A ’special relationship’?: Harold Wilson, Lyndon B Johnson and Anglo-American relations ’at the summit’, 1964-8

Drawing upon an extensive range of sources from both sides of the Atlantic, this book provides the first full-length study of the controversial relationship between Harold Wilson and Lyndon B. Johnson. While Wilson was a firm supporter of the idea of a "special relationship" between Britain and the United States and wanted to use his dealings with the White House to strengthen his credentials as a world statesman, Johnson held the British leader in low esteem and disdained the idea of a "special" Anglo-American relationship. Difficulties stemming from the Vietnam War, British economic weakness and the UK's abrogation of its world power status exacerbated the strain between Wilson and Johnson, leading to what was probably the most troubled of all the relationships between British prime ministers and American presidents.