From Special Relationship to Natural Relationship - U.S. Policy Research on the United Kingdom in the 1960s

Author: Zhang Ying
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-01-01
Features: Expert perspective, grassroots stance, authoritative selection, serving as an archive for the literature of the century. The UK has been the most important ally of the United States in the world since World War II, holding a position of unparalleled importance in the United States' global strategy. The relationship between the US and the UK is often referred to as the "special relationship." However, this "special relationship" has not always remained constant. In the 1960s, due to changes in the international situation and adjustments in the UK's foreign policy strategy, U.S. policy toward the UK underwent significant changes. In the early 1960s, although the Suez Crisis caused a rift in U.S.-UK relations, it could still be said that the "special relationship" remained intact. However, by the late 1960s and early 1970s, due to the U.S.'s failure to prevent the UK's withdrawal from East Suez, the devaluation of the pound, the UK's inability to send troops to Vietnam, the UK's eventual joining of the European Economic Community, and the UK's increasing shift toward Europe, the "special relationship" between the U.S. and the UK had greatly weakened. It gradually transformed into a "natural relationship." U.S. policy toward the UK also underwent a major shift, moving from viewing the UK as its most important, even sole, ally to seeing it as just one among many allies. This led to a significant decline in the UK's position in the U.S. global strategy and a relative dilution of the "special relationship" between the U.S. and the UK.