ABSTRACT
Recent accounts of the resolution of the NATO crisis of 1966 have praised the role of Lyndon Baines Johnson and his administration. This article suggests that there was an Anglo-American dimension to the outcome of the crisis. It shows how the US government sought British assistance to defend the principles of Atlantic partnership and European integration and how the British readily and effectively responded. The result was Anglo-American cooperation to defeat de Gaulle’s challenge. The two governments turned the crisis into an opportunity to reinvigorate NATO and to pursue national objectives. For the Americans, this meant the stabilization of US–European relations, particularly in regard to the Federal Republic of Germany. For the British, it meant the strengthening of Britain’s position in NATO and its prospects for future EEC entry, and the reinforcement of Anglo-American ties against the backdrop of Britain’s global retreat.
