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The Pilgrims Society and Public Diplomacy, 1895-1945

Online ISBN:
9781474445184
Print ISBN:
9781474417815
Publisher:
Edinburgh University Press
Book

The Pilgrims Society and Public Diplomacy, 1895-1945

Stephen Bowman
Stephen Bowman

Lecturer in the Centre for History

University of the Highlands and Islands
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Published online:
20 September 2018
Published in print:
1 April 2018
Online ISBN:
9781474445184
Print ISBN:
9781474417815
Publisher:
Edinburgh University Press

Abstract

This book examines the role of the elite Pilgrims Society in Anglo-American relations during the first half of the twentieth century. The Pilgrims Society was a dining club founded in London and New York in 1902 and 1903 which sought to improve relations between Britain and the United States. The Society provided an elite network that brought together influential politicians, diplomats, journalists, and businessmen during key moments in Anglo-American diplomacy. This book argues that the Pilgrims acted in cooperation with officialdom in both countries to promote its essentially elitist conception of Anglo-American friendship. The book presents a series of case studies that focus on the proceedings and wider diplomatic significance of lavish banquets held across the period at iconic London and New York hotels. In so doing, the book is the first-ever scholarly examination of the Pilgrims Society and establishes the role of unofficial public diplomacy activities and associational culture in official Anglo-American relations in an earlier period than has been recognised in the existing historiography. The book concludes that the Pilgrims Society is best regarded as a semi-official actor in international relations which – through its engagement with the press and by means of facilitating contact between policy-making elites – provided a milieu that supported ideas of Anglo-American friendship and legitimised greater state involvement in public diplomacy.

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