Preface

The Foreign Relations of the United States series presents the official documentary historical record of major foreign policy decisions and significant diplomatic activity of the United States Government. The series documents the facts and events that contributed to the formulation of policies and includes evidence of supporting and alternative views to the policy positions ultimately adopted.

The Historian of the Department of State is charged with the responsibility for the preparation of the Foreign Relations series. The staff of the Office of the Historian, Bureau of Public Affairs, plans, researches, compiles, and edits the volumes in the series. This documentary editing proceeds in full accord with the generally accepted standards of historical scholarship. Official regulations codifying specific standards for the selection and editing of documents for the series were first promulgated by Secretary of State Frank B. Kellogg on March 26, 1925. These regulations, with minor modifications, guided the series through 1991.

A new statutory charter for the preparation of the series was established by Public Law 102-138, the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 1992 and 1993, which was signed by President George Bush on October 28, 1991. Section 198 of P.L. 102-138 added a new Title IV to the Department of State’s Basic Authorities Act of 1956 (22 USC 4351, et seq.).

The statute requires that the Foreign Relations series be a thorough, accurate, and reliable record of major United States foreign policy decisions and significant United States diplomatic activity. The volumes of the series should include all records needed to provide comprehensive documentation of major foreign policy decisions and actions of the United States Government, including facts that contributed to the formulation of policies and records that provided supporting and alternative views to the policy positions ultimately adopted.

The statute confirms the editing principles established by Secretary Kellogg: the Foreign Relations series is guided by the principles of historical objectivity and accuracy; records should not be altered or deletions made without indicating in the published text that a deletion has been made; the published record should omit no facts that were of major importance in reaching a decision; and nothing should be omitted for the purposes of concealing a defect in policy. The statute also requires that the Foreign Relations series be published not more than 30 years after the events recorded.

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The editor of this volume, which was compiled in 1991 and 1992, is convinced that it meets all regulatory, statutory, and scholarly standards of selection and editing. Although this volume records policies and events of more than 30 years ago, the statute of October 28, 1991, allows the Department until 1996 to reach the 30-year line in the publication of the series.

Structure and Scope of the Foreign Relations Series

This volume is part of a subseries of volumes of the Foreign Relations series that documents the most important issues in the foreign policy of the 3 years (1961-1963) of the administration of John F. Kennedy. The subseries presents in 25 print volumes and 5 microfiche supplements a documentary record of major foreign policy decisions and actions of President Kennedy’s administration.

This volume presents documentation on U.S. policy toward North Africa and selected countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. Compilations are included on general U.S. policy toward Africa and toward the North Africa region as well as on the countries of North Africa (Algeria, Libya, Morocco, and Tunisia) and selected countries or regions in sub-Saharan Africa (Ghana, Guinea, the Horn of Africa, Portuguese Africa, the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, and South Africa). The record of a country’s relations with the United States was selected for inclusion in the volume where major national U.S. interests were perceived at the time or subsequently. U.S. involvement in the Congo crisis is covered separately in Volume XX.

A separate microfiche supplement presents additional documents on many of the countries and regional areas covered in the print volume, but also includes documents on U.S. policies toward a number of countries that were not included in the print volume. These countries and regions are: Cameroon, Congo-Brazzaville, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Nigeria, Rwanda-Burundi, Senegal, Sudan, Tanganyika, Togo, Uganda, and the Entente countries (Ivory Coast, Upper Volta, Niger, and Dahomey). Records of meetings between African leaders and President Kennedy are, if not printed in the volume, included in the supplement.

Sources for the Foreign Relations Series

The Foreign Relations statute requires that the published record in the Foreign Relations series include all records needed to provide comprehensive documentation on major foreign policy decisions and actions of the U.S. Government. It further requires that government agencies, departments, and other entities of the U.S. Government cooperate with the Department of State Historian by providing full and complete access to records pertinent to foreign policy decisions and actions and by providing copies of selected records. The editor believes that in terms of access [Page V] this volume was prepared in accordance with the standards and mandates of this statute, although access to some records was restricted, as noted below.

The editor has had complete access to all the retired records and papers of the Department of State: the central files of the Department; the special decentralized files (“lot files”) of the Department at the bureau, office, and division levels; the files of the Department’s Executive Secretariat, which contain the records of international conferences and high-level official visits, correspondence with foreign leaders by the President and Secretary of State, and memoranda of conversations between the President and Secretary of State and foreign officials; and the files of overseas diplomatic posts. Certain intelligence-related files maintained in the Bureau of Intelligence and Research became available to the Department historians only after this volume was compiled. Documents were added to one compilation that was still in the declassification process. Arrangements have been made for Department historians to have access to these records for future volumes.

The editors of the Foreign Relations series also have full access to the papers of President Kennedy and other White House foreign policy records. Presidential papers maintained and preserved at the Presidential libraries include some of the most significant foreign affairs-related documentation from other federal agencies including the National Security Council, the Central Intelligence Agency, the Department of Defense, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. All of this documentation has been made available for use in the Foreign Relations series thanks to the consent of these agencies and the cooperation and support of the National Archives and Records Administration.

Department of State historians also have access to records of the Department of Defense, particularly the records of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Secretaries of Defense and their major assistants, and to material at the National Defense University, particularly the Maxwell Taylor Papers and the Lyman Lemnitzer Papers.

Since 1991, the Central Intelligence Agency has provided steadily expanding access to Department historians to high-level intelligence documents from those records still in the custody of that Agency. Department of State historians’ access is arranged by the History Staff of the Center for the Study of Intelligence, Central Intelligence Agency. Department of State and CIA historians continue to work out the procedural and scholarly aspects of the access. The editor determined that the publication of this volume should not be postponed pending the discovery of additional important documentation at the Central Intelligence Agency. If such documentation is found by Department of State historians, it will be included in a subsequent Foreign Relations volume.

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The List of Sources, pages XV-XX, lists the particular files and collections consulted and cited in this volume.

Principles of Document Selection for the Foreign Relations Series

In preparing each volume of the Foreign Relations series, the editors are guided by some general principles for the selection of documents. Each editor, in consultation with the General Editor and other senior editors, determines the particular issues and topics to be documented either in detail, in brief, or in summary. Some general decisions are also made regarding issues that cannot be documented in the volume but will be addressed in a microfiche supplement or in bibliographical notes.

The following general selection criteria are used in preparing volumes in the Foreign Relations series. Individual compiler-editors vary these criteria in accordance with the particular issues and the available documentation. The compiler-editors also tend to apply these selection criteria in accordance with their own interpretation of the generally accepted standards of scholarship. In selecting documentation for publication, the editors gave priority to unpublished classified records, rather than previously published records (which are accounted for in appropriate bibliographical notes).

Selection Criteria (in general order of priority):

1.

Major foreign affairs commitments made on behalf of the United States to other governments, including those that define or identify the principal foreign affairs interests of the United States;

2.

Major foreign affairs issues, commitments, negotiations, and activities, whether or not major decisions were made, and including dissenting or alternative opinions to the process ultimately adopted;

3.

The decisions, discussions, actions, and considerations of the President, as the official constitutionally responsible for the direction of foreign policy;

4.

The discussions and actions of the National Security Council, the Cabinet, and special Presidential policy groups, including the policy options brought before these bodies or their individual members;

5.

The policy options adopted by or considered by the Secretary of State and the most important actions taken to implement Presidential decisions or policies;

6.

Diplomatic negotiations and conferences, official correspondence, and other exchanges between U.S. representatives and those of other governments that demonstrate the main lines of policy implementation on major issues;

7.

Important elements of information that attended Presidential decisions and policy recommendations of the Secretary of State;

8.

Major foreign affairs decisions, negotiations, and commitments undertaken on behalf of the United States by government officials and [Page VII] representatives in other agencies in the foreign affairs community or other branches of government made without the involvement (or even knowledge) of the White House or the Department of State;

9.

The main policy lines of intelligence activities if they constituted major aspects of U.S. foreign policy toward a nation or region or if they provided key information in the formulation of major U.S. policies;

10.

The role of the Congress in the preparation and execution of particular foreign policies or foreign affairs actions;

11.

Economic aspects of foreign policy;

12.

The main policy lines of U.S. military and economic assistance as well as other types of assistance;

13.

The political-military recommendations, decisions, and activities of the military establishment and major regional military commands as they bear upon the formulation or execution of major U.S. foreign policies;

14.

Documentation that illuminates special decisionmaking processes that accomplished the policies recorded in particular volumes;

15.

Diplomatic appointments that reflect major policies or affect policy changes.

Scope and Focus of Documents Researched and Selected for Foreign Relations, 1961–1963, Volume XXI

The documentation printed in this volume focuses on U.S. policy toward Africa, the formulation of U.S. policy, and on the most significant aspects of U.S. political, economic, and military relationships with African governments. Documents were selected that highlight policy discussions within the U.S. Government, with particular emphasis on the highest level at which policy on a particular subject was determined, that reveal policy positions and internal differences over policy, and that summarize developments or positions regarding an issue. The records of conversations with foreign leaders both abroad and in Washington that particularly illuminated U.S. relations with those countries were included. Space constraints precluded the inclusion of the substantial body of documentation from Embassies and from agencies in Washington on internal developments in African countries. Embassy reportage is limited to particularly significant cables that may have influenced the making of U.S. policy on the most critical issues. A number of relevant documents that conveyed finished intelligence on Africa to U.S. policymakers, in particular National Intelligence Estimates and Special National Intelligence Estimates, are included, but no effort was made to document the wider role of intelligence in the formulation or execution of policy.

President Kennedy made the major foreign policy decisions during his Presidency, and the editor tried to document his role as much as possible. [Page VIII] The role of White House and National Security Council Staff members in providing information and advice to the President grew during this period. The editor accordingly selected memoranda that presented to the President the views and recommendations of his White House advisers. Formal approved policy papers were rare in the Kennedy administration, and internal discussions between the President and his advisers were not always recorded. The editor sought to document Presidential decisions by drawing upon the best material available. The Department of State continued to play a leading role in formulating foreign policy and providing advice on foreign policy matters to the President, and it played the principal role in exchanges of view and negotiations on policy matters with foreign governments. The volume includes documentation on a range of lesser policy decisions that did not reach the President or were resolved in the Department of State or other foreign affairs agencies.

The issues covered in the North African compilations include U.S. support for French President De Gaulle’s announced program of self-determination for Algeria and U.S. relations with the newly-established Algerian government after July 1962. Material is included on U.S. economic and military assistance to Libya, Morocco, and Tunisia; the importance of the U.S. airbases and communications facilities in Libya and Morocco; and U.S. withdrawal from the Moroccan bases in December 1963. U.S. support for a negotiated settlement of the French-Tunisian clash over the French naval base at Bizerte is documented, as is U.S. support for peaceful settlement of the 1963 Algerian-Moroccan border conflict.

The compilations on Sub-Saharan Africa focus on expanding U.S. economic and military aid to the newly-independent nations of Africa and U.S. efforts to prevent the nations of the region from falling under Soviet domination. Documentation is included on U.S. policy concerns such as the U.S. decision to proceed with aid for Ghana’s Volta River project, the strategic importance of the U.S. military base at Kagnew Station in Ethiopia, and U.S. efforts to find a modus vivendi between Ethiopia and Somalia.

The Southern African compilations document U.S. support for peaceful transitions to stable, multi-racial societies in the white-ruled countries of Southern Africa. The documentation on Portuguese Africa shows the tension within U.S. policy, as the United States sought to balance its concern over Portugal’s colonial policies in Angola and Mozambique against its desire to negotiate renewal of the Azores Base Agreement with its NATO ally, Portugal. The Rhodesian compilation documents U.S. support for British efforts to bring about full participation of the African populations of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland in the political process. The South African compilation deals with conclusion of a U.S. missile and satellite tracking station agreement with [Page IX] South Africa, and U.S. opposition to proposed mandatory U.N. economic sanctions against that country, as well as continuing U.S. opposition to the policy of apartheid and the unilateral U.S. embargo on arms shipments to South Africa announced in August 1963.

Editorial Methodology

The documents are presented chronologically according to Washington time or, in the case of conferences, in the order of individual meetings. Incoming telegrams from U.S. Missions are placed according to time of receipt in the Department of State or other receiving agency, rather than the time of transmission; memoranda of conversation are placed according to the time and date of the conversation, rather than the date the memorandum was drafted.

Editorial treatment of the documents published in the Foreign Relations series follows Office style guidelines, supplemented by guidance from the General Editor and the chief technical editor. The source text is reproduced as exactly as possible, including marginalia or other notations, which are described in the footnotes. Texts are transcribed and printed according to accepted conventions for the publication of historical documents in the limitations of modern typography. A heading has been supplied by the editors for each document included in the volume. Spelling, capitalization, and punctuation are retained as found in the source text, except that obvious typographical errors are silently corrected. Other mistakes and omissions in the source text are corrected by bracketed insertions: a correction is set in italic type; an addition in roman type. Words or phrases underlined in the source text are printed in italics. Abbreviations and contractions are preserved as found in the source text, and a list of abbreviations is included in the front matter of each volume.

Bracketed insertions are also used to indicate omitted text that deals with an unrelated subject (in roman type) or that remains classified after declassification review (in italic type). The amount of material not declassified has been noted by indicating the number of lines or pages of source text that were omitted. Entire documents withheld for declassification purposes have been accounted for and are listed by headings, source notes, and number of pages not declassified in their chronological place. The amount of material omitted from this volume because it was unrelated to the subject of the volume, however, has not been delineated. All ellipses and brackets that appear in the source text are so identified by footnotes.

An unnumbered source note to each document indicates the document’s source, original classification, distribution, and drafting information. This note also provides the background of important documents and policies and indicates if the President or his major policy advisers read the document. Every effort has been made to determine if a document [Page X] has been previously published, and this information has been included in the source footnote.

Editorial notes and additional annotation summarize pertinent material not printed in the volume, indicate the location of additional documentary sources, provide references to important related documents printed in other volumes, describe key events, and provide summaries of and citations to public statements that supplement and elucidate the printed documents. Information derived from memoirs and other first-hand accounts have been used when appropriate to supplement or explicate the official record.

Advisory Committee on Historical Diplomatic Documentation

The Advisory Committee on Historical Diplomatic Documentation, established under the Foreign Relations statute, reviews records, advises, and makes recommendations concerning the Foreign Relations series. The Advisory Committee monitors the overall compilation and editorial process of the series and assists with any access and/or clearance problems that arise. Time constraints prevent the Advisory Committee from reviewing all volumes in the series.

This volume was not reviewed by the Advisory Committee, but the Committee supported the successful effort by the Historian’s Office to declassify (with minor excisions) four documents that were originally denied.

Declassification Review

The final declassification review of this volume, completed in 1994, resulted in the decision to withhold less than one percent of the documents originally selected; four documents were not declassified. The remaining documents provide an account of the major foreign policy issues confronting and the policies undertaken by the U.S. Government concerning Africa during this period.

The Division of Historical Documents Review of the Office of Freedom of Information, Privacy, and Classification Review, Bureau of Administration, Department of State, conducted the declassification review of the documents published in this volume. The review was conducted in accordance with the standards set forth in Executive Order 12356 on National Security Information and applicable laws.

Under Executive Order 12356, information that concerns one or more of the following categories, and the disclosure of which reasonably could be expected to cause damage to the national security, requires classification:

1)

military plans, weapons, or operations;

2)

the vulnerabilities or capabilities of systems, installations, projects, or plans relating to the national security;

3)

foreign government information;

4)

intelligence activities (including special activities), or intelligence sources or methods;

5)

foreign relations or foreign activities of the United States;

6)

scientific, technological, or economic matters relating to national security;

7)

U.S. Government programs for safeguarding nuclear materials or facilities;

8)

cryptology; or

9)

a confidential source.

The principle guiding declassification review is to release all information, subject only to the current requirements of national security and law. Declassification decisions entailed concurrence of the appropriate geographic and functional bureaus in the Department of State, other concerned agencies of the U.S. Government, and the appropriate foreign governments regarding specific documents of those governments.

Acknowledgements

The editors wish to acknowledge the assistance of officials at the John F. Kennedy Library, in particular Suzanne Forbes; the National Archives and Records Administration; and other specialized repositories who assisted in the collection of documents for this volume.

Nina Davis Howland collected, selected, and edited all the material presented in this volume under the supervision of Nina J. Noring and Harriet Dashiell Schwar. General Editor Glenn W. LaFantasie supervised the final steps in the editorial and publication process. Deb Godfrey and Rita M. Baker did the copy and technical editing and Barbara-Ann Bacon of the Publishing Services Division oversaw the production of the volume. Paul Zohav prepared the index.