How Special is Special? The Anglo-American Alliance During the Cuban Missile Crisis

The Cuban missile crisis of 1962 affords an excellent opportunity to scrutinise alliance relationships during the most critical phases of international history. The recently declassified documents at the Public Records Office suggest that although Britain's role in the crisis was limited to consultation with the United States and did not actively participate in the resolution of the crisis, the government was not prepared to passively support those American decisions with which it did not agree. In addition this case study allows scholars to derive a greater sense of the importance of a detached and specialised Foreign Office in a political system which places greater power in the hands of an elected and transient government with narrow interests.