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Dean Acheson and the ‘Special Relationship’: The West Point Speech of December 1962

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2009

Douglas Brinkley
Douglas Brinkley
Affiliation:
Hofstra University
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Type
Communication
Information
The Historical Journal , Volume 33 , Issue 3 , September 1990 , pp. 599 - 608
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1990

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References

1 DGA to Cowles, John (owner and editor of the Minneapolis Star Tribune), 2 11 1962Google Scholar. The Dean G. Acheson papers, Yale University Library (hereinafter referred to as DGA-Yale), Series I, box 6, folder 83. Also McLellan, David S. and Acheson, David C., Among friends: personal letters of Dean Acheson (New York 1980), p. 237Google Scholar. Acheson believed that the risk of delay involved in the blockade approach outweighed the risks of immediate air strikes against the missile sites. However, on President Kennedy's instructions Acheson flew to Europe to brief President De Gaulle and Chancellor Adenauer on the decision to impose the blockade during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

2 DGA to Lady Pamela Berry, 3 Dec. 1962. Series I, box 3, folder 32, DGA-Yale. Also McLellan, and Acheson, , Among friends, pp. 238–9Google Scholar.

3 Acheson had never before met Westmoreland, therefore his invitation did not carry the same clout as one from General Maxwell Taylor, whom Acheson knew and respected.

4 DGA to General Maxwell Taylor, 30 July 1962. Series I, box 30, folder 385, DGA-Yale.

5 General Maxwell Taylor to DGA, 27 July 1962. Series I, box 30, folder 385, DGA-Yale.

6 DGA to General Maxwell Taylor, 30 July 1962. Series I, box 30, folder 385, DGA-Yale.

7 Acheson, Dean, ‘Our Atlantic alliance: the political and economic strands’, speech delivered at the United States Military Academy, West Point, New York, 5 12 1962Google Scholar. Reprinted in Vital speeches of the day, XXIV, 6 (1 January 1963), 162–6.

8 Ibid. Also Ingalls, Leonard ‘More Nato units urged by Acheson’, New York Times, 6 12 1962, p. 6Google Scholar. Interestingly enough the Times mentioned nothing about Acheson's caustic remarks toward Britain when reporting the speech.

9 Acheson, , ‘Our Atlantic alliance’, pp. 163–4Google Scholar.

10 DGA to Arthur Schlesinger Jr, 31 Jan. 1963. Series I, box 28, folder 359, DGA-Yale. Schlesinger had sent Acheson a clipping of Selwyn Lloyd's commentary which appeared in the Sunday Telegraph.

11 Frankel, Max, ‘Acheson speech irks British; U.S. terms criticism minor’, New York Times, 7 12 1962, p. 1Google Scholar.

12 McGeorge Bundy to Robert J. Manning, 7 Dec. 1962, National Security Files I70A/34, the John F. Kennedy Library, Boston, Mass. Also quoted in Dimbleby, David and Reynolds, David, An ocean apart: the relationship between Britain and America in the twentieth century (New York, 1988), p. 255Google Scholar.

13 DGA to Michael Janeway, 5 Mar. 1963. Series I, box 6, folder 209, DGA-Yale.

14 Nunnerley, David, President Kennedy and Britain (London 1972), p. 1Google Scholar. The author provides a fascinating account of the collapse of Anglo-American relations during the Kennedy years. Also Pierre, Andrew J., Nuclear politics: the British experience with an independent strategic force 1939–1970 (New York, 1972), p. 225Google Scholar.

15 ‘New power arising’, The Spectator, CCIX, 2016 (14 12 1962), 920Google Scholar.

16 Quoted in Pierre, , Nuclear politics, p. 225Google Scholar.

17 DGA to Sir Frederick W. Leith-Ross, 16 Jan. 1963. Series 1, box 19, folder 238, DGA-Yale.

18 Frankel, Max, New York Times, 7 12 1962, pp. 1, 20Google Scholar.

19 Middleton, Drew, ‘Macmillan rebukes Acheson on speech’, New York Times, 8 12 1962, p. 1Google Scholar.

20 Nunnerley, , President Kennedy and Britain, pp. 1–2Google Scholar.

21 Published letter to Lord Chandos, 7 Dec. 1962, in Macmillan, Harold, At the end of the day, 1961–1963 (London, 1973), p. 339Google Scholar. Macmillan's statement was a reply to a letter he had received from Lord Chandos, president of the institute of directors and former Conservative cabinet member, Major Sir Edward Spears and Sir Robert Renwick, which requested that the prime minister seek a disavowal from Dean Acheson before he met President Kennedy at Nassau in the Bahamas on 19 December.

22 Oral history interview of Sir Howard Beale (transcript) 16 Apr. 1964, John F. Kennedy Library. Beale recalls that he was in England when the furore over Acheson's remarks hit the London papers: ‘I spent the next few days in England defending him and when I came back, I took him to task and asked him why I should have to defend him! He told me it was one of those inadvertent things; he had thought the words he used were all right, some of his people had read the speech and saw nothing wrong – it occurred to nobody that it could be interpreted in any way wrong.’

23 DGA to Francis Miller, 24 Jan. 1963. Series I, box 20, folder 255, DGA-Yale.

24 Quoted in Middleton article, New York Times, 8 Dec. 1962.

25 Vaughn, Cecil Ellis, ‘A comparison of the foreign policy viewpoints of Dean Acheson as Secretary of State and as elder statesman’ (MA. Thesis, University of Miami, Coral Gables, Florida, 1967), pp. 88–9Google Scholar.

26 Frankel, , New York Times, 7 12 1962, p. 1Google Scholar. Also Nunnerley, , President Kennedy and Britain, pp. 1–13Google Scholar.

27 The second oral history interview of Chester Bowles (transcript), 1 July 1970. John F. Kennedy Library.

28 Smith, Gaddis, Dean Acheson (New York, 1972), p. 416Google Scholar.

29 Acheson, Dean, Present at the creation: my years in the state department (New York, 1969), pp. 387–8Google Scholar. Also Perkins, Bradford, ‘Unequal partners: the Truman administration and Great Britain’, in Louis, William Roger and Bull, Hedley (eds.). The special relationship: Anglo-American relations since 1945 (New York 1986), p. 43Google Scholar.

30 Ibid.

31 ‘Hard words from the veteran American statesman Dean Acheson, in conversation with William Hardcastle’, The Listener, 19 June 1970.

32 DGA to Sir Frederick W. Leith-Ross, 16 Jan. 1963. Series I, box 19, folder 238, DGA-Yale.

33 Schwartz, Davíd N., NATO's nuclear dilemmas (Washington, D.C. 1983), pp. 96–103Google Scholar, offers an excellent evaluation of the decision to cancel Skybolt, the McNamara–Thorneycroft meeting, and Kennedy and Macmillan at Nassau. Also Pierre, Andrew J., Nuclear politics, pp. 224–43Google Scholar and Freedman, Lawrence, Britain and nuclear weapons (London 1980), pp. 10–18CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

34 Schwartz, , NATO's nuclear dilemmas, pp. 98–9Google Scholar.

35 Ibid. p. 100. Also Oral History Interview of Lord Thorneycroft (transcript), June 18, 1969, John F. Kennedy Library.

36 DGA to Sir Frederick W. Leith-Ross, 16 Jan. 1963. Series I, box 19, folder 238, DGA-Yale.

37 Schwartz, , NATO's nuclear dilemmas, pp. 101–3Google Scholar.

38 Barnet, Richard, The alliance (New York 1983), pp. 212–13Google Scholar, chapter five: ‘Young men's dreams and old men's visions: Mr. Kennedy and General De Gaulle’ offers a fascinating profile of the two leaders' personal relationship.

39 DGA to Henry Kissinger, 7 Jan. 1963. Series 1, box 18, folder 236, DGA-Yale. Also McLellan, and Acheson, , Among friends, p. 241Google Scholar.

40 DGA to Arthur Schlesinger, Jr, 14 Jan. 1963. Series 1, box 28, folder 359, DGA-Yale.

41 General Maxwell Taylor to DGA, 7 Dec. 1962. Series 1, box 30, folder 385, DGA-Yale.

42 DGA to Eugene V. Rostow, 13 Dec. 1962, McLellan, and Acheson, , Among friends, pp. 240–1Google Scholar.

43 Nunnerley, , President Kennedy and Britain, pp. 3–13Google Scholar.

44 ‘Hard words from…Dean Acheson…’, in The Listener, 19 June 1970.

45 DGA to Lord Angus Graham, 23 July 1968. Series I, box 13, folder 170, DGA-Yale.

46 Quoted in Peterson, Robert W. (ed.), Rhodesian independence (New York, 1971), pp. 112–13Google Scholar.

47 Quoted in ‘Acheson's gibe returns with some English on it’, New York Times, 23 Nov. 1969. Also Dickerson, James R., ‘Cold warrior with a tart tongue’, The National Observer, 23 10 1971, p. 6Google Scholar.