The Washington Embassy: British Ambassadors to the United States, 1939–77

251 Pages·2009·0.68 MB·English

by  Michael F. Hopkins

The Washington Embassy
The Washington Embassy
British Ambassadors to the United States,
1939–77
Edited by
Michael F. Hopkins
Lecturer in History, University of Liverpool
Saul Kelly
Reader in Defence Studies, JSCSC, King’s College London
John W. Young
Professor of International History, University of Nottingham
Editorial matter,selection and introduction © Michael F.Hopkins,Saul Kelly
and John W.Young 2009
All remaining chapters © their respective authors 2009
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2009
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First published 2009 by
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Contents
List of Contributors vii
Introduction 1
Michael F. Hopkins, Saul Kelly and John W. Young
1 Lord Lothian, 1939–40 14
J. Simon Rofe
2 Lord Halifax, 1941–46 33
Nicholas J. Cull
3 Lord Inverchapel, 1946–48 52
Martin Folly
4 Oliver Franks, 1948–52 71
Michael F. Hopkins
5 Roger Makins, 1953–56 91
Saul Kelly
6 Harold Caccia, 1956–61 110
James Ellison
7 David Ormsby Gore, Lord Harlech, 1961–65 130
Michael F. Hopkins
8 Patrick Dean, 1965–69 150
Jonathan Colman
9 John Freeman, 1969–71 169
John W. Young
10 Lord Cromer, 1971–74 189
Alexander Spelling
11 Peter Ramsbotham, 1974–77 209
Raj Roy
v
vi Contents
Conclusion 229
G.R. Berridge and John W. Young
Select Bibliography 235
Index 238
List of Contributors
G.R. Berridge is Emeritus Professor of Politics at the University of
Leicester and the author of Diplomacy: theory and practice(third edition,
Basingstoke, 2005).
Jonathan Colman is Lecturer in Contemporary Politics and History at
the University of Salford and the author of A ‘Special Relationship’? Harold
Wilson, Lyndon B. Johnson and Anglo-American relations ‘at the summit’,
1964–68(Manchester, 2005).
Nicholas J. Cull is Professor of Public Diplomacy at the University of
Southern California, Annenberg, and the author of The Cold War and the
United States Information Agency: American propaganda and public diplomacy,
1945–89(Cambridge, 2008).
James Ellisonis Senior Lecturer in Modern and Contemporary History at
Queen Mary, University of London and the author of The United States,
Britain and the Transatlantic Crisis: rising to the Gaullist challenge, 1963–68
(Basingstoke, 2007).
Martin Follyis Senior Lecturer in American and International History at
Brunel University and the author of The United States in World War II: the
awakening giant(Edinburgh, 2002).
Michael F. Hopkinsis Lecturer in History at the University of Liverpool
and the author of Oliver Franks and the Truman Administration: Anglo-
American Relations 1948–52 (London, 2003).
Saul Kellyis Reader in the Defence Studies Department of King’s College
London and the author of The Hunt for Zerzura: the lost oasis and the desert
war (London, 2002).
J. Simon Rofe is Lecturer in Politics at the University of Leicester and
the author of Franklin Roosevelt’s Foreign Policy and the Welles Mission
(Basingstoke, 2007).
vii
viii List of Contributors
Raj Roycompleted his PhD, on the political economy of Anglo-American
relations, at the London School of Economics, has written articles in the
journals History and Cold War Historyand now works as a lawyer.
Alexander Spelling recently completed his PhD thesis, on Anglo-
American relations in the Nixon years, 1969–74, at the University of
Nottingham.
John W. Youngis Professor of International History at the University of
Nottingham and the author of Twentieth Century Diplomacy: a study in
British practice, 1963–76(Oxford, 2008).
Introduction
Michael F. Hopkins, Saul Kelly and John W. Young
The Anglo-American ‘special relationship’ first emerged during the
Second World War and, ever since, British governments have sought to
maintain a close partnership with the United States. This collection
provides a comprehensive series of chapters on the role of British
Ambassadors to Washington from the start of the Second World War to
the late 1970s which, as well as coinciding with the advent of the
Carter administration in the United States, marks the current limit of
the availability of British government documents under the so-called
‘thirty year rule’. Each chapter says something about an ambassador’s
previous career and experience, and discusses why he was selected for
Washington, before setting out the controversies and issues that faced
him and drawing general conclusions about the success – or otherwise –
of his embassy. This fills something of a lacuna in the existing litera-
ture. Many general works on the subject have been written with only a
passing mention for the individuals who are the subject of this book.
Most general academic studies treat ambassadors as incidental to the
real story, which tends to focus on Presidents and Prime Ministers, from
Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill onwards. Even specialist
studies of Anglo-American relations or of British foreign policy devote
scant attention to the contributions of the envoys.1However, as studies
of diplomatic practice show, permanent embassies continue to fulfil an
important role in bilateral relationships through the promotion of
friendly ties, the negotiation of agreements, lobbying, clarifying inten-
tions and promoting trade, as well as propagandising, political report-
ing and providing policy advice to their government.2
The ambassadorial terms of Lord Lothian and his ten successors offer
valuable insights into change and continuity in British diplomatic practice
from the eve of the Second World War to the early years of membership of
1
2 Introduction
the European Community. The chapters show how the balance of atten-
tion devoted to ambassadorial tasks varied according to the pressure of
circumstances, the current priorities of the government in London and
thepreferences of individual ambassadors. But they also confirm the piv-
otal role played by the Washington Embassy in maintaining a healthy
bilateral relationship. Surprisingly perhaps, there are real difficulties in
studying the broad work of the embassy. There are rather sparse internal
embassy files available for the 1940s and 1950s, a handful for 1965–67 but
none at all for the 1970s. But at ambassadorial level, the sources are better.
Although only two ambassadors since 1939 have written books related to
their time at the Washington Embassy and both of these were in the post
after 1977,3there is abundant correspondence to and from ambassadors to
be found in the files of the Foreign Office. These can be supplemented by
Cabinet records, Ministry of Defence and Treasury papers, as well as by
American government materials and reports on ambassadorial activities in
the media.
While the conclusion will reflect on what the chapters have to say
about diplomatic practice, this introduction now briefly provides the
broad historical background to the ‘special relationship’ in order to put
the chapters that follow into context.4 Lord Lothian’s appointment
marked the beginning of the British search for a closer relationship with
Washington. The relationship thereafter has probably always been of
more importance to Britain’s international policy than it has to America’s.
In 1940, when Britain still possessed the largest Empire and navy in the
world, the two countries might have had a similar standing; but it was the
British who needed to win US aid to ensure national survival, especially
after the fall of France. Once America entered the war in December 1941
the two fought side-by-side, with joint military operations in North
Africa, Europe and the Far East, and the very fact that they were brought
together at such a desperate moment, helped to forge a close relationship
whose durability was further strengthened by a common language, cul-
tural heritage and commitment to an ‘open’ global trading system, a
strong combination therefore of shared attitudes and interests. Yet, how-
ever close Britain and America have often seemed, they have always
preserved individual interests that have sometimes served to drive
them apart, and sometimes rancour in one area has rested alongside
co-operation in others. Certainly the wartime relationship was fraught
with tension. For example the Americans, with their own origins as oppo-
nents of colonial rule, were unsympathetic to British imperialism. There
were particularly difficult arguments about the future of Southeast Asia
and the survival of the French Empire. Other disagreements surrounded