As a kid, I believed it. As an adult who is extensively read on the subject, I know this is bullshit. We were a war weary country facing manpower and other issues. The only way we could have defeated Stalin's forces was to use nukes.
Not fair - FDR was very sick at Yalta and Stalin was able to put a wedge between him and Churchill. The US had grown suspicious of Churchill and had decided unilaterally that the British Empire was finished.
Britain couldn't afford to fight the Cold War much less a hot one. And now, 80 years later, the US seems to have surrendered to Russia after declaring the defeat of Communism just 30 short years ago.
The US was uniquely positioned to as the only power left standing after the war. Great Britain didn't stop rationing food until well after the war. There were massive programs of rebuilding necessary.
The empire itself was finished because Britain owed everybody untold amounts of money after fighting two world wars in the first half of the 20th Century. The US bankrolled Britain's efforts and in so doing took the Empire's place on the world stage.
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