Drawing on official records and private papers, this book offers insights into Anglo-American reactions to France's development of an independent nuclear capability; France's bid for the political leadership of Europe; Britain's first application to join the EEC; the controversial US multilateral force (MLF) proposal for NATO; Britain's numerous propositions to France for the development of an independent European nuclear force; the tense Anglo-American diplomatic quarrel that was the Skybolt crisis; and the creative diplomacy that produced the Nassau Agreement of December 1962.