Creating the 'special relationship': British propaganda in the United States during the Second World War.

摘要

During World War II, the British sought to build an informal partnership or "special relationship" with the United States. They hoped to minimize their decline by securing American support for Britain's postwar recovery. The British used this period of transition of power, when rivals were allies, to promote the Anglo-American relationship they wanted to emerge from the war. This study examines their attempt to create the "special relationship" through propaganda from December 1941 until the war's end in 1945.; Officials in the Foreign Office, the Ministry of Information, and the British Broadcasting Corporation based their propaganda policy upon their analysis of the American foreign policy-making process and political culture. They concluded that the Constitution gave public opinion a major role in U.S. policy-making. Thus, the British sought to use propaganda to build a consensus among the American public for the "special relationship." Propagandists presented their material as information, relying upon their interpretation of events to promote an identity of interests between the two countries. They cultivated American opinion leaders, primarily the media, who were seen as channels to the general public. Two issues that most threatened the acceptance of the "special relationship" are explored: the issue of the British Empire, in particular the question of India's independence, and the Lend-Lease agreements.; By linking the interests of the democratic and capitalist allies in an ordered peace, propagandists defined the terms of the postwar Anglo-American relationship. They emphasized the value of partnership with Britain in a potentially unstable world and appealed to American strategic and economic interests. Britain's propaganda campaign could not prevent the transition of power, but it made that transition work in Britain's interests. This dissertation is based on research in Britain at the Public Record Office and the B.B.C. Written Archives; in the United States at the Franklin Roosevelt Library, the National Archives and the Library of Congress; and in Canada at the Public Archives of Canada in Ottawa.