Mellon vs. Churchill: The Untold Story of Treasury Titans at War

Eicher’s debut book shares the previously untold story of Winston Churchill and Andrew Mellon’s five meetings to work out an ongoing dispute over World War I debts that the UK and Europe owed to the United States. Eicher, a former U.S. Treasury specialist in credit risk, focuses on 1924–29, when businessman Mellon was the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, and Churchill was British Chancellor of the Exchequer. After the end of World War I, the U.S. advocated for no cancellation of debts of the Allies, whereas the Allied Forces called for the cancellation of debts. Great Britain was the United States’ biggest debtor, so Churchill launched a campaign that urged the U.S. to act on moral principles and cancel the debts. Eicher narrates how Mellon and Churchill, two very different individuals in personality and background, clashed on this point and never came to an agreement or understanding.