Nixon's America After Vietnam

Extract

Shortly after Oliver Franks was appointed British Ambassador to the United States by the Attlee government, he was treated to a short lecture by Winston Churchill on the United Kingdom's proper role in the world. After drawing three separate circles labeled Europe, the Commonwealth and the United States, Churchill drew a fourth circle labeled Britain, which partially overlapped each of the others. He went on to emphasize that the central task of British foreign policy was to carry on its relations with each area in a manner that contributed to a harmonious whole. This conceptual framework had considerable validity for that time, although the particular policies adopted ultimately proved too ambitious for a nation of Britain's size, her declining sense of imperial mission and lack of economic dynamism.