In 1946, when the U.S.S. Missouri called at Istanbul, U.S. sailors found it difficult to pay for anything, including prostitutes. The Russians, after 13 wars with Turkey in 300 years, were again menacing the Bosporus and Dardanelles, and the Turks gave the Americans a welcome that lasted for two decades. The U.S. reciprocated with more than $5 billion in military and economic aid. Symbolic of the "very, very special relationship," as a U.S. diplomat described it, was the fact that Turkey sent a tough, all-volunteer brigade of 2,500 troops to Korea in 1950.
By 1969, however, when the U.S.S. Forrestal...
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