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Title: Macmillan, Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis : Political, Military and Intelligence Aspects (Contemporary History in Context) by L. V. Scott ISBN: 0-312-21915-6 Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Pub. Date: 04 September, 1999 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $65.00

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Average Customer Rating: 4 (1 review)

Rating: 4
Summary: Fine account of the crisis
Comment: This very useful book examines the details of British diplomacy during one of the most dangerous episodes of the last fifty years, the Cuban missile crisis. The record shows that the British Government, despite private reservations, supported and encouraged President Kennedy's appallingly reckless behaviour before and during the crisis.

From the start of the Cuban Revolution, the British Government backed the US Government's attempts to interfere in Cuba's internal affairs and to overthrow its Government. Prime Minister Harold Macmillan wrote to President Eisenhower in July 1960, "I feel sure Castro has to be got rid of, but it is a tricky operation for you to contrive, and I only hope you will succeed." After the US Embassy left Cuba, the British Embassy provided the Pentagon and the CIA with most of their information about Cuban affairs. Throughout the crisis, Kennedy treated the British Government as a satellite, not an ally. At every turn, he at best informed Macmillan of what he had already decided. In return, Macmillan supported every US move, putting a misplaced, and unreciprocated, loyalty to the US Government above every other consideration.

When Krushchev rashly sent the nuclear missiles to Cuba, Kennedy unilaterally decided to impose a blockade on Cuba. This was an undeclared act of war. Britain's Lord Chancellor, Lord Dilhorne, said bluntly, "the United States' conduct is not in conformity with international law." Then Kennedy imposed a world-wide nuclear alert on US forces without consulting his NATO allies, in breach of Article 4 of the NATO Treaty. When Krushchev weakly withdrew the missiles, without consulting Castro, Macmillan servilely applauded Kennedy.

Scott concludes, "The central diplomatic lesson of the crisis for Britain was that the price of access in Washington was loss of political independence. Such access did not of itself guarantee influence." Access without influence or independence is what a footman has! So much for the 'special relationship'. Loss of sovereignty is never a price worth paying.

Will Podmore