‘We will get nothing from the Americans but words’

Abstract

The war over, in 1920 Sir Auckland Geddes was appointed British Ambassador in Washington. He was not the first, nor was he a particularly good choice. Sir Auckland was felt to have a particular affinity for North America, having been Professor of Anatomy at McGill University in Canada and because his wife came from Staten Island. He had served as Minister for Manpower during the latter part of the war and, subsequently, as President of the Board of Trade. Geddes had a reputation for arrogance. President Wilson, when consulted, commented: ‘I instinctively dislike what I hear of this man, but I have no ground on which I can object.’ Wilson feared that America was on the verge of a commercial war with the British Empire.