Anglo-American Strategic Relations and the French Problem, 1960-1963: A Troubled Partnership PDF
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ANGLO-AMERICAN STRATEGIC RELATIONS AND THE FRENCH PROBLEM 1960-1963 This page intentionally left blank ANGLO-AMERICAN STRATEGIC RELATIONS AND THE FRENCH PROBLEM 1960-1963 A Troubled Partnership CONSTANTINE A. PAGEDAS ~l Routledge ~ \.. Taylor & Francis Group LONDON AND NEW YORK First published in 2000 by FRANK CASS PUBLISHERS Published 2013 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY, 10017, USA Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business Copyright © 2000 C. Pagedas British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Pagedas, Constantine A., 1969- Anglo-American strategic relations and the French problem, 1960-1963: a troubled partnership 1. Nuclear weapons 2. Great Britain - Foreign relations - United States - 1945-3. Great Britain - Foreign relations - France - 1945-4. France - Foreign relations - Great Britain - 1958-1969 5. France - Foreign relations - United States - 1958-1969 6. United States - Foreign relations - Great Britain - 1961-1963 7. United States - Foreign relations France - 1961-1963 I. Title 327.41073 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Pagedas, Constantine A., 1969- Anglo-American strategic relations and the French problem, 1960-1963: a troubled partnership I Constantine A. Paged as. p. cm. Abridged version of the author's thesis (PhD) - King's College, London. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. United States-Foreign relations-France. 2. France-Foreign relations-United States. 3. United States-Foreign relations- Great Britain. 4. Great Britain-Foreign relations-United States. 5. Great Britain-Foreign relations-France. 6. France-Foreign relations-Great Britain. 7. Nuclear weapons-Government policy France. 8. Nuclear weapons-Government policy-Great Britain. 9. France-Military policy. 10. France-Foreign relations-1958-1969. I. Title. E183.8.F8P34 1999 327.73044'09'046-dc21 99-38921 ISBN 13: 978-0-714-65002-9 (hbk) All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher of this book. For my parents This page intentionally left blank Contents Foreword by Michael Dockrill IX Acknowledgements Xlll List of Abbreviations XVll Introduction 1 1 Convergence and Divergence: Aspects of Anglo-American Relations with France in the 1950s 10 France and the 'Exclusive Relationship': The Aftermath of Suez 12 Anglo-American Diplomacy and the 'September Memorandum' 22 Withdrawal of the French Medit~rranean Fleet from NATO 35 British Planning: Thoughts on Europe and America 43 Conclusion 49 2 Idees Fixes: American Insensitivity and French Isolation 56 The Tripartite Option 58 Multilateralism vs Nuclear Sharing 69 Conclusion 85 3 British Uncertainty: The Afterlife of Blue Streak and the 'Grand Design' 92 Blue Streak: Life, Death and Rebirth 93 t Planning for the Future: The Grand Design 112 Conclusion 123 4 An Old Problem and a 'New Relationship' 129 The New Administration and Acheson's Report on NATO 130 The Washington Meeting, April 1961 142 Kennedy's Visit to Paris, May-June 1961 149 Anglo-American Relations and the French Problem Rocketry, Tripartism and Anglo-French 'Staff Talks' 158 Conclusion 167 5 Conflict and Compromise: The Origins of the Breakdown of Anglo-American Relations with France 176 What Price Europe? 177 The Problems of British and French Independent Deterrents 183 The British Enigma and the Prime Minister's Initiative 197 Conclusion 216 6 Denouement: The December Meetings of 1962 and the General's Veto 225 A European Deterrent and Other 'Sweeteners' 228 The Skybolt Crisis 238 The Rambouillet and Nassau Meetings 244 The Aftermath of Nassau: Macmillan's Last Bid to Enter Europe 256 Conclusion 265 Conclusion 274 Bibliography 285 fu&x 3 ill Vlll Foreword As Constantine Pagedas's supervisor for his excellent PhD thesis, 'Troubled Partners: Anglo-American Diplomacy and the French Problem, 1960-1963', which he researched and wrote while study ing for his doctorate at King's College, London, during the early 1990s, I was delighted to be invited to write the foreword to this book, an abridged version of his thesis. The history of Anglo-French relations over the centuries has been one of frequent conflicts between the two countries, interspersed with long periods of mutual suspicion and hostility. Not until the 1904 colonial convention did relations between the two countries begin to improve - a result, chiefly, of their mutual fears about the threat from Germany. Only reluctantly and after much heart searching did Britain inte.rvene in the continental conflict in August 1914, and after the immense blood-letting on the Western Front down to 1918, Britain emerged from the war determined to avoid further military entanglement in Europe. After 1919, Britain and France squabbled over the treatment of Germany and over the Middle East, although, with the rise of Hitler after 1933, successive British governments, while painfully aware that France would be their only great power ally in a renewed continental conflict, struggled to avoid a clear and unmistakable commitment to defend that country from a German attack. Not until 1939 did the British, belatedly realising the true nature of Hitler's designs, reverse their policy and pledge all-out support to France in the event of war. With the defeat of France in 1940, Britain, now isolated in Europe, turned to the United States as the only hope for its survival, and with the United States' entry into the war in December 1941, the so-called 'special relationship' between the two countries was forged. With the Allied victory in 1945, and with Britain struggling economically, the question once more arose: should Britain commit
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