DHIS 27A06 - Britain and the United States - The Special Relationship: Myth or Reality?

The idea of a 'special relationship' between the U.S. and Great Britain is a fairly recent one and, as the title of this course suggests, it hovers between myth and reality. However, at times, especially during the inter-war period of the 20th century, relationships between the two countries were so strained that there was open hostility. In July 1927, Winston Churchill, Chancellor of the Exchequer, told his Cabinet colleagues that, "... no doubt it is quite right in the interests of peace to go on talking about war with the United States being 'unthinkable'." The tensions were over rivalries in naval and maritime policies which threatened Britain's control of sea trade and, ultimately, her empire. Churchill continued: However foolish and disastrous such a war would be ... we do not wish to put ourselves in the power of the United States. We cannot tell what they might do if at some future date they were in a position to give us orders about our policy, say, in India, or Egypt or Canada, or on any other great matter behind which their electioneering forces were marshalled. David Dimbleby and David Reynolds, An Ocean Apart: The Relationship Between Britain and America in the Twentieth Century, (London: BBC Books, Hodder and Stoughton, 1988), 78-79. Churchill's comments were somewhat portentous considering the events in the Suez Crisis of 1956. Such animosity was hardly new. In 1920, A.G. Gardiner had written a stinging critique of Anglo-American relations: It is generally assumed that community of speech is an aid to mutual understanding and friendship. That ought to be the case, but it may be seriously doubted whether Anglo-American relations have not lost more than they have gained from the common medium of intercourse and the ease with which verbal brickbats can be exchanged across the Atlantic between the jounalistic firebrands on both sides. But there is another and much more fundamental reason why the French have been more successful in winning the goodwill of the Americans than the English. They have as much national egoism as any people on earth, but in their methods of intercourse they have more subtlety and delicacy, more tact and sensitiveness to the feelings of others than the English have. A.G. Gardiner, The Anglo-American Future, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1920), 33. The belligerence of Churchill in 1927 is rather ironic considering his background (his mother was American), and the fact that he is widely considered to be the originator of the phrase 'special relationship'. This is Churchill talking to the House of Commons in 1940 and, although the actual phrase 'special relationship' is not used, the sentiments are clear: These two great organisations of the English-speaking democracies, the British Empire and the United States, will have to be somewhat mixed up together in some of their affairs for mutual and general advantage. For my own part, looking out upon the future, I do not view the process with any misgivings. I could not stop it if I wished; no one can stop it. Like the Mississippi, it just keeps rolling along. Let it roll. Let it roll on full flood, inexorable, irresistible, benignant, to broader lands and better days. House of Commons Debates, 5th Series, vol.364, col.1171, 20 August 1940. Churchill's lyrical, almost sentimental, style is typical of his passionate and emotional support for the Anglo-American alliance. Indeed, much of what has been written and said about the 'special relationship' verges on the sentimental, especially from the British side of the pond. Professor Allen from the University of London, writing in the 1950s, has perhaps done more than anyone in helping to create the myth of the 'special relationship' with his metaphor of the father/son relationship. He is worth quoting in full in order to have the full flavour of his obsequiousness: America is born and grows up under the protection of Great Britain ... the youth prospers... By 1763, however, he has grown almost to manhood and finds life with father unduly restrictive, so that irritations and ill-will pile up on both sides. In 1776, America comes of age, and in one last glorious 'row' leaves home for ever. In the great world he finds friends to help him resist father's punitive efforts, and after an uncertain start he begins to form his own habits and live his own life. For a period in the first half of the nineteenth century relations remain bad between parent and offspring ... they even come to indecisive blows in 1812. But as the younger man fills out and makes his way in the world with astonishing rapidity and the older himself prospers as never before, so the mutual sense of filial soreness and aggrieved parental authority dies away. By the end of the century the mistrust has to a large extent subsided, and as the father becomes increasingly conscious of his past faults and his future dangers, and the son gains some of the restraint and confidence of maturity, so friendliness begins to take its place. The international developments of the twentieth century destroyed the isolation of the United States and strongly encouraged the process by which the two countries came to realise how much they had in common. Co-operation was born in World War One and alliance in World War Two, and, despite the relapse of inter-war years, cordiality increased steadily throughout the whole half century... The Communist China crisis of 1949 served to show that the danger of differences was not over, but, looking back over the whole course of Anglo-American relations from 1783 to the present day, we can see persistent, even steady, progress from mistrust to cordiality... But it is to be hoped that the exhaustion of Britain after 1945 was only a temporary condition. She may be an ancient among the nations, but it does not necessarily follow that she is doomed inevitably to the weakness, and ultimately the decrepitude, of senility. H.C. Allen, The Anglo-American Relationship Since 1783, (London: Adam and Charles Black, 1959), 26-28. Allen is unashamedly for the 'special relationship' and is convinced of the supremacy of the Anglo-Saxon peoples. For him the relationship is based on a common language, a belief in democracy, which has its roots deep in English political thought and history, and a shared culture. But, as we shall see, such notions are often misguided and at times, far from being 'special', the Anglo-American relationship has verged on fratricide, if one may be allowed to pursue Allen's familial metaphor.

Adrian PARK

Séminaire

English

Spring 2024-2025

There will be one research essay to be written at home. This must include a bibliography as well as full footnotes. (45%) There will be a final exam during the last session of two hours. The students will answer two questions on prepared topics. (45%) A further 10% is available for oral contributions in class.