ABSTRACT
The scale of misapprehension is illustrated in a letter from Churchill to Roosevelt in August 1944, urging an Allied landing at the head of the Adriatic: "Tito's people will be waiting for us at Istria." In American intellectual circles, the concept of the Communists as friendly progressives was equally prevalent. In 1942 one fellow-traveller, Louis Adamic, having written a book favouring a more "progressive" policy towards liberated Europe, was invited to a dinner with Winston Churchill at the White House. During a private conversation after the meal, Mrs Roosevelt expressed the view that, in Europe as elsewhere, Churchill was more of a threat to freedom than Stalin. In May 1944, when the choice for the partisans and against the Chetniks had already been made, Churchill invited Hudson, the man who had served with both Mihailovic and Tito, to Chequers for a private chat.
