DECEMBER 7TH AND THE SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP

Friday, 7 December 2007, is another anniversary of “…December 7, 1941, the day that will live in infamy….” Or words to that effect.

Fewer and fewer of us here today were around on that day, so very long ago.

The date is significant. Well, the event is significant, hence the date is also.

The event was the Japanese attack on the US Naval Base at Pearl Harbor.

It is significant because it brought about US entry into WW2.

The US was participating in the War before that date, but on a relatively small scale.

The attack made US entry a foregone conclusion. And that entry made Allied success in the War very likely indeed.

It is said that Churchill, when informed of the strike, allowed that victory was now assured, tho the road would still be long and hard.

But there is another reason to note the anniversary.

For 7 December 1941 marked the beginning of the war that would make manifest to all the world a sea change that had already occurred in international affairs.

That sea change was the reversal of the Special Relationship, that intimate diplomatic connection existing between the US and the United Kingdom.

Traditionally, historically, the UK carried the mantle of international peacemaker, guarantor of international law and the status quo. The US generally benefited from this largesse and worked to support it.

Though not always acting in concert, the two powers found themselves more in agreement than in disagreement.

Hence, the Special Relationship.

And the senior partner in the relationship was the UK, the imperial center of the British Empire, the greatest empire the world has ever seen.

World War 2 demonstrated that the two powers were still operating within a special relationship, but by the end of the War, even before the end, it was clear that while the US had helped the Allies win WW1, during the 1940’s, the Allies had begun to help the US win WW2.

We did not help Britain and the world defeat the Axis. The Free World, the British Empire, helped the United States win the War.

The Relationship reversed. The Senior Member was now the United States.

It still is.

And 7 December will forever be a most important anniversary indeed.