A Most Divisive Year: The Year of Europe and the Special Relationship in 1973

Abstract

This thesis examines Anglo-American relations in 1973, an especially turbulent year in the history of the post-World War II "special relationship." It draws on a wide range of documentary evidence and telephone transcripts from both American and British archival sources to create a detailed and granular chronology of the transatlantic exchanges between the Nixon presidency and Heath premiership, and applies a model of decision-making proposed by Graham T. Allison to the relationship. It ultimately concludes that the current historiographical interpretation of the special relationship in this period is too simplistic, and that while relations between leaders suffered during Henry Kissinger's 1973 Year of Europe initiative and the British entrance to the European Economic Community, cooperation continued unabated between the bureaucracies on both sides of the Atlantic.