when it rose to global preponderance, the chapter casts into relief key longer-term determinants of America’s engagement with the subcontinent.
