Just how special is the 'special relationship'? The Reagan-Thatcher rapport, personal as well as political, is often regarded as its zenith. But there are other interpretations: that the relationship is largely one-way traffic, that it primarily sees Britain hanging onto America's coat tails. Whatever the rights and wrongs, there are examples of it seeming far from special. On 28 February 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson transmitted a 'top secret' note to Prime Minister Alec Douglas-Home. "I am sending you this private message" Johnson wrote, "to tell you that tomorrow morning I expect to announce the successful development of a very advanced aircraft which flies at Mach 3 and better. The announcement will be somewhat cryptic, because in fact this aircraft was originally developed with a purpose of reconnaissance. But your people will put two and two together and so I want you to know privately that the existence of the plane in no way alters our existing policy toward covert reconnaissance; our other capabilities in this area have developed, as you know, beyond our expectation."
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