cover image Menzies & Churchill at War: A Controversial New Account of the 1941 Struggle for Power

Menzies & Churchill at War: A Controversial New Account of the 1941 Struggle for Power

David Day. Paragon House Publishers, $0 (271pp) ISBN 978-0-913729-93-9

Australian historian Day presents startling evidence that Australian prime minister Robert Menzies sought to remove Winston Churchill from power during World War II. Early in the war Menzies believed that Churchill was about to subordinate Britain in an alliance with the Americans that would supersede the Empirethat he was ""selling out'' Great Britain to ensure victory over the Nazis. Menzies favored a negotiated peace. Angered by Churchill's unwillingness to divert defense resources to Australia and shaken by Britain's military defeats in Greece and the Middle East, Menzies agitated for a Dominion-inclusive war cabinet in London. As a member of that cabinet he hoped to remove Churchill from his position of undisputed power and rescue the Empire from apparent catastrophe. Day describes how Churchill, with the crucial support of Canadian prime minister Mackenzie King, blocked Menzies' path before the imminent showdown. Photos. (November 5)