Uploaded April 2017 | Updated September 2026, 4 days ago
When the 20th century opened, Britain dominated world affairs, and America stood on the sidelines. Now their positions are reversed. This is the story of how it happened.
This is Part 3 of David Dimbleby's much acclaimed 1988 documentary in seven parts on British-American relations in the 20th century. Dimbleby explores the relationship between Great Britain and the United States from World War I to the 1980s, and examines the people, ideas, and events that have shaped the mutual history of the two nations.
Late in 1940, an American warship was dispatched to Cape Town. Its mission: to Pick up over E50 million in British gold. Though Britain was fighting alone against Hitler, Congress needed to be convinced that the imperial coffers were empty before it would approve further aid to Britain.
This episode about the 1930s and early 1940s tells the story of the impassioned, often bitter, debate that raged in the United States over whether America should get involved in another European war. While Charles Lindbergh encouraged U.S. neutrality, Franklin Roosevelt decides to aid Britain. US neutrality ends the night the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor. Churchill, as he put it, 'slept the sleep of the saved'.
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An Ocean Apart
Eminent British television journalist David Dimbleby presents this seven-part BBC documentary TV series from 1988 on the history of British-American relations from the beginning of the First World War and Wilson to the end of the Cold War and Thatcher. Produced by Adam Curtis.
Presented By: David Dimbleby
Editor: David Gladwell
Executive Producer: George Carey
Producer: Adam Curtis
Production assistant: Linda Parker
When the 20th century opened, Britain dominated world affairs, and America stood on the sidelines. Now their positions are reversed. This is the story of how it happened.
This is Part 3 of David Dimbleby's much acclaimed 1988 documentary in seven parts on British-American relations in the 20th century. Dimbleby explores the relationship between Great Britain and the United States from World War I to the 1980s, and examines the people, ideas, and events that have shaped the mutual history of the two nations.
Late in 1940, an American warship was dispatched to Cape Town. Its mission: to Pick up over E50 million in British gold. Though Britain was fighting alone against Hitler, Congress needed to be convinced that the imperial coffers were empty before it would approve further aid to Britain.
This episode about the 1930s and early 1940s tells the story of the impassioned, often bitter, debate that raged in the United States over whether America should get involved in another European war. While Charles Lindbergh encouraged U.S. neutrality, Franklin Roosevelt decides to aid Britain. US neutrality ends the night the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor. Churchill, as he put it, 'slept the sleep of the saved'.
----------------------------------
An Ocean Apart
Eminent British television journalist David Dimbleby presents this seven-part BBC documentary TV series from 1988 on the history of British-American relations from the beginning of the First World War and Wilson to the end of the Cold War and Thatcher. Produced by Adam Curtis.
Presented By: David Dimbleby
Editor: David Gladwell
Executive Producer: George Carey
Producer: Adam Curtis
Production assistant: Linda Parker
