As the twentieth century began, many on both sides of the Atlantic were predicting that an alliance of the United States and Great Britain would dominate the globe. Yet the post-World War I era saw a renewed hostility toward England that would play an important role in American political life until the onset of the Cold War.
Why did Anglophobia—a sentiment with deep roots in American history—make such a dramatic resurgence in 1919? Who were the Anglophobes, and what lay behind their dislike of the British? How did their efforts affect Anglo-American relations? And finally, why has it virtually disappeared from political discourse in the United States?
John E. Moser is an Assistant Professor of History at Ashland University and an Adjunct Fellow of the John M. Ashbrook Center for Public Affairs. Moser is the author of Twisting the Lion’s Tail—American Anglophobia between the World Wars and Presidents from Hoover through Truman, 1929-1953: Debating the Issues in Pro and Con Primary Documents, which is due out in November. He received his Ph.D. in the history of international relations from the University of Illinois. From 1999 to 2001 he was a Franklin Postdoctoral Teaching Fellow at the University of Georgia.