The Foreign Service Journal, May 2008

this clarion call and were encouraged in their struggles for independence. Back at Foggy Bottom, however, policymakers were much more reserved. Yes, self-determination and inde- pendence were both inevitable and desirable, but time was needed for preparation. Too rapid a process could be destabilizing. Their caution was supported by the results of a 10- week tour of Africa undertaken in late 1957 by Foreign Service officer Julius Holmes, executive assistant to Secretary of State John Foster Dulles. Dulles wanted a firsthand analysis of prospects for post-independence Africa, and he got just that. In a memorandum dated Feb. 6, 1958, Holmes made some dire and accurate pre- dictions: “I foresee a long period of uncertainty, bad man- agement, retrogression and conflict.” This prediction must have jolted Dulles, one of the most vocal leaders of the postwar anti-colonial movement, for he had drafted most of the “self-determination” language in the 1945 United Nations Charter. But it was too late for second thoughts. Independence was coming, and the U.S. had to get ready. On Aug. 20, 1958, the Bureau of African Affairs was established. The National Security Council began meeting frequently to establish policy toward Africa. President Dwight Eisen- hower took a strong interest in the process, personally chairing several NSC meetings. It is remarkable that at the height of the Cold War, Eisenhower —with significant input from Vice President Richard Nixon — enunciated the following guidelines for policy toward Africa, all durable and pragmatic: • Treat all independent African governments as sover- eign equals; • Accept African neutrality in the Cold War; • Emphasize economic development, education and cultural exchange; • Look first to the U.N. Security Council for stabiliza- tion solutions; and • Refrain from putting U.S. military boots on the ground in violent African conflicts. Engaging the Continent With these principles in mind, U.S. agencies greeted the avalanche of independence events with enthusiasm and a variety of programs and projects. Under Secretary of State for Administration Loy Henderson interpreted the new NSC policy directives as a mandate to establish a U.S. embassy in every independent African country. An American presidential aircraft, filled with political personalities, was dispatched to every independence cer- emony to witness, and give legitimacy to, the midnight lowering of the colonial flag, followed by the raising of the new national standard. Those were heady moments. Within a short time, Africa was swarming with U.S. experts on public health, agronomy, education, water, live- stock and public administration. The Kennedy adminis- tration built on its predecessor’s policies, establishing the Peace Corps in 1961, which quickly became a popular presence in Africa. The optimism was real. Primary commodities such as tropical crops and base minerals were enjoying a global price boom. Ghana, Nigeria, Côte d’Ivoire and Kenya had higher per capita GDPs than South Korea and Malaysia. Not all went smoothly, however. Pres. Eisenhower’s first national security challenge in Africa came when the Belgian Congo gained its independence in June 1960. This vast territory, equal in size to the U.S. east of the Mississippi, was totally unprepared to govern itself (tellingly, it had only 16 university graduates). Law and order quickly evaporated. Warlords and tribal leaders filled ungoverned spaces. Soviet agents began making political deals with Marxist-leaning Congolese politicians, including the charismatic prime minister, Patrice Lumumba. Eisenhower vowed to prevent a Soviet takeover of this mineral-rich country, by military means if necessary. He initially requested the establishment of a NATO commit- tee to plan a possible armed intervention, but cooler F O C U S 18 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / M A Y 2 0 0 8 Retired Career Ambassador Herman J. “Hank” Cohen, who entered the Foreign Service in 1955, was a labor reporting officer at four African posts. He later served as ambassador to Senegal and the Gambia, and was assistant secretary for African affairs during the George H.W. Bush administration, among many other positions. Since retir- ing from the Foreign Service in 1993, he has worked as a senior adviser to the Global Coalition for Africa and wrote Intervening in Africa: Superpower Peacekeeping in a Troubled Continent (St. Martin’s Palgrave, 2000). Cur- rently, he is a retiree member of the AFSA Governing Board, teaches at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and does consulting work for U.S. business in Africa.