The Foreign Service Journal, May 2008

decision was a classic example of the diplomacy of deeds, actions speaking louder than words: America was finally living up to its ideals. Three years later, Eisenhower faced another civil rights crisis in Little Rock, Ark. The White House took account of official embassy reports from Africa and else- where about how foreign publics were closely following the crisis as a test of American intentions to enforce Brown v. Board of Education . Eisenhower’s decisive handling of the crisis further strengthened the image of an America living up to its creed. It was in the immedi- ate aftermath of Little Rock that the Bureau of African Affairs was born. To be sure, as with so much else in his career, political opportunism featured in Nixon’s support of civil rights — the backing of African-Americans in the pivotal northern industrial states. Still, there’s a consensus that his posi- tion at this point in his career was driven as much by morality and Cold War strategy as by ambition. In 1960, Jackie Robinson, the gifted second baseman of the Dodgers who had integrated professional baseball, wrote a favorable commentary about Nixon. Then a presiden- tial candidate, Nixon thanked Robinson in a letter, noting that, “I have consistently taken a strong position on civil rights, not only for the clear-cut moral considerations involved, but for other reasons which reach beyond our nation’s borders.” Without strong action on civil rights, Nixon continued, “we will suffer in the eyes of the emerg- ing nations and uncommitted peoples. Beyond this, our present struggle with the forces of atheistic communism is an economic as well as an ideological battle. To deny ourselves the full talent and energies of 17 million Negro Americans in this struggle would be stupidity of the greatest magnitude.” Forging Close Trans-Atlantic Ties Ralph Bunche’s legacy epitomized the profound inter- est of African-Americans in Africa. Decades before Vice President Nixon called for cultural exchange programs to help educate future African leaders, a handful of colleges and universities (many of them historically black) were already performing the task, largely unnoticed by white America. Ghana’s Kwame Nkrumah, a graduate of Penn- sylvania’s Lincoln University and the University of Penn- sylvania, led Ghana to independence. Mozambique’s Eduardo Mondlane, founder of the FRELIMO libera- tion movement, graduated from Oberlin College and received a Ph.D. from Northwestern University. Starting in the 19th century, American missions oper- ated schools that brought primary education to Africans where none had existed. These schools — open to all — educated generations of African leadership and in many countries have bequeathed a heritage of good will toward Americans. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the current president of Liberia, attended a United Methodist high school. President Jose Eduardo Dos Santos of Angola has said that he learned to play basketball in a Methodist mission. His long-time nemesis, the late Jonas Savimbi, attended school in a Congregational mission. And Holden Roberto, leader of Angola’s third and weakest liberation movement, graduated from a Baptist mission school, where he learned fluent English. Today, historically black colleges and universities and the Protestant missionary community remain the core constituencies for African affairs in the United States. This base has expanded to take in a broad swath of uni- versities who have developed their own African studies curricula and have benefited from grants conferred by USAID and other agencies. Clemson and UCLA (Bunche’s alma mater) are just as likely to weigh in on African issues as Howard or Fisk. The evangelical movement among American Protes- tants has prompted the Assemblies of God, Christian Missionary Alliance, the Church of Latter-Day Saints, Southern Baptists and many other denominations to expand missions around the continent. Faith-based non- governmental organizations such as Samaritan’s Purse and World Vision have established themselves as credible suppliers of humanitarian and development services. Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church in Orange County, Calif., and Franklin Graham (Billy’s son) stand out as only two of the most visible and influential evan- gelicals active in Africa. And the exchange is two-way. Recently, when a number of theologically conservative Episcopal congregations broke away from the parent organization, they joined the Church of Nigeria (Anglican), home to the fastest-growing Anglican com- munion in the world. One crucial African legacy of the civil rights move- ment is the current U.S. immigration regime. The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 scuttled the national quotas that had long favored European coun- tries, opening the doors to large-scale immigration from the developing world. Africans lagged at first, but by F O C U S M A Y 2 0 0 8 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 39