UNION JACK
JOHN F. KENNEDY’S SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP WITH GREAT BRITAIN
Author: Christopher Sandford Publisher: The History Press Price: £20 Released: Out now
There have been countless books on John F. Kennedy and many on the so-called ‘special relationship’ between Britain and the United States. Christopher Sandford has decided to look into the matter more deeply in his latest book, having previously written on the relationship between Kennedy and Harold Macmillan.
Sandford’s basic idea is simple – the special relationship has been onesided in all of its incarnations, with Britain very much the junior (and inferior) partner. This has been the case no matter who was in the White House and No. 10, respectively. The one exception to this hard and fast rule, in Sandford’s opinion, was the presidency of JFK.
Jack Kennedy’s anglophilia has been considered many times, with opinions varying on how deeply it was rooted. The adoption of a certain aristocratic languor in his manner has been accepted, but was it just an affectation, or was it a symptom of a deeper connection?
Sandford makes a telling point when he recounts how Kennedy was rescued (after his torpedo boat was rammed in the Pacific during Word War II) by a native sporting a loincloth, a tattoo of the British flag and an impeccable English accent. Kennedy apparently quipped, as he climbed into the canoe that was to carry him back, “You’ve got to hand it to the British.” It’s a colourful anecdote, which gets the book off to an entertaining start.
Later, with his father acting as the US ambassador to the UK, the young
Jack would be able to immerse himself in British society. He was not in a probritish family (his father was most definitely not a fan), so a fondness for the British was far from inevitable, yet the affinity appears to have been genuine. Talking later of his affection for the venerable Macmillan, especially in contrast to other world leaders, Kennedy noted, “I feel at home with Harold because I can share my loneliness with him. The others are all foreigners to me.”
Perhaps most remarkably, Kennedy proved even-handed in his approach to the problem of British-irish relations, despite his heritage, and he would occasionally make small but meaningful gestures, such as when he embellished a mention of Britain in a 1955 speech, adding that they were “our strongest ally in NATO”.
Whether this was heartfelt sentiment or merely the actions of an astute politician is difficult to say. Kennedy could not have been blind to the changing nature of the relationship, which, in Sandford’s well-turned phrase, “had increasingly become one of a giant industrial complex and its lossmaking overseas affiliate”. This was painfully obvious in the aftermath of the Suez crisis, where Britain underlined its status as a power in decline.
Nevertheless, in times of crisis it was to Britain that Kennedy turned for advice, and he faced no greater crisis than that posed by Russian activities in Cuba at the end of 1962. Regular calls with Macmillan demonstrated Kennedy’s trust and respect for the older man’s counsel during a desperate period. It is this sort of detail that makes you suspect Sandford might just be right.
WAS JOHN F. KENNEDY THE ONLY PRESIDENT TO TRULY BUY INTO THE IDEA OF A SPECIAL BOND WITH BRITAIN? “KENNEDY WAS RESCUED (AFTER HIS TORPEDO BOAT WAS RAMMED IN THE PACIFIC DURING THE SECOND WORD WAR) BY A NATIVE SPORTING A LOINCLOTH, A TATTOO OF THE BRITISH FLAG AND AN IMPECCABLE ENGLISH ACCENT”