What has the USA ever done for us? Quite a lot, as it turns out
Let us give thanks for an open-hearted culture that will endure long after the politics have faded.
As we approach the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence of the United States on July 4 (see below), it has to be said that the country’s ‘special relationship’ with Britain is arguably not what it was. Aggressive pronouncements on social media and potentially wounding trade tariffs by the 45th and 47th President, not to mention rising oil prices and the war with Iran, have strained friendship.
This is a pity. The USA — ‘land of the free’ — has long been a byword for aspirational, joyous adventures in big cars in big spaces, rock music, the rollicking Wild West films that inspired childhood games and, as Britain emerged from the privations of war, the glamour of the Kennedys and Hollywood.
'Above all, perhaps, America has given us that optimistic holiday feeling — think Grease and Summer Lovin’, Carousel and June is bustin’ out all over'
We have enjoyed and benefited from American culture, from the 16th-century idea of eating turkey for Christmas — surely better than peacocks? — to the stylish cut of Levi jeans and we finally grasp the obsession with ice and air-conditioning. We have revered Marilyn Monroe as the ultimate symbol of glamour and mysterious tragedy and Snoopy as the wisest, cutest cartoon beagle.
Secrets of a radical duke
An independent mind: Charles Lennox, 3rd Duke of Richmond and Lennox, by Sir Joshua Reynolds.
Danielle Allen, who unearthed a Declaration of Independence — one of only two 24in by 30in parchment manuscripts known to exist — in the West Sussex Record Office in Chichester, in 2015, has written a book, Radical Duke, which charts the life of Charles Lennox, 3rd Duke of Richmond, among whose papers she found the ‘Sussex’ Declaration.
Entering politics after a successful military career, during the 1770s, the Duke staunchly opposed the British government’s handling of the colonies, including the levying of taxes when American colonists had no representation in Parliament. He came to support the idea of American independence, even initiating a debate in 1778 that called for the removal of British troops, ensuring that he became deeply unpopular in Britain and was termed a traitor.
There is the wit of Dorothy Parker and Mark Twain, the plays of Tennessee Williams and Arthur Miller and the novels of Harper Lee, Steinbeck, Scott Fitzgerald, Hemingway and Melville, whose 175-year-old Moby-Dick entered Cockney rhyming slang — plus their successors on the book charts Elizabeth Strout, Ann Patchett and the Booker-winning George Saunders.
That’s before we mention the uplifting music of Gershwin and Bernstein, Cash and Chuck Berry, Rodgers and Hammerstein and the velvet tones of Elvis Presley. America has given us the monumental flower paintings of Georgia O’Keeffe and the contrasting art of Warhol and Singer Sargent, the defiant courage of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, played by handsome actors Paul Newman and Robert Redford, the polo logo of Ralph Lauren, chocolate-chip cookies, pecan pie, cowboy boots, Tom Collins cocktails, the bucking-bronco party challenge and line dancing.
We have embraced the tasteful influence of imported figures such as Nancy Lancaster and Jennie Churchill; we still turn to the wisdom of environmentalists Ralph Waldo Emerson and Rachel Carson; we’re relying on the intelligent commentary at Wimbledon of Billie Jean King and John McEnroe on the BBC; and we still re-create the cool New England aesthetic of Shaker-style kitchens and the wholesome preppy look taken up by Boden and Seasalt.
Above all, perhaps, America has given us that optimistic holiday feeling — think Grease and Summer Lovin’, Carousel and June is bustin’ out all over. Therefore, on this auspicious anniversary, let us give thanks for an open-hearted culture that will endure long after the politics have faded.
This feature originally appeared in the July 1, 2026, issue of Country Life. Click here for more information on how to subscribe.
