<P> Major links were created during the war, such as the Combined Chiefs of Staff . Britain, previously somewhat the senior partner, had found herself the junior beginning in 1941 . The diplomatic policy was thus two - pronged, encompassing strong personal support and equally forthright military and political aid . These two have always operated in tandem; that is to say, the best personal relationships between British prime ministers and American presidents have always been those based around shared goals . For example, Harold Wilson's government would not commit troops to Vietnam, and Wilson and Lyndon Johnson did not get on especially well . </P> <P> Peaks in the Special Relationship include the bonds between Harold Macmillan (who like Churchill had an American mother) and John F. Kennedy; between James Callaghan and Jimmy Carter, who were close personal friends despite their differences in personality; between Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan; and more recently between Tony Blair and both Bill Clinton and George W. Bush . Nadirs have included Dwight D. Eisenhower's opposition to U.K. operations in Suez under Anthony Eden and Harold Wilson's refusal to enter the war in Vietnam . </P> <P> When Winston Churchill entered the office of Prime Minister, Great Britain had already entered World War II . Immediately at the start of Churchill's Prime Ministership, the Battle of Dunkirk took place . </P> <P> Before Churchill's premiership, President Roosevelt had secretively been in frequent correspondence with him . Their correspondence had begun in September 1939, at the very start of World War II . In these private communications, the two had been discussing ways in which the United States might support Britain in their war effort . However, at the time when Winston Churchill assumed the office of Prime Minister, Roosevelt was nearing the end of his second term and making considerations of seeking election to an unprecedented third term (he would make no public pronouncements about this until the Democratic National Convention that year). From the United States' experience during the First World War, Roosevelt judged that involvement in the Second World War was likely to be an inevitability . This was a key reason for Roosevelt's decision to break from tradition and seek a third term . Roosevelt desired to be President when the United States would finally be drawn into entering the conflict . However, in order to win a third term, Roosevelt made the American people promises that he would keep them out of the war . </P>

When did the us and the uk become friends