Transcript Thesis.Presentationm

Rebuilding the
“Special Relationship”
Ambassador Sir Harold Caccia and the Reconstruction of Relations
between the United States and the United Kingdom
Elizabeth Amrhein, ’12
“Neither the sure prevention of war, not the
continuous rise of world organization will be
gained without what I have called the fraternal
association of the English-speaking peoples. This
means a special relationship between the British
Commonwealth and Empire and the United
States”
~Winston Churchill, March 5, 1946, Missouri
Suez Crisis:
July-November, 1956
In the U.S.
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Did not believe force was the
answer
Angry at the deception and
secrecy of Great Britain with
France and Israel
Caught between rock and a
hard place: do not want to go
against the 1950 Tripartite
Declaration OR fight the U.K.
Believed that the U.K. was
being “imperialistic”
Situation hurt goals of the Cold
War
Feared their alliance with the
U.K. was less ‘special’
In the U.K.
Blamed the nationalization
of the Suez Canal on the
U.S.
 Believe the U.S. was not
respecting British rights and
interests
 Shocked that the U.S. was
angry at their use of force:
the U.K. had believed that
their long-time ally would
always support them
 Seemed to confirm loss of
“great power” status
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Negative Opinions
In the U.S.
In the U.K.
“And if we don’t give the
British a blank check on
the United States for
whatever their policies are
in the Middle East, then
the British get upset and
they try to put pressures
into doing it.”
“[There are] signs at many
gas stations in Britain,
particularly near USAF
bases, reading ‘No
Americans Served Here.’
Latent anti-Americanism
can be expected to boil
over and create serious
problems for the U.S.”
~John Foster Dulles, 1956
Secretary of State
~John Hay Whitney, December 1956
U.S. Ambassador to the U.K.
Negative Opinions
Harold Caccia
Appointed:
July, 1956
Began duties:
November 1956
Ambassador Sir Harold Caccia
“The ‘absolute necessity’ of United-British cooperation ‘in all
foreign affairs’ was stressed yesterday […]”
~New York Times, November 8, 1956
“The power, not only of Britain, but also of the United States, is
sustained in proportion to the closeness of relations between out
two countries. Whatever strengthens your ally, strengthens the
United States; whatever weakens your ally, weakens the United
States.”
~Harold Caccia, February 5, 1957
“Crowds waiting long outside the embassy grounds were rewarded
when Queen Elizabeth and the British Ambassador walked out
into the sunshine and gusts of wind.”
“Pretty, blond Teresa Caccia, daughter of the British Ambassador
Sir Harold Caccia, impersonated the Queen [in a pageant].”
~New York Times, October 20, 1957
Public Relations
“[…] enthusiastic crowds, standing in a drizzling
rain, lined the streets to meet [Queen Elizabeth II
and her consorts].”
~Dwight D. Eisenhower
“But even more than the pleasure that your visit
brings us, we are conscious of its importance because
of its effect on strengthening the ties of
friendship that bind out two countries
together.”
~Dwight D. Eisenhower,
October 17, 1957
Public Relations
Great Britain's
Calder Hall
Nuclear
Reactor site,
opened in
October of
1957.
Policies and Achievements
“American acceptance of Britain as a great power, and the
possibility of exercising influence on U.S. policy, rested on having
a military nuclear programme with ‘megaton as well as kiloton
weapons.’”
~Harold Caccia in John Baylis, “The 1958 Anglo-American
Mutual Defense Agreement”
“Our efforts,” he pointed out, “have resulted in new and
independent countries on every continent, dedicated like yours to
principles of freedom, equality, order and justice. Some people
seem to think that expansion beyond the seas is in some ways
more imperialistic, reprehensible, and reactionary than expansion
over land. We do not expect you to be ashamed of your
expansion over land and I am sure you do not expect us to be
ashamed of our expansion overseas.”
~Harold Caccia, June 6, 1957
Policies and Achievements
Interdependence
“The U.K. is prepared to cooperate with the U.S. in
the Middle East, but as an independent nation, not as
the tail to the American Kite.”
~Harold Caccia, March 21, 1957
“In other words, we should try to get as closely as we
can to the concept which is referred to in our
Constitution as the creation between the states of
‘common defense.’”
~John Foster Dulles, October 29, 1957
Policies and Achievements
President
Dwight D.
Eisenhower
&
Prime Minister
Harold
Macmillan
Official Work
“The unscheduled talk took place at Mr. Dulles’
home, to which he invited Mr. Sandys and Sir
Harold Caccia, British Ambassador, at 6PM.”
~New York Times, January 28, 1957
“[Caccia] had been ordered by the Foreign Office
to take part in urgent consultations on the Middle
East.”
~New York Times, August 29, 1957
“Secretary and Caccia agreed to hold it close”
~Note on telephone conversation on August 29, 1957
between the two officials
Official Work
Meetings between Ike & Macmillan
Bermuda Conference (March, 1957): “How grateful we all are for the
really close consultation and co-operation which has been re-established
between Foster and his people and Harold Caccia and our Foreign
Office.”
~Harold Macmillan, March 15, 1957
Washington Talks (October 1957): “To the British, the working groups
represented no less than an experimental effort to create formal
machinery that might institutionalize contacts between officials and so
embed the principal of continuous and lasting consultation in the
relationship.”
~Matthew Jones, “Anglo-American Relations after Suez”
Camp David Summit (September, 1959)
Official Work
Declaration of a Common Purpose
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“collective military strength
“cooperative economic action”
“the countries of the free world are
interdependent”
“By coordinating the strength of all free people,
safety can be assured, the danger of Communist
despotism will in due course be dissipated, and a
just and lasting peace will be achieved.”
Official Work
1958 Mutual Defense Agreement
“On October 7, Harold Caccia sent a telegram from
Washington to the Foreign Office arguing that the time was
ripe for a high level approach to repeal the McMahon Act.”
~John Baylis, “The 1958 Anglo-American Mutual Defense Agreement”
“Yesterday I took satisfaction in signing into law the
Amendments to the Atomic Energy Act. I was gratified to be
in a position this morning to authorize the Secretary of State
to sign the bilateral agreement between our governments
which our representatives have successfully negotiated.”
~Dwight D. Eisewnhower, July 3, 1958
July 2, 1958 – “Bilateral Agreement for Cooperation on the
Uses of Atomic Energy for Mutual Defense Purposes” signed.
Official Work
“Owing to the rapidity with
which one event succeeds
another and to the speed of
communications, it is much
harder work being an
ambassador to-day than it was,
say, a century ago, and not such
fun. But I wonder whether the
ambassadors of a more
picturesque age had the
versatility to do what would be
required of them to-day.
Abolish ambassadors?
Nonsense.”
~Esler Denig, London Times, October 21, 1958