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The scholarly literature on US–UK relations has been marked by recurrent debate over the health and utility of the special relationship, recently enlivened by the policy tensions and political turbulence of the Trump presidency. The literature has also seen a social and cultural 'turn', with a growing focus on the broader linkages between the two countries' societies and cultures. However, there has been limited analysis of public opinion in Britain in recent scholarly research. This article examines the 'image of America' in British public opinion in the twenty-first century, across recent Republican and Democratic presidencies. It uses data from the annual Pew Global Attitudes survey series and Transatlantic Trends survey series to undertake systematic analysis of these quantitative data sources. It examines the following areas: the performance and policies of presidents from Bush to Biden, the US and its people, the state of bilateral relations, and NATO. It examines aggregate-level opinion and also pays close attention to views across different societal groups, based on demographic characteristics, party support and left–right ideology. The paper makes a significant and distinctive contribution to scholarly research into US–UK relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On the basis of a study of American, British and Canadian records, this article examines the relationship of France to the negotiation of the North Atlantic Treaty from the perspective of the ‘ABC’ countries, particularly Canada. How did the perceived vulnerability of France influence the approach of the members of the ‘North Atlantic Triangle’ to the justification, timing and contents of the proposed pact? How did France's inclusion in Western Union and its exclusion from the preliminary talks in the Pentagon affect American, British and Canadian attitudes to the development of the draft alternatively known as the ‘Pentagon Paper’ or the ‘State Department Draft’? These questions are addressed, as well as the impact on the later ambassadorial talks of France's priority to immediate rearmament and its determination to include the departments of Algeria within the defensive perimeter of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation. Finally, the article assesses the extent to which France and its requirements influenced the policies and actions of the Canadian government throughout the negotiation of the North Atlantic Treaty. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper examines the negotiation, implementation and impact of the four-year contract for delivery of Canadian wheat to Britain (July 1946). The notion of such an agreement was controversial within government and industry, not only in Canada and the United Kingdom but also in the United States. This assessment concludes that, in spite of its negative reputation, especially in Canada, the wheat contract met the principal aims of both sides. For the Canadian government especially this episode interwove many of its anxieties and ambitions in an uncertain financial, commercial and political situation after the Second World War. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Between 1941 and 1943 British and US policy-makers intervened in the Venezuelan Government's attempts to increase taxation of Venezuela's oil industry. British and US officials utilised their links with multinational oil companies in an attempt to steer negotiations and safeguard their, wartime and post-war, access to Venezuelan oil. Events in Venezuela saw the inception of a US foreign oil policy that reflected New Deal ideals and took inspiration from British oil diplomacy. However, the issue created conflict within the Anglo-US wartime alliance as events became imbued with wider tensions concerning Latin America and the international oil industry. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In March 2010 the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee (FAC) recommended that the appellation ‘special relationship’ no longer be used to describe Anglo-American relations. This article examines and extrapolates upon the report as a means of gaining insights into the contemporary special relationship. It argues that the period 2008–2010 was unusual in Anglo-American relations insofar as governments on both sides of the Atlantic signalled a cooling of the special relationship. However, it is argued that this shift was in high-level ‘mood music’ as political distance was sought from the Bush–Blair years rather than in the substance of Anglo-American relations or in British commitment to the special relationship. Of perhaps more long-term significance is the apparent mismatch between the ‘power and interest’ and the ‘sentimental myth’ dimensions of the special relationship. The FAC Report hinted at this in terms of expectation management of what the contemporary Anglo-American relationship could deliver to Britain. However, the gap between these two dimensions of the special relationship is potentially highly significant and though British governments clearly recognise this they remain unwilling to develop a newly modulated communicative discourse designed to better align them. Potential political vulnerability, it seems, is preferred to challenging a sentimental myth of Anglo-American relations that has over time become culturally embedded. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article examines British Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin's views on Anglo-American relations during the crucial year of 1947. It challenges the view that Bevin was unquestioningly pro-American. It demonstrates how Bevin pushed the embassy in Washington to project a view of Britain, based on answering American criticisms robustly. He saw Britain's problems to be a consequence of American failures to act responsibly, as he saw it. Bevin was frustrated with American attitudes, and sought to bring them to underwrite his own policies and shape theirs around his strong belief that Britain had earned their support and that they should compensate Britain for its past sacrifices in the common cause. Bevin was not coldly pragmatic, nor was he uncritically pro-American, or merely a puppet in the hands of his Foreign Office officials. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article traces the images of America's three foremost European allies in US public opinion over the course of the Presidency of George W. Bush. Public country images are seen to consist of a valence and a salience dimension. Employing a mix of opinion polls and media content data, the article locates the country images under study within this two-dimensional space. It finds that US relations with Britain, Germany and France rest on rather different foundations in the American public: the British image displays both the most positive valence and the highest salience; the valence of the German image is the second most positive but its image is the least salient; the French image has the least positive valence, and its salience takes on a middle position. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]