Foreign Relations of the United States, 1917–1972, Volume VI, Public Diplomacy, 1961–1963

116. Memorandum From Samuel E. Belk of the National Security Council Staff to the President’s Special Assistant for National Security Affairs (Bundy) and the President’s Deputy Special Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kaysen)¹

Washington, February 19, 1963.

SUBJECT

• Disaffected African Students

From a meeting held in the Department late yesterday² chaired by George McGhee and attended by Alexis Johnson, Luke Battle, and several others from CU, the following emerged:

1. In view of several inquiries to the Department about the students³ and a speech in the Senate by Hubert Humphrey⁴ (he thinks we should bring them here), it was decided that Linc White should make a general statement today in which he would say that (a) we are actively consulting with western European governments concerning the problem; (b) the U.S. is ready to render “assistance” if necessary (no mention of funds); a background statement saying something to the effect that this situation is part of a larger problem; that it is a very complex one; and noting that there have been inquiries from various parts of the U.S.⁵

2. An outgoing instruction to appropriate posts which will give more pointed guidance than that available in CA 5573 (attached),⁶ saying that we can be more forthcoming in our discussions with the WE countries; that some assistance might be forthcoming.

The three guidelines set forth in CA 5573 would allow the U.S., if it became absolutely necessary, to (a) assist in the placement of highly qualified students who would fall within the purview of CU programs; (b) assist in the repatriation of students who could not otherwise return to their own African countries (guideline 2, CA 5573); and (c) render temporary assistance now—from “unspecified source”—to those students who do not receive assistance from another source.⁷

As for the whereabouts of the students, the attitudes of the WE governments, and the attitudes of the African embassies in western Europe, we know little more today than we did yesterday. The Department has sent a query to African posts for their reactions to the situation from that vantage point.

In the judgment of the people in the Department who follow such things, the African students in Bulgaria probably came “from the bottom of the barrel”, are far less qualified than other African students in the bloc, and would almost certainly not qualify for attendance at a university in the west. This looks like a crop that would be much better off back in Africa. The leader of the revolt already has said from Czechoslovakia that he wishes to return to Ghana.

Samuel E. Belk⁸

1. Source: Kennedy Library, National Security Files, Meetings and Memoranda Series, Box 319A, Staff Memoranda, Samuel E. Belk, 3/62–6/63. Confidential.
2. No record of this meeting at the Department of State was found.
3. Not found.
4. Humphrey spoke in the Senate on February 14 in response to national press reports about fighting in Bulgaria between the Bulgarian police and African student protesters. The students were protesting over the banning of an all-African student union by Bulgarian authorities. Humphrey concluded his remarks by stating: “I call upon the State Department to bestir itself to determine what it will do to admit to our country those students who seek to study in the United States. It would be a mighty good example for the United States to set. We should open our gates and our universities to the students who have been the victims of Communist violence. We should let the world know that in the United States it is possible to organize, if one wishes to protest, and that the Government will not bear down upon him with militia.” (Congressional Record, February 14, 1963, pp. 2357–2358)
5. On February 20, the Department of State issued a press release stating: “The Department of State is sympathetic to the situation of those African students in Bulgaria who have found conditions there so difficult as to impel them to leave and seek an education elsewhere. The Department is consulting with Western European and other governments, and the African states involved, in an effort to develop ways of assisting African students who have left Bulgaria.” (Department of State Bulletin, March 11, 1963, p. 375)
6. Not found attached.
7. Immediately following this paragraph an unknown hand wrote: “(Secretary had not approved this course of action at 1330 today.)”
8. Belk signed “Sam” above his typed signature.