CHATHAM HOUSE, WHITEHALL, AND FAR EASTERN ISSUES: 1941-45.

IN one of its aspects, the essay that follows is a brief exploration of a little-known side of reactions within Britain to the war against Japan between 1941 and 1945, and to Anglo-American relations in the context of that conflict. At the same time, however, it seeks to raise certain questions concerning the degree of independence that the Royal Institute of International Affairs was able to preserve within the special circumstances of the war years, and to ask whether, with particular regard to the Far East, the Institute can be said to have had any significant influence on the policies of the British government. Finally, it is hoped that, in the process of pursuing both these lines of inquiry, some indication will emerge of ways in which documentary material existing in the archives of Chatham House (especially when used in conjunction with papers in the Public Record Office in London and in official and private collections abroad) provides an insight into various ideas about aspects of international affairs that were being discussed at some time in the past among members of the 'attentive' and 'opinion-forming' publics,[1] both within and outside Britain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]