Scullane final Project 1 - BCNTeaching American...
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1 The “Special Relationship” between the United Kingdom and the United States Amy Scullane CHARMS Teaching American History Collaborative September 24, 2012
Transcript of Scullane final Project 1 - BCNTeaching American...
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The “Special Relationship” between the United Kingdom and the United States
Amy Scullane CHARMS Teaching American History Collaborative
September 24, 2012
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LESSON: The “Special Relationship” between the United Kingdom and the United States
1th Grade US II History
A. ORGANIZING QUESTION: Do American high school students have an awareness of the scope of the relationship of the United States and Great Britain since World War II? B. LESSON OBJECTIVES
1. Students will identify the various ways the U.S. ‐ UK partnership flourished during this era.
2. Students will understand how the relationship evolved over the years.
3. Students will describe the shared heritage of law, traditions, blood ties, and culture.
4. Students will analyze the major disagreements between the United States and
Great Britain in this era.
5. Students will describe the current state of the “special relationship.” C. MASSACHUSETTS STATE STANDARDS COVERED: WHII.25 Identify the goals, leadership, and post‐war plans of the allied leaders.
USII.30 Describe some of the major economic and social trends of the late 20th century.
USII.33 Analyze the course and consequences of America’s recent diplomatic initiatives. DAYS: 5, 50‐minute class periods.
HISTORICAL HABITS OF THE MIND USED:
To understand the significance of the past to their own lives, both private and
public, and to their society.
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To perceive past events and issues as they were experienced by people at the time,
to develop historical empathy as opposed to present‐mindedness.
To acquire at one and the same time a comprehension of diverse cultures and of
shared humanity.
To understand how things happen and how things change, how human intentions
matter, but also how their consequences are shaped by the means of carrying them
out, in a tangle of purpose and process.
To grasp the complexity of historical causation, respect particularity, and avoid
excessively abstract generalizations.
To recognize the importance of individuals who have made a difference in history,
and the significance of personal character for both good and ill.
LESSONS:
Day One: Formation of the Special Relationship: Roots
Method Content/Key Ideas/Concepts/Facts
Materials
1. Attention Getter/Do Now Activity
2. Worksheet:
Special Relationship
3. PowerPoint Lecture
Brainstorming common culture/close relationship Definition of “Special Relationship”/reading/brainstorming examples of Special Relationship Roots of the Special Relationship
Bell Ringer: Commonalities Worksheet: Special Relationship PowerPoint presentation; in handout/notes form.
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Day Two: Formation of the Special Relationship: World War II/Cold War
Method Content/Key Ideas/Concepts/Facts
Materials
1. Review
2. PowerPoint Lecture
3. Reading: Special
Relationship
Quick Review of yesterday’s notes Evolution of the Special Relationship through World War II/Cold War: details Evolution of the Special Relationship through World War II/Cold War
PowerPoint Presentation from Day One PowerPoint presentation; in handout/notes form. Reading: Special Relationship
Day Three: Personal Relationships in the Special Relationship
Method Content/Key Ideas/Concepts/Facts
Materials
1. Review
2. Class Group Activity
Quick Review of yesterday’s notes Personal Relationships Activity
PowerPoint Presentation from Day Two Personal Relationships Activity Sheet, Person Information Sheets. Homework Discussion Questions.
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Day Four: Examples of the Special Relationship in Culture
Method Content/Key Ideas/Concepts/Facts
Materials
1. Review
2. Attention Getter/Do Now Activity
3. PowerPoint
Quick Review of yesterday’s lesson Cultural exchanges between the US and UK Music/Fashion/Film/Food/Place Names
Personal Relationships Activity Sheets from Day Three Bell Ringer: Cultural Exchanges PowerPoint presentation
Day Five: State of Special Relationship Today
Method Content/Key Ideas/Concepts/Facts
Materials
1. Reading
1) Essay Question
Current State of Special Relationship/Recent Visit of Prime Minister Cameron Analyzing the Current State of US UK special relationship
2 Articles: The Daily Mail Essay Question
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Name: _____________ Bell Ringer: Commonalities
In the first five minutes of class, think of things that we in the United States have in
common with Great Britain. These could be cultural, economic, legal, or more. Make a
bullet point list.
Next, think of the things you expect out of a relationship with an ally. What do you expect to experience with that relationship?
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Name: _____________ Worksheet: Special Relationship
What is meant by the term “Special Relationship?”
The relationship between the United Kingdom and the United States in most of the
20th century.
Origin
The Special Relationship is the name given to the close Anglo‐American military,
political and trading alliances that have been evident throughout most of the 20th
century and continue into the present century. The overlapping language and culture
and the large amount of immigration into the USA from the British Isles are other
factors that go some way toward explaining this relationship. The first person to make
these ties concrete by giving them a name is generally regarded to be Winston
Churchill, in his Sinews of Peace Address at Westminster College, Fulton, Missouri, in
March 1946 (more commonly called the Iron Curtain speech):
“I come to the crux of what I have traveled here to say. Neither the sure prevention
of war, nor 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
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special relationship between the British Commonwealth and Empire and the United
States.”
Churchill did coin the phrase, but in fact he had already used it before that speech. The
New York Times Herald reported a quotation from in November 1945:
"We should not abandon our special relationship with the United States and Canada
about the atomic bomb and we should aid the United States to guard this weapon as a
sacred trust for the maintenance of peace."
The specialness of the two counties' relationship has endured, although it has been
rather cool at times, particularly when the personal relationship between US President
and the British Prime Minister wasn't strong. While the degree of closeness between
the nations is largely determined by judgments of mutual political, military and
trading benefits, the personal factor has always had a strong influence.
The coining of the term came about soon after WWII when Churchill and Franklin
Roosevelt had developed a close working relationship. How well they liked each other
personally isn't well recorded, although in the numerous photographs of them taken at
the Yalta conference they seem to be enjoying each other's company.
Other times when the special relationship has flourished are during the periods in
office of Harold Macmillan and John F. Kennedy and of Margaret Thatcher and Ronald
Reagan.
More recently, the relationship between Tony Blair and George Bush has been
particularly close. While visiting Britain in 2003, George Bush said in a speech that
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Britain was America's "closest friend in the world". He is also on record as saying, in
2001, that "We have no greater friend than Mexico" and, in 2002, "We have no better
friend than Canada". History doesn't record who his best friend was in 2004.
The imbalance between the power of the two nations has always made the relationship
one‐sided and occasionally Britain has been made to appear rather subservient. The
acceptance of the Bush regimes' policies by British Prime Minister Tony Blair,
especially over Iraq, has resulted in some criticism of the British Government in the
UK and a feeling that Britain should distance itself from the USA. A poll published by
The Guardian (British) newspaper in 2006 said that 63% of Britons felt that Britain is
tied too closely to the USA. Blair has been satirized and portrayed as Bush's poodle.
The Iraq War is unpopular and his apparent desire to follow whatever initiatives have
been taken by the USA is widely seen as a reason for Blair's political downfall.
Nevertheless, the special relationship continues. In 2011, President and Mrs. Obama
visited the UK, and In March, 2012, Prime Minister David Cameron and his wife came
to Washington DC.
Questions:
What springs to mind when you hear the word ‘relationship’?
What do you think of the relationship between the USA and Britain?
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What are some of the British foods/songs/movies/etc. that we enjoy in the United States?
What are some of the American foods/songs/movies/etc. that the British enjoy?
http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/special‐relationship.html
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Name: _____________ Reading: Special Relationship
Read the following short explanation of how the
Special Relationship evolved in the 10 years
after World War II.
As we have seen, the roots of the relationship between the UK and US reach back into the 17th century, and the relationship has had high and low points ever since. During the 20th century, the UK‐US relationship evolved gradually into something like its present form in the ten years following the alliance of the two countries during World War II, the end of the war, and the start of the Cold War.
There have been three main drivers of the relationship in the post‐ World War II period:
Firstly, British Governments realised that they no longer had the ability to protect or project British interests around the world, and accepted that Britain be replaced by the United States as the world’s dominant power. Secondly, the UK believed that the most direct threat to British and European security—that of Soviet military aggression and/or political subversion—could only be confronted if the United States was tightly woven into a transatlantic alliance whose principal focus was the defense of Europe and the broader Atlantic community. Finally, a third driver of the special relationship was the mutual suspicion in Washington and London about a deepening European political integration that could come at the expense of US engagement and influence in the Atlantic community.
“…Our path will be
difficult and also long,
but if we persevere
together as we did in
the two world wars ‐‐ I
cannot doubt that we
shall achieve our
common purpose in
the end…Would a
special relationship
between the United
States and the British
Commonwealth be
inconsistent with our
over‐riding loyalties to
the World
Organization? I reply
that, on the contrary,
it is probably the only
means by which that
organization will
achieve its full stature
and strength.
‐ Winston Churchill
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Winston Churchill presented his Sinews of Peace, (the Iron Curtain Speech), at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri on March 5, 1946 . Note Truman in the
background.
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200910/cmselect/cmfaff/114/114.pdf
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Name: _____________ Personal Relationships Activity
The relationship between the UK and the US often depends on the personal relations
between British prime ministers and US presidents. Our first example was the close
relationship between Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt who were, in fact,
distantly related.
We will have a class activity where you will have the chance to act as either a Prime
Minister or President.
Directions:
1) Choose a name out of the hat.
2) Find your equivalent on the other side of the special relationship.
3) Read on your information sheets about the nature of your interactions.
4) Create a joint statement about what you are most proud of in your administrations
concerning the special relationship.
Pairings:
Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt
Harold Macmillan and John F. Kennedy
Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan
Tony Blair and Bill Clinton
David Cameron and Barack Obama
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Name: _____________ Person Information Sheets
Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt
A close friendship and the excellent working relations that developed between U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill were crucial in the establishment of a unified effort to deal with the Axis powers in World War II. This working relationship was highlighted by many joint appearances and agreements that not only addressed the immediate needs of the Allies but also the planning for a successful peace following victory.
In late December 1941, shortly after entry of the United States into World War II, Churchill met in Washington, D.C., with Roosevelt in what became known as the First Washington Conference, code name "Arcadia." The conference placed first priority on the Atlantic theater and the defeat of Germany and Italy. On December 24, 1941, Roosevelt and Churchill delivered Christmas greetings to the nation and the world from the South Portico of the White House during the lighting of the National Community Christmas Tree. FDR closed his short message with the following passage, "And so I am asking my associate, [and] my old and good friend, to say a word to the people of America, old and young, tonight, ‐‐ Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of Great Britain." These words clearly describe the relationship that these two leaders of the "Free World" had struck.
In July 1940, newly appointed Prime Minister Churchill requested help from FDR, after Britain had sustained the loss of 11 destroyers to the German Navy over a 10‐day period. Roosevelt responded by exchanging 50 destroyers for 99‐year leases on British bases in the Caribbean and Newfoundland. A major foreign policy debate erupted over whether the United States should aid Great Britain or maintain strict neutrality.
In the 1940 presidental election campaign Roosevelt promised to keep America out of the war. He stated, "I have said this before, but I shall say it again and again and again; your boys are not going to be sent into any foreign wars." Nevertheless, FDR wanted to support Britain and believed the United States should serve as a "great arsenal of democracy." Churchill pleaded "Give us the tools and we'll finish the job." In January 1941, following up on his campaign pledge and the prime minister's appeal for arms, Roosevelt proposed to Congress a new military aid bill.
The plan was to "lend‐lease or otherwise dispose of arms" and other supplies needed by any country whose security was vital to the defense of the United States. This Lend‐Lease Act, proposed by FDR in January 1941 and passed by Congress in March, went a long way toward solving the concerns of both Great Britain's desperate need for supplies and America's desire to appear neutral. Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee during the debate over lend‐lease, "We are buying . . . not lending. We are buying our own security while we prepare. By our delay during the past
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six years, while Germany was preparing, we find ourselves unprepared and unarmed, facing a thoroughly prepared and armed potential enemy."
In August 1941, Roosevelt and Churchill met for the first of nine face‐to‐face conferences during the war. The four‐day meeting aboard a ship anchored off the coast of Newfoundland at Argentia Bay was devoted to an agreement on war aims and a vision for the future. The document created at this meeting was the The Atlantic Charter, an agreement on war aims between besieged Great Britain and the neutral United States. The charter set forth the concepts of self‐determination, end to colonialism, freedom of the seas, and the improvement of living and working conditions for all people. Many of the ideas were similar to those proposed by Wilson's Fourteen Points, but not accepted by our allies at the Versailles Conference at the close of World War I.
From 1941 when they first met until FDR's death in 1945, Roosevelt and Churchill sustained a close personal and professional relationship. Playwright Robert Sherwood later wrote, "It would be an exaggeration to say that Roosevelt and Churchill became chums at this conference. . . . They established an easy intimacy, a joking informality and moratorium on pomposity and cant, ‐‐ and also a degree of frankness in intercourse which, if not quite complete, was remarkably close to it." Roosevelt cabled Churchill after the meeting, "It is fun to be in the same decade with you." Churchill later wrote, "I felt I was in contact with a very great man who was also a warm‐hearted friend and the foremost champion of the high causes which we served."
Harold Macmillan and John F. Kennedy
Macmillan famously quipped that it was Britain’s historical duty to guide the power of the United States as the ancient Greeks had the Romans. He tried to broaden the special relationship beyond Churchill’s conception of an English‐Speaking Union into a more inclusive "Atlantic Community". His key theme, of the interdependence of the nations of the Free World and the partnership which must be maintained between Europe and the United States', was one that Kennedy subsequently took up.
On the prime minister's retirement in October 1963, the president declared: 'In nearly three years of cooperation, we have worked together on great and small issues, and we have never had a failure of understanding or of mutual trust. For his part, Macmillan confided to Kennedy's widow in February 1964: 'He seemed to trust me—and (as you will know) for those of us who have had to play the so‐called game of politics—national and international—this is something very rare but very precious.
However, even in the celebrated 'golden days'of the Kennedy‐Macmillan partnership, the special relationship was tested, most severely by the Skybolt crisis of 1962, when Kennedy and his secretary of defense, Robert McNamara, ignoring the British contribution to the development of the atomic bomb and reneging on a promise made by Eisenhower, tried to divest the United Kingdom of its nuclear deterrent by unilaterally cancelling a joint
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project without consultation. Dean Acheson, a former US Secretary of State, also chose this moment to challenge publicly the special relationship and marginalise the British contribution to the Western alliance in his West Point speech of 1962:
“Great Britain has lost an empire and has not yet found a role. The attempt to play a separate power role—that is, a role apart from Europe, a role based on a ‘Special Relationship’ with the United States, a role based on being the head of a ‘Commonwealth’ which has no political structure, or unity, or strength and enjoys a fragile and precarious economic relationship—this role is about played out.”
The looming collapse of the alliance between the two thermonuclear powers forced Kennedy into an immediate about‐face at the Anglo‐American summit in Nassau, where he agreed to sell Polaris as a replacement for the cancelled Skybolt. Richard E. Neustadt, in his official investigation concluded the crisis in the special relationship had erupted because ‘the president's "Chiefs" failed to make a proper strategic assessment of Great Britain's intentions and its capabilities’.
The Skybolt crisis with Kennedy came on top of Eisenhower’s wrecking of Macmillan’s policy of détente with the Soviet Union at the May 1960 Paris summit, and the prime minister’s resulting disenchantment with the special relationship contributed to his decision to seek an alternative in British membership of the European Economic Community (EEC). According to a recent analyst: ‘What the prime minister in effect adopted was a hedging strategy in which ties with Washington would be maintained while at the same time a new power base in Europe was sought. Even so, Kennedy assured Macmillan “that relations between the United States and the UK would be strengthened not weakened, if the UK moved towards membership.”
Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan
After a period of disengagement and drift in the 1970s, the personal friendship between President Ronald Reagan and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, often described as 'ideological soul‐mates', reinvigorated what she affirmed as the ‘extraordinary alliance’. They shared a commitment to the philosophy of the free market, low taxes, limited government, and a strong defense; they rejected détente and were determined to win the battle of ideas with the Soviet Union.
Thatcher summed up her understanding of the special relationship at her first meeting with Reagan as president in 1981: ‘Your problems will be our problems and when you look for friends we shall be there.’ Celebrating the 200th anniversary of diplomatic relations in 1985, she enthused: ‘There is a union of mind and purpose between our peoples which is remarkable and which makes our relationship a truly remarkable one. It is special. It just is, and that’s that.’ The president acknowledged:
‘The United States and the United Kingdom are bound together by inseparable ties of ancient history and present friendship ... There's been something very special about the friendships between the leaders of our two countries. And may I say to my friend the
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Prime Minister, I'd like to add two more names to this list of affection—Thatcher and Reagan.’
In 1982 Thatcher and Reagan reached an agreement to replace the British Polaris fleet with a force equipped with US‐supplied Trident missiles, and Reagan became only the second foreign leader to address both Houses of Parliament (the first was de Gaulle in 1960). The confidence between the two principals was momentarily strained by Reagan's belated support in the Falklands War, but this was more than countered by the Anglophile US Defense Secretary, Caspar Weinberger, who provided communications intercepts and approved shipments of the latest weapons to the massing British task force. Thatcher later stood alone among Western allies when she returned the favor by letting US F‐111s take off from RAF bases for the 1986 bombing of Libya, justifying it as an overdue move to help Reagan 'turn the tide against terrorism'.
Feathers were also ruffled in 1983 over the lack of consultation before the US invasion of the Commonwealth island of Grenada. In 1986 the British defense secretary Michael Heseltine, a prominent critic of the special relationship and a supporter of European integration, resigned over his concern that a takeover of Britain's last helicopter manufacturer by a US firm instead of a European consortium would harm the British defense industry. Thatcher herself also saw a potential risk to Britain's deterrent and security posed by the Strategic Defense Initiative and Reagan's proposal at the Reykjavík Summit to eliminate all ballistic nuclear weapons despite large conventional disparities.
Even so, an observer of the period concluded: 'Britain did indeed figure more prominently in American strategy than any other European power'. Peter Hennessy, a leading historian, singles out the personal dynamic of 'Ron' and 'Margaret' in this success:
At crucial moments in the late 1980s, her influence was considerable in shifting perceptions in President Reagan's Washington about the credibility of Mr. Gorbachev when he repeatedly asserted his intention to end the Cold War. That mercurial, much‐discussed phenomenon, 'the special relationship,' enjoyed an extraordinary revival during the 1980s, with 'slips' like the US invasion of Grenada in 1983 apart, the Thatcher‐Reagan partnership outstripping all but the prototype Roosevelt‐Churchill duo in its warmth and importance. 'Isn't she marvelous?' he would purr to his aides even while she berated him down the 'hot line.'
Tony Blair and Bill Clinton and George Bush
The election of British Prime Minister Tony Blair in 1997 brought an opportunity to revive what Clinton called the two nations' 'unique partnership'. At his first meeting with his new partner, the president said: 'Over the last fifty years our unbreakable alliance has helped to bring unparalleled peace and prosperity and security. It’s an alliance based on shared values and common aspirations.' The personal relationship was seen as especially close because the leaders were 'kindred spirits' in their domestic agendas. New
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Labour's Third Way, a moderate social‐democratic position, was partly influenced by US New Democratic thinking.
Co‐operation in defense and communications still had the potential to embarrass Blair, however, as he strove to balance it with his own leadership role in the European Union (EU). Enforcement of Iraqi no‐fly zones and US bombing raids on Iraq dismayed EU partners. As the leading international proponent of humanitarian intervention, the 'hawkish' Blair 'bullied' Clinton to back diplomacy with force in Kosovo in 1999, pushing for deployment of ground troops to persuade the president 'to do whatever was necessary' to win.
The personal diplomacy of Blair and Clinton's successor, US president George W. Bush, further served to highlight the special relationship. Despite their political differences on non‐strategic matters, their shared beliefs and responses to the international situation formed a commonality of purpose following the September 11 Attacks in New York and Washington DC. Blair, like Bush, was convinced of the importance of moving against the perceived threat to world peace and international order, famously pledging to stand 'shoulder to shoulder' with Bush:
This is not a battle between the United States of America and terrorism, but between the free and democratic world and terrorism. We therefore here in Britain stand shoulder to shoulder with our American friends in this hour of tragedy, and we, like them, will not rest until this evil is driven from our world.
Blair flew to Washington immediately after 9/11 to affirm British solidarity with the United States. In a speech to the United States Congress, nine days after the attacks, Bush declared 'America has no truer friend than Great Britain.' Blair, one of few world leaders to attend a presidential speech to Congress as a special guest of the First Lady, received two standing ovations from members of Congress. Following that speech Blair embarked on two months of diplomacy rallying international support for military action. The BBC calculated that, in total, the prime minister held 54 meetings with world leaders and travelled more than 40,000 miles (60,000 km).
Blair's leadership role in the Iraq War helped him to sustain a strong relationship with Bush through to the end of his time as prime minister, but it was unpopular within his own party and lowered his public approval ratings. It also alienated some of his European partners, including the leaders of France and Germany. Blair felt he could defend his close personal relationship with Bush by claiming it had brought progress in the Middle East peace process, aid for Africa and climate‐change diplomacy. However it was not with Bush but with California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger that Blair ultimately succeeded in setting up a carbon‐trading market, 'creating a model other states will follow'.
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David Cameron and Barack Obama
On David Cameron being elected as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom on 11 May 2010, President Obama was the first foreign leader to offer his congratulations. Following the conversation Obama said:
'As I told the prime minister, the United States has no closer friend and ally than the United Kingdom, and I reiterated my deep and personal commitment to the special relationship between our two countries — a bond that has endured for generations and across party lines.'
Incoming British Foreign Secretary William Hague responded to the President's overture by making Washington, D.C. his first port of call, commenting: 'We're very happy to accept that description and to agree with that description. The United States is without doubt the most important ally of the United Kingdom.' Meeting Hillary Clinton, Hague hailed the special relationship as 'an unbreakable alliance', and added: 'It's not a backward‐looking or nostalgic relationship. It is one looking to the future from combating violent extremism to addressing poverty and conflict around the world.' Both governments confirmed their joint commitment to the war in Afghanistan and their opposition to Iran's nuclear programme.
The Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010 sparked a media firestorm against BP in the United States. The Christian Science Monitor observed that a "rhetorical prickliness" had come about from escalating Obama administration criticism of BP—straining the special relationship—particularly the repeated use of the term 'British Petroleum' even though the business no longer uses that name. Cameron stated that he did not want to make the president's toughness on BP a US‐UK issue, and noted that the company was balanced in terms of the number of its American and British shareholders. The validity of the special relationship was put in question as a result of the 'aggressive rhetoric'.
On July 20, Cameron met with Obama during his first visit to the United States as prime minister. The two expressed unity in a wide range of issues, including the War in Afghanistan. During the meeting, Obama stated, "We can never say it enough. The United States and the United Kingdom enjoy a truly special relationship," then going on to say, "We celebrate a common heritage. We cherish common values. ... (And) above all, our alliance thrives because it advances our common interests." Cameron stated in an interview during the trip that he wanted to build a strong relationship with the United States, Britain's "oldest and best ally." Cameron further stated that, "from the times I've met Barack Obama before, we do have very, very close ‐‐ allegiances and very close positions on all the key issues, whether that is Afghanistan or Middle East peace process or Iran. Our interests are aligned and we've got to make this partnership work."
Cameron has tried to downplay the idealism of the special relationship and called for an end to the British fixation on the status of the relationship, stating that it's a natural and mutually beneficial relationship. He said, "...I am unapologetically pro‐America. But I am not some idealistic dreamer about the special relationship. I care about the depth of our
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partnership, not the length of our phone calls. I hope that in the coming years we can focus on the substance, not endlessly fret about the form."
The England v. USA World Cup encounter, which ended in a 1‐1 draw, ended a bet between the two leaders in which Obama gave Cameron a Chicago beer called 'Goose Island 312’' while Cameron presented Obama with a bottle of 'Hobgoblin', a beer from his constituency town in Oxfordshire. Obama also took the moment to praise the way that Cameron had handled the Saville inquiry into Bloody Sunday.
In January 2011, during a White House meeting with the President of France Nicolas Sarkozy, Obama declared: "We don't have a stronger friend and stronger ally than Nicolas Sarkozy, and the French people," a statement which triggered outcry in the United Kingdom. In May, however, Obama became the third US President to make a state visit to the UK. For the keynote speech, he became only the second US President to address both Houses of Parliament after Ronald Reagan. Considered a rare privilege for a foreign leader, only Charles de Gaulle, Ronald Reagan, Nelson Mandela, Pope Benedict XVI and Nicolas Sarkozy had done so since the Second World War.
Homework Discussion Questions:
1) What were the key events that took place between the countries during the
administrations of your leader?
2) What were some of the difficulties the special relationship faced during the
administrations of your leader?
3) What was, in your opinion, the high point of the special relationship during
the administrations of your leader?
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Name _______________ Bell Ringer: Cultural Exchanges
There are a lot of ways that the US and UK have interacted over the years
outside of the political arena. Take five minutes to answer the following
prompts:
1) Brainstorm the names of five British music artists that are popular in the
United States:
2) Brainstorm five items of clothing, or models that influence the way
Americans dress:
3) Brainstorm five actors/actresses or movies/tv shows that are British, but
popular in the United States.
4) Brainstorm five items that the British are famous for eating or drinking.
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Name _______________ Readings, Essay Question
Read these articles on recent visits between leaders of the US and the UK visiting
both countries. Then, answer the essay question that follows for homework.
1) April 3, 2009 :
One's new best friend: The Queen, Michelle and the new touchy‐feely protocol ‐ By Michael Thornton, The
Daily Mail
Harmless gesture? Michelle Obama
with her hand on the Queen's back as
they met at Buckingham Palace.
She is not renowned for public displays of affection. Which made the Queen's decision to put a friendly arm around Michelle Obama's waist at a Buckingham Palace G20 reception ‐ prompting the U.S. President's wife to return the gesture ‐ so utterly astonishing.
Finding herself next to Mrs Obama, the Queen remarked on their height difference. As she did so, her hand edged towards the small of Mrs Obama's back. Mrs Obama responded ‐ and even rubbed the Queen's shoulder ‐ before both women moved gently apart after about ten seconds.
The sight of the Queen publicly hugging another woman astonished other guests. An onlooker said: 'It was a pretty simultaneous gesture. We couldn't believe what we were
seeing.'
It was an electrifying moment of palpable majesté: A breach of centuries‐long protocol when the friendly and outgoing Michelle Obama put her arm round the Queen.
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It now appears, however, that it may have been the Queen who made the initial move. In any case, it was the first time that anyone can remember in her long public life that she has put her arm around another woman.
'A mutual and spontaneous display of affection and appreciation,' was how a Buckingham Palace spokesman hastened to describe it.
But the protocol concerning the sovereign has been set in stone for generations. 'Whatever you do,' courtiers are apt to warn, 'don't touch the Queen.'
Who can forget the furore that erupted in 1992 when the then Australian prime minister, Paul Keating, put his arm round the Queen's waist at Canberra's Parliament House, and found himself lampooned as 'the Lizard of Oz' for his faux‐pas.
And everyone remembers the expression of frozen distaste on the Queen's face at the opening of the Millennium Dome when Tony Blair seized hold of the royal hand and shook it up and down during the singing of Auld Lang Syne.
Break from protocol: Michelle Obama puts her arm around the Queen, who reciprocates, as the pair chatted after a group picture of the G20 leaders was taken.
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After about ten seconds the Queen pulls her arm away.
Mrs Obama gives the Queen's shoulder a gentle rub.
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The two women move apart but continue their friendly conversation.
If ever there was a woman conspicuously not attuned to the touchy‐feely nature of political correctness, it is surely Elizabeth II, who has inherited the essentially shy and aloof character of her grandmother, the imposing, ramrod‐straight and awe‐inspiring Queen Mary, who died in 1953, the year of this Queen's coronation.
The Queen has always possessed a highly‐developed sense of the duties imposed by her constitutional position. Spin, however, has never been her bag. She always had distinct reservations about Tony Blair and his circle.
Because of this, she may well have had more than a few reservations about the wave of euphoria on which Barack Obama swept to power, hailed as 'the new Messiah'.
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The First Families of England and America posed for photographs before enjoying a 20‐minute chat over tea.
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Michelle Obama shakes hands with the Queen as they arrive at the Palace.
Yet equally, she must have a shrewd appreciation of the historical and psychological significance of Obama's rise.
She knows that he represents the frustrated hopes and dreams of millions hitherto treated as an oppressed minority. Her ancestor George III, the last British ruler of the American colonies, presided over a society based on slavery and racial discrimination.
Elizabeth will have had no illusions about the importance and sensitivity of this week's meeting with the first African‐American President of the United States.
She knew that the eyes of millions worldwide were upon her, and that any false move could have been disastrously misconstrued.
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If Obama's unexpected gift of an iPod was reciprocated more formally by a silver‐framed photograph of the Queen and Prince Philip, it should be remembered that, behind the scenes, Elizabeth, despite her restrained image, has been a moderniser in royal life.
This is the woman whom Nelson Mandela still calls 'my friend Elizabeth'. The woman who, when her mother objected to a lady‐in‐waiting cycling across the forecourt of Buckingham Palace in a headscarf, retorted: 'Oh Mummy, you're behind the times. These days, girls just don't wear hats.'
In 1976, when President Gerald Ford asked the Queen to dance at a White House dinner, she kept her cool and smiled serenely when the United States Marine Band launched into a loud rendition of The Lady Is A Tramp.
And when she heard that former American President and peanut farmer Jimmy Carter had once affronted the Queen Mother by kissing her full on the lips, she reportedly laughed out loud.
So while the embrace between the Queen and Michelle Obama has been, to put it mildly, a surprise, there is an exception to every rule, and this was surely one of them.
First meeting: President Obama and his First Lady Michelle talk with Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh at Buckingham Palace.
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French President Nicolas Sarkozy stares intently at U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, with the Queen listening in.
Of course, the Windsors can, indeed, be very grand and swift to put down any attempt at over‐familiarity.
When the former Labour minister Chris Mullin asked the Duke of Edinburgh if 'Charles' would approve of some ultramodern design, Philip swung round on him and snapped witheringly: "Charles who?'
And the Queen, on being told that the rabidly anti‐monarchist MP the late Willie Hamilton was 'really a very kind man', responded glacially: 'He hides it well.'
Yet Elizabeth II has loosened her stays to a remarkable degree in the 57 years since she inherited a disintegrating Empire, and became the ruler of 32 individual nations, half of which have subsequently become republics.
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Year after year, she processes to her throne in the Palace of Westminster for the Opening of Parliament, and reads aloud the Queen's Speech, not a single word of which is her own, and is forced to announce measures that must often be complete anathema to her.
She has come to accept, with remarkable equanimity, situations that would once have been unthinkable, like her eldest son's unmarried mistress holding court at Clarence House, the Queen Mother's former palace.
She then weathered the highly controversial wedding of Charles and Camilla in a Windsor register office ‐ an event still regarded as illegal by many constitutional historians ‐ though she had the wisdom, as a sovereign, to put public opinion first and to absent herself from the actual ceremony.
Of course, there are those who find the Queen dull, staid and unimaginative, but she is a complex character, and it is necessary to look beyond the rigid hairstyle, and the often unfashionable clothes and hats.
It is her faultless grasp of what is expedient that marks her as a great constitutional monarch.
As she advances in years ‐ she will be 83 this month ‐ there are those jockeying for position among the cronyist clique of the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall who continue to express the opinion that the Queen should abdicate.
But her impeccable handling this week of the inaugural visit to Britain of America's first black President and his wife demonstrates why this must never happen.
Her instinctive decision to break with stuffy royal protocol and to put her arm around Mrs Obama was somehow just right for this occasion.
Above all, it reminds us that the Queen is a safe pair of hands in what is possibly the world's most difficult job.
She must give no thought to making way for her infinitely less wise and far from well‐advised son and heir.
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2) March 15, 2012
Will Cameron's visit to the United States be all basketball and PR baloney? ‐ By Michael Thornton, The Daily Mail
David Cameron arrives in Washington today to be given the red carpet treatment by President Barack Obama amid declarations by his aides, fretting about his re‐election prospects, that America’s ‘special relationship’ with Britain is as special as ever.
For a Prime Minister who was anxious as Opposition leader to distance himself from President George W. Bush and as eager as a puppy to associate himself with candidate Obama’s star power back in 2008, the programme must seem like a dream come true.
Improved relations: The Camerons welcome the Obamas to Downing Street during their visit to Britain in May last year.
The Camerons – Samantha will have her own itinerary with Michelle Obama – will arrive to a 19‐gun salute and a welcome on the White House lawn from invited guests. Tomorrow, there will be a black tie state dinner at the White House, with prominent Britons such as golfer Rory McIlroy and actor Damian Lewis among the celebrities in attendance.
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But the centrepiece of the trip – in American eyes, at least – will be a remarkable trip the two leaders will take to Dayton, Ohio, to watch a first‐round game in the national college basketball tournament.
It is remarkable because the 70‐minute flight will mark the first time that a world leader has flown on Air Force One with Obama. And remarkable also because Cameron is allowing himself to step into the midst of the mother of all photo opportunities with an electioneering President in what is a swing state.
When the then Senator Obama visited London in July 2008, he met Prime Minister Gordon Brown but also his predecessor Tony Blair and Cameron, his future successor. Embarrassingly, it later emerged that Obama viewed Cameron as ‘a lightweight’ – an opinion that seems not to have changed.
Courtesy: The Obamas visit Gordon and Sarah Brown in London.
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Even‐handed: Gordon Brown in Washington.
Three months earlier, Brown had visited Washington and, with assiduous even‐handedness, met not only President George W. Bush but also candidates Obama, Hillary Clinton and John McCain at the handsome Lutyens residence of the British ambassador to Washington.
By contrast, Cameron has no plans to meet Mitt Romney, the Republican frontrunner who will almost certainly face Obama in November. Not only is the Republican party the sister party of the Conservatives, but Republicans have been consistently more supportive of the special relationship than Obama, who, despite mouthing all the requisite platitudes, regards Britain as just one nation among many.
The only joint interview Cameron will face with Obama will be conducted by Clark Kellogg of CBS Sports, at half‐time during the basketball game. Don’t expect any tough questions about Libya.
If the average Briton thinks all this is a little odd, then you’ll find this sentiment shared on the other side of the Pond, where most people are all too aware that the world seems a more dangerous place by the day.
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Not interested: Mr Cameron will not meet Republican Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney during his visit.
The American and United Kingdom mission in Afghanistan is in crisis after the deaths of six British troops in Helmand and the massacre of 16 innocent Afghans in Kandahar by a deranged U.S. staff sergeant.
Tehran, meanwhile, is moving closer and closer towards a nuclear capability and Israel may well already have taken the decision to bomb Iranian facilities – something neither Britain nor the U.S. wants. Syria is murdering its own citizens – as well as the heroic Marie Colvin, an American who spent nearly three decades working for a British newspaper.
And the European financial crisis could yet cause the collapse of the Euro and economic paralysis on both sides of the Atlantic.
Suffice to say there is an awful lot on the ‘in‐tray’ for the pair to talk about this week. The question is: just how much time will they devote to any of it, given that the programme is laden with ceremonial set pieces and feel‐good window dressing. The decision to undertake the Ohio basketball trip – already dubbed ‘slam dunk’ diplomacy by the American media – was only finalised last week, and the prospect of Cameron whooping it up with Obama at a game in Ohio has all the potential for the corniest and most cringeworthy American visit since George W. Bush took Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi of Japan, a fanatical aficionado of Elvis Presley, to Graceland.
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Cringeworthy: George W Bush and Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi at Graceland.
Symbolism is, of course, important. At the start, the Obama administration failed miserably in its dealings with Britain by allowing the Jacob Epstein bust of Winston Churchill, lent from the Government Art Collection to Bush, to be unceremoniously returned when Obama moved into the Oval Office.
Obama then presented a horrified Gordon Brown with a box set of DVDs during their first meeting, at which the then Prime Minister was treated with all the pomp and circumstance that might be afforded to a junior member of the Ukrainian parliament. Advisers to Obama, used to awestruck foreigners being grateful for being treated to the mere presence of the man Oprah Winfrey anointed as ‘the One’, were mystified by the outcry in Britain.
Obama himself was determined to put Britain in its place and not repeat what he saw as Bush’s mistake in becoming too personally close to Blair.
Since then, the Obama administration has become a little shrewder in its dealings with Britain. In addition, Barack and Michelle Obama were genuinely appreciative of the hospitality shown by the Queen during their state visit to Britain last May.
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Hospitality: The Obamas with The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh before a State Dinner at Buckingham Palace.
That has meant that at the symbolic level, the ‘special relationship’ – a term coined by Churchill during his visit to Missouri in 1946 – has reached heights that might make Gordon Brown weep.
In terms of substance, however, there is little evidence that Obama takes Cameron anything like as seriously as Bush treated Blair.
‘During the Bush‐Blair years it was a much more equal partnership,’ says Kim Holmes, a former senior official in the Bush administration and now a foreign policy adviser to Republican candidate Mitt Romney.
‘There was a lot of press coverage saying Tony Blair was Bush’s lap dog, but that was never the case.
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Lap dog? Tony Blair and George W Bush.
‘The thing British people may not understand is how Cameron is being politically used. The President will use Ohio to burnish his claim in the presidential campaign that foreign policy is his strong suit. I don’t think it is, but he’s claiming that, not least because he’s got such a bad record on the economy and gas prices are going through the roof.’
The paradox for Obama is that while he is keen to appear statesmanlike by parading a foreign leader around the country, few Americans know who David Cameron is.
While the relationships between Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan, Blair and Bush, and Clinton and Blair were notably warm in personal and political terms, the ‘Dave and Barack show’ has not moved far beyond slick niceties and the political advantage of photo ops.
Obama is significantly more popular in Britain, where the glow of the achievement of becoming the first black president has faded little, than in the U.S.
That may well be why Cameron, who made it clear in private in 2008 that he was rooting for Obama over McCain, is so eager to be associated with what amounts to an Obama campaign appearance in Ohio. Behind the scenes, the consensus among British diplomats is that Obama is on course to win re‐election. Yet they are sensibly forging links with the Romney campaign: Sir Peter Westmacott, the new British ambassador, cleverly managed
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to grab a conversation with Romney during an interval in a recent Republican debate in Florida.
Right now, Obama is surrounded by the majesty of the Oval Office and marshalling the kind of show the only White House can put on for the likes of Cameron.
In contrast, shortly after 7am yesterday, Romney, still in the midst of a gruelling primary contest, addressed a small crowd sheltering from the torrential rain outside a diner in Mobile, Alabama. Now, the two candidates seem a world apart ‐ but that can change very quickly.
The super‐cool, enigmatic Obama views politics as a series of transactions rather than emotional affair. It is clear what he gets out of Cameron’s visit. But the Prime Minister’s benefit from this week’s transaction, beyond a few good headlines back home, is unclear.
Cameron would be unwise to put all his eggs in the Obama basket, especially when there is a chasm between the symbolism of his glitzy visit and its political value in terms of getting anything done.
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Essay Question:
Do you feel that the Special Relationship between the
United States and Great Britain is still important to the
leaders of each country? Why or why not? Support
your position with specific examples from the articles.
40
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