"America = bad" while a good rule of thumb, is not a correct understanding of history. Mid-war is different from the late 30s for starters, but more than that, the war made it obvious that the British Raj could not last. American self-image was that of a liberator, even if we literally were retaking colonies Japan had taken from us, and on some level we believed it so long as it didn't challenge OUR hegemony.
This is why the US initially backed Ho Chi Minh, and FDR was strongly in support of Indian independence. When you are not the profiteer, it is easier to see the injustice and what has to be done. The US pressured Churchill during the war to give India independence, which incensed Churchill, but he played along by the end. Some of his more sympathetic quotes about India come in memos the US would read, so he actively tried not to seem craven.
Not only can state actors be contradictory, I wouldn't even call sending aid to India a contradiction here. US support for India was not exactly a secret, heck US troops had been advised to not harm or harass Indian troops of the Indian National Army who had joined the Axis powers in Thailand and Myanmar, but rather to treat them better than the British in order to prove the Allies where not all like the UK. Which certainly helped negotiations become an actual reality, as opposed to cutting a deal with the British
There's also the fact that a US helmed by FDR was probably the least willfully malicious it's ever been (excepting, possibly, the Lincoln administration). FDR was a racist socdem shit, but comparatively moderate beside the extremely racist hyper-capitalist (or aristocratic slaver, before that) shits that were in charge at all other times. Had he survived longer it's even conceivable the Cold War would have been averted or delayed, though it's likely that his successors would have pivoted to imperialist aggression immediately regardless of how much relations between the US and USSR warmed.
People sometimes forget that liberals can be genuine ideologues and not just cynical opportunists.
"America = bad" while a good rule of thumb, is not a correct understanding of history. Mid-war is different from the late 30s for starters, but more than that, the war made it obvious that the British Raj could not last. American self-image was that of a liberator, even if we literally were retaking colonies Japan had taken from us, and on some level we believed it so long as it didn't challenge OUR hegemony.
This is why the US initially backed Ho Chi Minh, and FDR was strongly in support of Indian independence. When you are not the profiteer, it is easier to see the injustice and what has to be done. The US pressured Churchill during the war to give India independence, which incensed Churchill, but he played along by the end. Some of his more sympathetic quotes about India come in memos the US would read, so he actively tried not to seem craven.
Not only can state actors be contradictory, I wouldn't even call sending aid to India a contradiction here. US support for India was not exactly a secret, heck US troops had been advised to not harm or harass Indian troops of the Indian National Army who had joined the Axis powers in Thailand and Myanmar, but rather to treat them better than the British in order to prove the Allies where not all like the UK. Which certainly helped negotiations become an actual reality, as opposed to cutting a deal with the British
There's also the fact that a US helmed by FDR was probably the least willfully malicious it's ever been (excepting, possibly, the Lincoln administration). FDR was a racist socdem shit, but comparatively moderate beside the extremely racist hyper-capitalist (or aristocratic slaver, before that) shits that were in charge at all other times. Had he survived longer it's even conceivable the Cold War would have been averted or delayed, though it's likely that his successors would have pivoted to imperialist aggression immediately regardless of how much relations between the US and USSR warmed.
People sometimes forget that liberals can be genuine ideologues and not just cynical opportunists.