The Palgrave Handbook of Presidents and Prime Ministers From Cleveland and Salisbury to Trump and Johnson

This handbook examines the personal relationships between American presidents and British prime ministers. It aims to determine how personal diplomacy shaped the Anglo-American relationship and whether individual leaders made the relationship “special.” From the great rapprochement of the 1890s to the Cold War and contemporary transatlantic rapport, the Anglo-American relationship has been one of global significance, making presidents and prime ministers central to international security, trade and commerce, culture, and communication. Naturally, it explores the ideas and convictions of presidents and prime ministers, the political parties they led, as well as the political images constructed in the media and how the aura of the Anglo-American relationship might differ from the reality. With a deeper understanding of these political leaders and the relationship they forge with their counterparts, we come that much closer to appreciating the dynamics of transatlantic statecraft. 

1. Introduction- Michael Patrick Cullinane.- 2. Presidents and Prime Ministers- Kathleen Burk.- 3. Grover Cleveland and Lord Salisbury: A Shared History- Andrew Ehrhardt and Charlie Laderman.- 4. Theodore Roosevelt and Arthur Balfour: Friendship without Familiarity- Michael Patrick Cullinane.- 5. Woodrow Wilson and David Lloyd George: Uncongenial Allies- John A. Thompson.- 6. Herbert Hoover, Franklin Roosevelt, Ramsey MacDonald, Stanley Baldwin and Neville Chamberlain: The Amelioration of Anglo-American Rivalry- B. J. C. McKercher.- 7. Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill: Power Relations- Warren Dockter.- 8. Harry S. Truman and Clement Attlee: “Trouble Always Brings Us Together”- Clive Webb.- 9. Dwight D. Eisenhower, Winston Churchill and Anthony Eden: A Common Cause?- Justin Quinn Olmstead.- 10. John F. Kennedy and Harold Macmillan: Dependence and Interdependence- Nigel Ashton.- 11. Lyndon Johnson and Harold Wilson: Pragmatist v. Pragmatist- Sylvia Ellis.- 12. Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter and James Callaghan: Personal Diplomacy and the Special Relationship- Todd Carter.- 13. Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher:  A Not So “Special” Relationship?- James Cooper.- 14. John Major, George H. W. Bush, and Bill Clinton: A Tale of Two Relationships- Victoria Honeyman.- 15. Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Tony Blair: The Search for Order- James Ellison.- 16. Barack Obama and David Cameron: The Ostensible Relationship- Martin Farr.- 17. Donald Trump and Theresa May: the incredible relationship- Martin Farr.- 18. Donald Trump and Boris Johnson: The Unfulfilled Relationship- Martin Farr.- 19. Conclusion- Gill Bennett.

Martin Farr is Senior Lecturer in Contemporary British History at Newcastle University. He has published widely on British politics and public life since the First World War, and co-edits the Palgrave series, Britain and the World.     

Michael Patrick Cullinane is Professor of US History at the University of Roehampton, London. He has published several books, including Remembering Theodore Roosevelt (Palgrave, 2021) and The Open Door Era: US Foreign Policy in the Twentieth Century (2017). He edits the book series New Perspectives on the American Presidency.