The Johnson Administration and the British Labour Government: Vietnam, the Pound and East of Suez

Journal of American Studies

Volumn 30, Issue 2, 1996, Pages 211-231

  Dumbrell, John ^a  

^a KEELE UNIVERSITY   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 85012467420     PISSN: 00218758     EISSN: 14695154     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S0021875800027055     Document Type: Article

References (99)

1. Edward Short, Whip to Wilson: The Crucial Years of the Labour Government (London: MacDonald, 1989), 117. See also Philip Ziegler, Wilson: The Authorised Life (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1993), 191.
2. Clive Ponting, Breach of Promise: Labour in Power 1964-19JO (London: Hamish Hamilton, 1989), chs. 3, 15; Ben Pimlott, Harold Wilson (London: Harper Collins, 1993), 386-7. See also Chris Wrigley, “Now You See It, Now You Don't: Harold Wilson and Labour's Foreign Policy 1964-70,” in R. Coopey, S. Fielding and N. Tiratsoo, eds., The Wilson Governments 1964-1970 (London: Pinter, 1993), 123-35, 128.
3. See Harold Wilson, The Labour Government 1964-70 (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1971), 452-54; also, Pimlott, 477-78; Ponting, 289; Ziegler, 281.
4. Alan P. Dobson, “The Years of Transition: Anglo-American Relations 1961-67,” Review of International Studies, 16 (1990), 239-58, 250.
5. National Security File (NSF): Memos to the President from McGeorge Bundy, June 1965, box 12, 28 June, Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library, Austin, Texas. All subsequent document and oral history citations relate to material available at the Johnson Presidential Library.
6. See John Dumbrell, The Making of US Foreign Policy (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1990), 215-25; Alan P. Dobson, The Politics of the Economic Special Relationship (Brighton: Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1988), 214; David Bruce, Oral History, Johnson Library, 18; Wilson, The Labour Government, 264.
7. See, e.g., Richard Crossman, The Diaries of a Cabinet Minister, ed. Janet Morgan, (London: Hamish Hamilton and Jonathan Cape): Volume One, Minister of Housing, 1964-66 {K)7)), 456; Volume Two, Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons, 1966-68 (1976), 181; Barbara Castle, The Castle Diaries, 1964-70 (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1984), 41, 147. See also NSF: Country File: UK, box 208, cable from London Embassy to State Department, 29 Sept. 1964 (on recent Daily Mirror editorials); Sanity (Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament journal), May 196;; Geoffrey Goodman, The Awkward Warrior: Frank Cousins (London: Davis-Poynter, 1979). 492~3-
8. Crossman, Volume One, 574; Cecil King, The Cecil King Diary 1963-1970 (London: Jonathan Cape, 1972), 78; Ponting, 48-53; Ziegler, 280-84. See also Sylvia Ellis, “British Opposition to the Vietnam War, 1964-68,” paper delivered at the 1994 European Association for American Studies conference, Luxembourg.
9. See Stephen Dorill and Robin Ramsay, Smear: Wilson and the Secret State (London: Grafton, 1991), 44-5; Pimlott, 366; Robin Ramsay, “Wilson and the Security Services”, in Coopey et al, eds., The Wilson Governments, 151-62; David Leigh, The Wilson Plot: The Intelligence Services and the Dismantling of a Prime Minister (London: Heinemann, 1988), 102-3; George Ball, The Past Has Another Pattern: Memoirs (New York: Norton, 1982), 336.
10. NSF: Name File, box 7 (Neustadt) (cuttings from Washington Post, 7 Nov. 1968); Neustadt's 6 July 1964 memo was published in New Left Review, 51 (1968), 11-21. On the MLF negotiation, see Paul Y. Hammond, LBJ and the Presidential Management of Foreign Relations (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1992), 108-43.
11. NSF: Country File (CF): UK, box 206, Bruce cable, “Elections note,” Oct. 5-12, 1964; Ziegler, 224.
12. NSF: CF: UK, box 213, McGeorge Bundy to Johnson, 1 March 1964.
13. National Security File (NSF): Memos to the President from McGeorge Bundy., “PM Wilson Visit Briefing Book 12/64.”
14. National Security File (NSF): Memos to the President from McGeorge Bundy., box 206, Rusk to Johnson, 28 Feb. 1964.
15. Papers of George Ball, box 1, telecon (McGrory-Ball), 9 Dec. 1964.
16. NSF: CF: UK: box 207, Klein to McGeorge Bundy, 23 March 1965.
17. Papers of George Ball., box 209, incoming telegram, 16 Dec. 1965.
18. Papers of George Ball., box 213, memo of conversation (Wilson and McNamara), March 1964.
19. Papers of George Ball…, box 216, Bruce telegram to Johnson, 26 Sept. 1966.
20. Papers of George Ball…, box 213, Rusk t o J o h n s o n, 28 F e b. 1964.
21. Papers of George Ball…, box 215, Klein to McGeorge Bundy, 1 June 1965.
22. NSF: Name File (Neustadt), box 7, Neustadt to McGeorge Bundy, 9 Aug. 1965.
23. NSF: CF: UK, box 216, “Wilson Briefing Book 7/29/66: British Attitudes on Vietnam.”
24. NSF: National Security Council (NSC) Meetings File, box 2, Bromley Smith, “Summary Notes of 587th NSC Meeting,” 5 June 1968.
25. Chester Cooper, Oral History, 10; Chester L. Cooper, The Lost Crusade (London: MacGibbon and Kee, 1970), 365. Rostow's remark was made in the wake of the February 1967 “Phase A/Phase B” fiasco (see Dumbrell, Making of US Foreign Policy, 225, 250).
26. The Castle Diaries, 147; Bruce, Oral History, 8. (Bruce also, however, noted LBJ's “antipathy” to Wilson. See Ellis, “British Opposition to the Vietnam War,” 4).
27. Pimlott, 387.
28. Papers of George Ball, box 1, telecon (Reston-Ball), 16 Oct. 1964.
29. NSF: Files of McGeorge Bundy, box 18/19, “Memorandum for the Record,” 31 March 1965; Papers of George Ball, box i, telecon (Johnson-Ball), 6 March 1965. See also C. Hitchens, “Say What You Will About Harold “, London Review of Books, 2 Dec. 1993, 14.
30. NSF: CF: UK, box 216, “Background Paper: British Economy” (Brown visit, 10/14/66). 31 E. F. Fried, Oral History, 36.
31. N S F : CF: UK, box 21, C IA Office of National Estimates, “Britain ’ s Economy and its Implications”, 1 July 1965.
32. “Background Paper: British Economy”., box 216, “Wilson Briefing Book 7/29/66: British Attitudes on Vietnam.”
33. “Background Paper: British Economy”., W. Rostow to Johnson, 28 July 1966.
34. “Background Paper: British Economy”…, box 209, McGeorge Bundy to Burke Trend, 3 Nov. 1965. On Skybolt, see R. E. Neustadt, Alliance Politics (New York: Columbia University Press, 1970).
35. NSF: CF: UK, box 209, airgram, London Embassy to State Department, 23 May 1966.
36. “Background Paper: British Economy”…, box 208, memo of conversation (Rusk-Dean), 3 June 1965.
37. “Background Paper: British Economy”…, box 213, memo of conversation (McNamara-Wilson), 5 March 1964.
38. “Background Paper: British Economy”…, incoming cable to State Department, 5 June 1968 (original in capitals).
39. NSF: CF: UK, box 213, Rusk to Johnson, 28 Feb. 1964.
40. “Background Paper: British Economy”…, boxes 211/12, L o n d o n Embassy t o State Department, received 5 June 1968.
41. See Dobson, “The Years of Transition”, 250-56.
42. NSF: CF: UK, boxes 211/12, Bruce to Secretary of State, 8 May 1967.
43. NSF: NSC Meetings File, box 2, Bromley Smith, “Summary Notes of 587th NSC Meeting,” 5 June 1968.
44. N S F : C F : UK, box 215, Ball, “British Sterling Crisis: 1965,” (undated).
45. Files of Walt W. Rostow, boxes 12/15, Bator to Johnson, 21 July 1966.
46. NSF: CF: UK, box 216, Bator to Johnson, 1 June 1967.
47. British Ambassador Patrick Dean informed Secretary Rusk that the “UK was naturally happy to sell the bombs but preferred that in the future it not be said that they were to be used in Vietnam “(NSF: CF: UK, box 208, “memo of conversation “: Dean-Rusk, 22 June, 196;). See also Duncan Campbell, The Unsinkable Aircraft Carrier (London: Paladin, 1986), 142 (on SAS involvement); Norman B. Hannah, The Key to Failure: Laos and the Vietnam War (Lanham: Madison Books, 1987), 195; and Jeffrey T. Richelson and Desmond Ball, The Ties That Bind (London: Unwin Hyman, 1990), (on intelligence cooperation).
48. S. R. Larsen and J. L. Collins, Allied Participation in Vietnam (Washington DC: Department of the Army, 1975), 2.
49. See Dumbrell, Making of US Foreign Policy, 216; Wilson, The Labour Government, 264; Ponting, 47-56, 220; The Castle Diaries, 282.
50. See Wilson, The Labour Government, 248; Tony Benn, Out of the Wilderness: Diaries, ipij-iyi/ (London: Hutchinson, 1987), 440.
51. NSF: Memos t o the President: W. W. Rostow, Vol. 6, box 8, 17 June 1966.
52. NSF: Files of Walt W. Rostow, boxes 12/13, Bruce to State Department, 4 July 1966 (original in capitals).
53. NSF: CF: UK, box 209, Bruce to State Department, 2 June 1966 (original in capitals).
54. See, e.g., NSF: Files of McGeorge Bundy, boxes 17/18, “Memorandum for the Record”: Bundy: “It might well be very embarrassing for the British if they should give assurances one week which they had to give back a week later…” (on consultation over US military intentions).
55. NSF: Memos to the President: McGeorge Bundy, Vols. 5-8, box 2, Bundy to Johnson, i; Dec. 1964 (on appointment of James Rafferty to handle the “third country problem”); Bruce, Oral History, 23-4.
56. NSF: Files of McGeorge Bundy., Bundy to Johnson, 28 July 1965.
57. NSF: Memos to the President: McGeorge Bundy, Vols. 8-13, box 3, Bundy to Johnson, 2 Aug. 1965.
58. NSF: CF: UK, box 209, State Department Director of Intelligence and Research to Rusk, 1; July 1966.
59. NSF: Files of McGeorge Bundy., boxes 215/16, “Briefing Book 7/29/66.”
60. N S F : CF: UK, boxes 211/12, Humphrey to Johnson, 4 April 1967.
61. See Bruce, Oral History, p. 24. According t o Wilson {The Labour Government, 8o), LBJ told him in February 1965; “I won't tell you how to run Malaysia and you don't tell us how to run Vietnam.”
62. Papers of George Ball, box 1, telecon (Solomon-Ball), 27 July 1965; NSF: Files of McGeorge Bundy…, telecon (Fowler-Ball), 29 1965. (“Bob” is Robert McNamara).
63. NSF: CF: UK, box 209, Fowler to Johnson, 14 July 1966.
64. Papers of George Ball., box 215, Fowler to Johnson (handwritten, undated).
65. As note 47 (above).
66. NSF: CF: UK, box 206, Cline to Director of Central Intelligence (undated).
67. Cline to Director of Central Intelligence (undated)., box 207, O. Eckerstein to G. Ackley (summarising Heller's view), 11 June 1965.
68. Cline to Director of Central Intelligence (undated)…, box 208, Bruce to State Department, received 26 July 1965.
69. Cline to Director of Central Intelligence (undated)…, boxes 211.12, Heller to Johnson, 9 Sept. 1967.
70. Cline to Director of Central Intelligence (undated)…, box 215, Ackley to Johnson (summarising views of Fowler, Ball, Bundy and Martin), 29 July 196;. “Cline to Director of Central Intelligence (undated)…, Ackley to M. Bundy, 29 July 196;. See also A. Caimcross and B. Eichengreen, Sterling in Decline: The Devaluations of 1931, 1949 and 1967 (Oxford: Blackwell, 1983), 178.
71. See note 3 (above). Wilson, p. 453, described Pierre-Paul Schweitzer (IMF Secretary-General) as “u n d e r American as well as British pressure” to ease the conditions for a multilateral rescue. See also Robert Solomon. The International Monetary System, if4J-ify6 (New York: Harper and Row, 1977), 91-99.
72. NSF: CF: UK, boxes 211/12, Rostow to Johnson, 13 Nov. 1967.
73. White House Central File: Confidential File: F O 321, Callaghan to Fowler, 10 Nov. 1967 (cited in Ponting, 291).
74. NSF: CF: UK, boxes 211/12, “Notes on the President's Meeting with the Leadership,” 19 Nov. 1967.
75. NSF: File of W. W. Rostow, box 3, “Notes on the President's Meeting with the Leadership,” 19 Nov. 1967.
76. Cabinet Papers, box 11, “Minutes of Cabinet Meeting Nov. 20, 1967.”
77. NSF: CF: UK, boxes 211/12, Rostow to Johnston, 22 Nov. 1967.
78. WHCF: Confidential File: Name File, box 15 2, E. Goldstein to Johnson, 29 Jan. 1968.
79. Handwriting File, box, “British Budget.”
80. NSF: CF: UK, box 206, Heller to Johnson, 9 Nov. 1964.
81. Handwriting File., box 21, McGeorge Bundy to Johnson, 16 Dec. 1965.
82. Handwriting File., box 213, “Memo of conversation” (Wilson-McNamara), 5 March 1964.
83. Handwriting File…, box 209, Bator to Johnson, 17 Nov. 1965.
84. Handwriting File…, box 215, Klein t o M. Bundy, 1 June 1965.
85. Handwriting File…, Rusk to Johnson (undated): “Visit of P.M. Wilson.”
86. Handwriting File…, M. Bundy to Johnson, 16 Dec. 1965.
87. Papers of George Ball, box 1, telecon (Bator-Ball), 27 July 1965.
88. Papers of George Ball., (Fowler-Ball), 29 July 1965.
89. Papers of George Ball., (Bundy-Ball), 29 July 1965.
90. NSF: CF: UK, box 216, Bator to Johnson (report on Wilson's meeting with LBJ), 29 July 1966.
91. Papers of George Ball…, box 209, Fowler to Johnson, 18 July 1966.
92. Papers of George Ball…, Ball to Johnson, 22 July 1966.
93. WHCF: Confidential File, box 12, Bruce to State Department, 17 June 1967.
94. NSF: CF: UK, box 216, Rusk to Johnson, 31 May 1967.
95. Papers of George Ball…, “Background Paper for Mr. Walt Rostow: US Overseas Military Economies,” Feb. 1967.
96. Diary Backup, box 90, Rusk to Johnson, 3 Feb. 1968.
97. NSF: CF: UK, box 209, Hughes to Rusk, 27 July 1966.
98. Papers of George Ball…, box 216, Bator to Johnson (on LBJ's meeting with Wilson), 29 July 1966.
99. L. Heren, No Hail, No Farewell (London: Harper and Row, 1970), 231.