Historians have always paid special attention to the Roosevelt-Churchill friendship . They also have explored how the two men dealt with Joseph Stalin , the Soviet dictator . Roosevelt and Churchill met in person 11 times ; otherwise they exchanged 1700 cables and letters ' they even made some international phone calls . Roosevelt also sent top aides , especially Harry Hopkins and to a lesser extent W. Averell Harriman . Harriman accompanied Churchill to the Moscow Conference in 1942 to explain to Stalin why the western allies were carrying out operations in North Africa instead of opening the promised second front in France . Harriman was appointed as Ambassador to the USSR in 1943 . Churchill ran a coalition government , with all parties represented . He dominated his War Cabinet . Clement Attlee , the leader of the Labour party , was Deputy Prime Minister and handled practically all domestic affairs . He did so very quietly , usually backstage . Churchill , like Roosevelt , relied on charisma and a very strong public image , to rally public opinion . Churchill handled all the top foreign policy decisions himself , with his Foreign Minister Anthony Eden taking charge only of lower visibility issues . Churchill made himself Ministry of Defence , And repeatedly interfered and reshaped and argued with his chiefs of staff . Historians generally agree with the quality of Churchill 's wartime leadership , often emphasizing his remarkable success in obtaining American support . Richard Wilkinson , who is more critical than most historians , nevertheless argues :
Moscow Conference in 1942
Moscow Conference (1942)
United Kingdom–United States relations in World War II