ד"ר גיורא גודמן

The phenomenon of McCarthyism presented a serious challenge to Anglo-American relations that has not yet been fully examined. This article explores how the British government and various Whitehall departments responded at a time when Britain’s alliance with the recently isolationist United States was seen as the basis for the  United Kingdom’s survival in the Cold war.
British officials had to assure their U.S. counterparts and the U.S. public that they were equally committed to stopping the Communist enemy at home as well as abroad. At the same time, they had to take account of domestic opinion and let government supporters and the opposition know that Britain was not assisting the American “witch-hunt” or importing it as a model. The British thus had to engage in a careful balancing act on issues such as cooperation
between security services, security vetting procedures, foreign travel and immigration, trade with the Communist bloc, and demands to grant political asylum to American “refugees.”