Scotland the brave? US strategic policy in Scotland 1953-1974

Mackay, David Gerard (2008) Scotland the brave? US strategic policy in Scotland 1953-1974. MPhil(R) thesis, University of Glasgow.

Abstract

During the Cold War, American strategic policy was exercised and implemented on a worldwide basis; decisions taken by Presidents and their advisers were eventually implemented at some other location. Scotland was one of these other locations and this research project will examine the implementation of the US strategic doctrine and its eventual delivery in Scotland. The research covers the following four questions.

Why were the Americans present in Scotland during this period in such strength?
What were they doing there?
How did this change over time?
How does this study of policy implementation help us to understand the American motives?

The research is split into six separate chapters. The first chapter sets the scene and poses the research questions noted above. The purpose of the remaining chapters is to examine activities that had a physical presence in Scotland and interrogate the research sources to find answers to the contextual questions.

Chapter Two examines how the US established and maintained an intelligence gathering system at Edzell and Thurso, apparently regardless of any larger strategic imperatives. Chapter Three deals with the creation of the US Polaris submarine base at Holy Loch, the most high profile base in the UK. Chapter Four, anti-submarine warfare (ASW) strategy addresses the strategic importance of the Scottish base at Thurso for this purpose. Chapter Five concentrates on the communications, navigation and logistics tasks carried out by the US forces in the UK, and especially in Scotland. The final chapter draws the systematic study together along with the conclusions reached in each chapter to the research questions.

• Item Type: Thesis (MPhil(R))
• Qualification Level: Masters
• Keywords: US Strategic Policy; 1953-1974; Scotland; Holy Loch; Edzell; Thurso.
• Subjects: E History America > E151 United States (General)
• Colleges/Schools: College of Arts & Humanities > School of Humanities > History
• Supervisor's Name: Ball, Dr. Simon
• Date of Award: 2008
• Depositing User: MR DAVID GERARD MACKAY
• Unique ID: glathesis:2008-347
• Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
• Date Deposited: 01 Aug 2008
• Last Modified: 10 Dec 2012 13:17
• URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/347