This paper examines the United States’ involvement in South Asia during the Second World War. It traces the evolution of American policy towards India against the backdrop of the US grand strategy during the war and its plans for a post-war international order. In this context it analyzes the tensions between American attitudes towards the Indian freedom movement and wartime imperatives of collaborating with the British Empire. By bringing into focus America’s policy towards the region at a time when it rose to global preponderance, the paper casts into relief key longer-term determinants of the US’ engagement with the subcontinent.