Trusted intermediaries: Macmillan, Kennedy and their ambassadors
| Published date | 01 June 2022 |
| Author | Sian Troath |
| DOI | 10.1177/00471178211052819 |
| Date | 01 June 2022 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
https://doi.org/10.1177/00471178211052819
International Relations
2022, Vol. 36(2) 262 –284
© The Author(s) 2021
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DOI: 10.1177/00471178211052819
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Trusted intermediaries:
Macmillan, Kennedy and
their ambassadors
Sian Troath
University of Canterbury
Abstract
Studying trust at the international level is one of the greatest challenges for trust studies. In this
article I seek to expand on work which has sought to study trust between states in a way which
avoids anthropomorphising the state, and retains the salience of interpersonal trust. To do this,
I consider trust between states as existing in a web of relationships, from relationships between
government figures, to military personnel, to members of society. In this article I demonstrate
the value of incorporating actors beyond leaders in the most minimal sense: through including
boundary spanners, those whose relationships and interactions span across boundaries, whether
those boundaries be state borders or segments of government and society. Furthermore, I seek
to begin a process of categorising the types of roles that boundary spanners can play in the
development of trust between states. To illustrate their impact, I deploy a multidimensional
approach to trust which is used to assess the relationship between leaders, and the impact
of intermediary figures on both trust between the leaders, and in the relationships developed
between the intermediary and their respective leader. One case study is used to exemplify the
utility of this approach: the relationship between Harold Macmillan and John F. Kennedy and their
respective official ambassadors David Ormsby-Gore and David Bruce.
Keywords
Anglo-American relations, boundary spanner, diplomacy, trust
Introduction
The complexities of states have long challenged attempts to understand how trust flows
between states, ensuring that ‘the international level presents the greatest challenge to
trust studies’.1 Given the facilitating role trust can play in cooperation and the increasing
Corresponding author:
Sian Troath, Department of Political Science and International Relations, University of Canterbury, 20
Kirkwood Avenue, Upper Riccarton, Christchurch 8041, New Zealand.
Email: sian.troath@canterbury.ac.nz
1052819IRE0010.1177/00471178211052819International RelationsTroath
research-article2021
Article
Troath 263
array of global challenges which require cooperation among states to solve, how trust is
built and maintained remains a pressing area of study. One area which needs further
examination is the agency of individuals other than leaders, and the role that various
individuals or groups of people can play in shaping the development of trust between
states. This has remained an underexplored area because of the tendency to focus either
on the state as an anthropomorphised collective, or on the interpersonal relationships
formed between leaders. In this article I aim to shed more light on one particular group
of individuals: boundary spanners. These are people whose relationships and interactions
span across boundaries, whether those boundaries be state borders or segments of gov-
ernment and society, providing them the opportunity to act as trusted intermediaries and
influence the nature of trust in relationships between states.
In doing so, I aim to contribute to both of the primary debates in trust studies at the
international level: how to conceptualise the state in relation to trust, and how to concep-
tualise and analyse trust itself. On the former, I see relations between states as being
comprised of a web of individual and group interactions and relationships. Often, given
their power, relationships between leaders can have a significant impact on trust between
states. However, it is not sufficient to study them without exploring the broader web of
relationships which underpin relations between states. These relationships include
boundary spanner figures such as ambassadors, which are the focus of this article, but
they also include relationships between various societal groups, and institutional interac-
tions such as those between intelligence, diplomatic or military personnel. Future
research will be needed to further unpick this web of relationships, in order to better
understand when and how particular kinds of relationships matter for the overall picture
of trust between states. Given the complexity and scale involved, in this article I limit
myself to a beginning exploration of boundary spanner figures in the form of ambassa-
dors. The existing literature has identified that boundary spanners can play a substantial
role in trust between states,2 and I believe we can begin to categorise the kinds of roles
such figures can play.
In order to do so, I focus on the example of the relationships between British Prime
Minister Harold Macmillan, US President John F. Kennedy, Ambassador to Britain
David Bruce and Ambassador to the US David Ormsby-Gore. This case demonstrates
two important types of roles that ambassadors can play. The first and primary role is the
development of a strong trusting relationship between an ambassador and the leader of
their host country, as exemplified by Kennedy and Ormsby-Gore. The second of these is
how ambassadors can influence the trust that exists between leaders. To demonstrate the
nature of trust in these relationships and contribute to the theoretical literature on trust, I
deploy a multidimensional approach to trust, which conceptualises trust as existing in
three dimensions: calculative, affective and normative. These describe, respectively, the
role of shared perceptions of interests, perceptions of goodwill and emotional connec-
tions and identity transformation. Breaking trust down into dimensions allows for a more
precise analysis of the state of trust in the relationship. All three dimensions of trust are
evident in the leadership relations between Macmillan and Kennedy. What is significant
is the role the ambassadors play in both shaping the trust between Macmillan and
Kennedy, and developing their own trusting relationships with the respective leaders.
Most notable is the close personal relationship between Kennedy and Ormsby-Gore, in
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