Anglo-American Relations in the Twentieth Century

210 Pages·1998·22.309 MB·English

by  Ritchie Ovendale (auth.)

British History in Perspective
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ANGLO-AMERICAN RELATIONS IN
THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
RITCHIE OVENDALE
formerly Prqftssor qfI nternational Politics,
University qfWales, Aberystwyth
© Ritchie Ovendale 1998
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of
this publication may be made without written permission.
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or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying
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Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this
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The author has asserted his right to be identified as
the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First published 1998 by
MACMILLAN PRESS LTD
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and London
Companies and representatives throughout the world
ISBN 978-0-333-59613-5 ISBN 978-1-349-26992-1 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-26992-1
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ISBN 978-0-312-21454-8
CONTENTS
Acknowledgements VI
1 Rapprochement 1
2 Isolationism and Appeasement 18
3 The Second World War: the Anglo-American Alliance 39
4 The Cold War: Educating the Americans 58
5 The Cold War: Global Strategy 80
6 One among a Number ofA llies 99
7 Mutual Interdependence 120
8 The European Dimension 132
9 The Atlantic Preference 144
10 Conclusions 157
Notes 163
Select Bibliography 183
Index 191
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Part of the research of this book was made possible by grants from the
Nuffield Foundation, and from the British Academy and its Small Grants
Fund in the Humanities, and by a visiting research fellowship from the
American Council of Learned Societies tenable at the University of
Virginia, Charlottesville. The Australian National University, Canberra,
kindly elected me a visiting research fellow in the Department of
International Relations attached to the Research School of Pacific Studies.
I should like to thank the following for assistance: Professor Christopher
Andrew, Sir Harold Beeley, Professor Inis Claude, Professor John Garnett,
the late Professor Agnes Headlam-Morley, Professor Edward Ingram,
Professor leuanJohn, Dr Clive Jones, James W. Leyerzapf, Professor Wm
Roger Louis, the late Professor J. D. B. Miller, Professor Ian Nish, the late
Professor F. S. Northedge, Dr Alistair Parker, Professor James Piscatori, Sir
Frank K. Roberts, Professor Keith Robbins, Dr Len Scott, Professor Jack
Spence, David Steeds, Professor Geoffrey Warner, and Professor D.
Cameron Watt.
I am grateful to the library staffs of many institutions and archives for
their expertise. In particular I should like to thank the following and, where
appropriate, acknowledge permission to quote from collections in their
custody: Churchill College, Cambridge, and the Earl Attlee for the Attlee
Papers; the British Library for the Oliver Harvey Diaries; the British
Library of Political and Economic Science for the Dalton Papers; the
Western Manuscripts Department of the Bodleian Library, and the Master
and Fellows of University College, Oxford, for the Attlee Papers; the Guy
W. Bailey Library, the University of Vermont, for the Warren R. Austin
and Ernest GibsonJr papers; the Eisenhower Library, Abilene, Kansas; the
Aldeman Library, University of Virginia; the George C. Marshall Library,
Virginia Military Institute, for George C. Marshall's papers and other
collections housed there; Princeton University Library; the Harry S.
Truman Library, Independence, Missouri; the Franklin D. Roosevelt
Library; Georgetown University Library for the Robert F. Wagner Papers;
vi
Acknowledgements Vll
the Library of Congress Manuscript Division; the National Archives in
Washington together with the National Records Centre at Suitland,
Maryland; the Australian Archives in Canberra; and the Australian
National Library for the papers of Sir Percy Spender and Sir Robert
Menzies. The staff of the Public Record Office, London, were always
obliging and courteous; copyright material housed there appears by
permission of Her Majesty's Stationery Office.
The Explore group, travelling on the Silk Road from Rawalpindi to Peking
in August 1997, provided a welcome break from the writing of this book.
1
RAPPROCHEMENT
The relations between Britain and the United States have their roots in a
war, the American War of Independence, initiated on 18 April 1775
with exchanges of fire at Lexington between the colonists and British
forces, and concluded by the Peace of Paris on 3 September 1783, which
left uncertain the boundaries with British North America. George III
was reluctantly forced to accept 'the dismemberment of America from
this Empire'. For the American colonists the separation from the mother
country marked the birth of a new nation. 1
Jay's Treaty of 1794 attempted to ameliorate difficulties between the
two countries, but the provision of neutral rights allowed Britain during
the Napoleonic Wars to violate American sovereignty by impressing
American seamen into the British Navy often on the pretext that they
were 'deserters', and to search American ships. Bradford Perkins, how
ever, characterises the following decade as 'The First Rapprochement':
there was peace on the frontier; both countries valued trading with one
another; strife over impressment and ship searches lessened; and con
troversies with France forced the two English-speaking powers together. 2
Against the background of the Napoleonic Wars and continued British
impressment of American seamen, and Royal Navy violations of
American territorial waters, the American Congress on 18 June 1812
declared war on Great Britain. Over fifty historians have offered ex
planations for this war for 'Free Trade and Sailors' Rights'. It involved
the fledgling Canada. H. G. Nicholas observed of the peace at Ghent
that ended the war in 1814 that it was 'the consequence of both sides
recognizing that war was too costly a method of resolving their differences
and that it had brought about certain lasting changes in their mutual
relations'. It ushered in 'a period ofA nglo-American pacification'. 3
1
2 Anglo-American Relations in the Twentieth Century
Trans-Atlantic commerce flourished. Between 1815 and 1826 around
2,877,000 immigrants came to the United States from Britain, adding to
the already considerable British population there, but 2 million of these
immigrants were Irish, forced out by famine, and not well inclined
towards England. Britain acceded to the American acquisition of
F10rida from Spain, and suggested to Washington a joint Anglo
American declaration recognising the independence of the former
Spanish colonies in Latin America, what Bradford Perkins has described
as a 'limited alliance', but although it was only British power that could
keep the European powers out of Latin America, Washington thought
that Britain and the United States were rivals in trade in Latin America.
In his message to Congress of 2 December 1823 President James
Monroe, mentioning the Old World and the New World as separate
spheres, stated: 'In the wars of the European powers, in matters relating
to themselves, we have never taken part, nor does it comport with our
policy so to do. It is onfy when our rights are invaded, or seriousfy menaced that we
resent injuries, or make preparations for our defense.' From 1852 this
became known as the Monroe Doctrine. It meant in effect that any
interference by Europe with the independence of American states would
be considered as unfriendly by the United States.
The Webster-Ashburton Treaty of1842
Britain reserved to itself the right to colonise any 'unappropriated parts'
of America. A rebellion in Canada in 1837 precipitated a crisis in Anglo
American relations, but Lord Durham, who had been sent by Britain to
report on conditions in Canada, thought that discontent in Canada
could result either in war between Britain and the United States, or in
some Canadians pressing to be annexed by the United States. He
recommended responsible government for some of the Canadian
provinces. The Webster-Ashburton Treaty of 1842 established the
boundary between Maine and Canada, and helped to settle most of
the North-Eastern boundary disputes. Some historians have interpreted
this as a considerable British diplomatic victory. British imperialism
and American manifest destiny also clashed over Oregon where the
American claims could have linked with those of Russia and stopped
Canada at the Rockies. Certain American diplomatic historians have
seen the subsequent Oregon Treaty as a triumph for American diplo
macy, but Wilbur Devereux Jones insists that it was, rather, the