America and the British Foreign Policy-Making Elite, from Joseph Chamberlain to Anthony Eden, 1895–1956

This study suggested itself to the author when he noticed that such work as had been done on British attitudes to America fell into two main divisions: (a) studies, usually of American origin, of movements in the mass of British opinion; (b) studies of the radical and politically “nonconformist” elements in British political society. Both of these seemed to the author to be vitiated as contributions to the understanding of the various developments of Anglo-American relations, the former because the social structure of British political power does not weigh mass movements of opinion very highly, the latter because in the 61 years from 1895–1956, radical elements have controlled British foreign policy for a mere eight years and disputed control only for a further six.