Innocent Abroad? Decolonisation and US Engagement with French West Africa, 1945–56

Abstract

This article investigates America's deepening involvement in the politics, finance and international trade of francophone West Africa in the decade after World War II. It does so by analysing two constituencies of opinion: the US consular service across French West Africa and the network of American business interests then developing throughout the region. These actors, although closest to the events described, have yet to receive much attention in analyses of US policymaking in Africa. The reports, intelligence estimates, and opinions of consular officials and US businessmen were pivotal to the attitudinal formation of policymakers in the Truman and Eisenhower administrations, few of whom had much experience of West African affairs. The article traces American engagement with the post-war politics of French black Africa, and discerns a shift in US policy interests from concern with economic development, investment potential and improved living standards to more narrowly strategic concerns. By 1952 the promise of US-driven economic modernization had given way to a reductive vision of West African decolonisation informed by Cold War calculations of political advantage.

Notes

[1]. Kaplan, ‘“Left Alone with America”’, 11.

[2]. Williams, ‘The Frontier Thesis’, 379–95, cited in Kaplan, ‘“Left Alone”’, 3, 13.

[3]. Mélandri, ‘Les États-Unis et les independances africaines’, 537.

[4]. Young, ‘United States Policy toward Africa’, 1.

[5]. Thomas Noer, cited in Nwaubani, The United States and Decolonisation in West Africa, xiii.

[6]. As examples: Noer, Cold War and Black Liberation; Gibbs, The Political Economy of Third World Intervention; Lumumba-Kisongo, The Dynamics of Economic and Foreign Relations; Wall, France, the United States and the Algerian War; Connelly, A Diplomatic Revolution; Gleijeses, Conflicting Missions; Cohen, Intervening in Africa; Newsom, The Imperial Mantle. The most recent example of this crisis-driven approach is Odd Arne Westad's excellent The Global Cold War.

[7]. A recent example of this innovative, inter-disciplinary work is Frederick Cooper's Colonialism in Question.

[8]. Fraser, ‘Understanding the American Response’, 105–25; Gibbs, ‘Political Parties and International Relations’, 306–27; Kent, ‘The United States and the Decolonisation of Black Africa’, 168–75.

[9]. Love, Race over Empire, esp. xvi–xviii, 159–200 and passim.

[10]. Rafael, ‘White Love’, 185–204; Colby, ‘“Banana Growing and Negro Management”’, 595–621.

[11]. Robinson and Louis, ‘The United States and the Liquidation of the British Empire’; Louis and Robinson, ‘The Imperialism of Decolonisation’, 462–511; Ovendale, Britain, the United States, and the Transfer of Power.

[12]. Nwaubani, The United States and Decolonisation.

[13]. Kent, ‘United States Reactions to Empire’, 197–205.

[14]. Thoughtful analyses of these prevailing assumptions include: Bills, Empire and Cold War; Nwaubani, The United States and Decolonisation, 28–55; Kent, ‘United States Reactions’, 195–220.

[15]. Von Eschen, Race against Empire, 112–21; also cited in Dudziak, Cold War Civil Rights, 11.

[16]. Nwaubani, The United States and Decolonisation, 48.

[17]. Borstelmann, The Cold War and the Color Line; Dudziak, Cold War Civil Rights, 25–35.

[18]. Dudziak, Cold War Civil Rights, 108.

[19]. United States National Archives (USNA), College Park, MD., Treasury Department files, RG 56, Office of the Assistant Secretary of International Affairs, box 7: French Africa/file: dollar balances, Treasury representative, Algiers, ‘French dollar position’, 5 July 1944. Regarding wartime New Caledonia, see Kim Munholland's excellent Rock of Contention.

[20]. USNA, RG 56, box 7: French Africa/file: French North African currency, memcon., ‘OSS purchases of franc currency in North Africa’, 10 June 1944.

[21]. USNA, RG 56, box 7: French Africa/file: dollar balances, Treasury representative, Algiers, ‘French dollar position’, 5 July 1944.

[22]. USNA, RG 56, box 9: French Africa/file: war expenditure, NAEB Finance and Control Division memo to Committee for North and West African Civil Affairs, 1 April 1943.

[23]. USNA, RG 56, box 7: French Africa/file: French North African currency, tel. 1996, US Treasury Mission, Algiers, to Secretary of State, 13 June 1944.

[24]. This step was taken despite the fact that several directors of Banque d'État du Maroc faced charges of collaborationism and profiting from trade with Nazi Germany. See USNA, RG 56, box 9: French Africa/file: French Morocco-banks, Assistant to the Treasury Secretary memo, ‘Treasury investigation of the State Bank of Morocco’, 25 Aug. 1943.

[25]. USNA, RG 56, box 7: French Africa/file: administration, Committee for French North and West African Civil Affairs memo to Secretary Morgenthau, 10 Feb. 1944.

[26]. USNA, RG 56, box 9: French Africa/file: trade, ‘Meeting of US side of FEC, April 26, 1944’.

[27]. USNA, RG 56, box 7: French Africa/file: banks and banking, Committee for French North and West African Civil Affairs memo, ‘Banking and licensing program’, 21 Feb. 1943.

[28]. USNA, RG 56, box 9: French Africa/file: FA stockpiling, CCNA to NAEB. Joint Mission, Dakar, 7 June 1943.

[29]. USNA, RG 56, box 9: French Africa/file: FA taxation, NAEB draft report, ‘Tax structure in Algeria’, 25 March 1943.

[30]. USNA, State Department decimal files, RG 59 851T.00, FWA Political, box 6326/folder 4, Division of African Affairs, ‘Principal officers: Government General of FWA’, 12 March 1945.

[31]. USNA, RG 59, 851T.00, box 6328, Brazzaville consulate memcon., ‘Economic developments in FEA’, 14 June 1945.

[32]. USNA, RG 59, 851T.00, box 6327/4, AMCONGEN, Dakar, to State Department, ‘Long range economic and social planning in FWA’, 5 Dec. 1945.

[33]. USNA, RG 59, 851T.00, box 6328, Brazzaville consulate memo, ‘FEA – opportunity for American trade’, 14 July 1945.

[34]. Led by Léon Viard, the Etats généraux centred on Chambers of Commerce networks in the major trading ports of AOF and AEF; see USNA, RG 59, 851T.00, box 6326, AMCONGEN, Dakar, to State, 3 Nov. 1945.

[35]. USNA, Policy Planning Staff files, RG 59/250/D/12/01, box 8: colonialism, 1948–52, ‘Report of the Committee on Colonial Problems’, 11 Feb. 1948.

[36]. Kent, ‘United States Reactions’, 197–200; see also Kent, The Internationalization of Colonialism.

[37]. USNA, RG 59, 851T.00, box 6327, AMCONGEN, Dakar, memo, ‘Conditions under which nationals of French Overseas Territories exercise rights of citizenship’, 29 July 1947.

[38]. USNA, RG 59, 851T.00, box 5009/1, USCONGEN, ‘Cost of living indices for native labor in Dakar’, 25 Oct. 1950.

[39]. USNA, USNA, RG 59, 851T.00, box 5008/2, Perry N. Jester, Dakar, ‘Annual economic report’, 10 Feb. 1950.

[40]. Nwaubani, The United States and Decolonisation, 59–61.

[41]. USNA, RG 59, Lot file, 65D350/box 12, Bureau of Intelligence and Research paper for East-West African consular conference, n.d. Jan. 1949.

[42]. Hodeir, Stratégies d'Empire, 237–41; USNA, RG 59, 851T.00, box 5011/1, NEA memcon., ‘ECA, Point IV’, 8 May 1950.

[43]. USNA, RG 59, 851T.00, box 5008/2, State dispatch 193, ‘Tentative proposals for development of Africa by ECA funds’, 29 June 1950.

[44]. USNA, RG 59, 851T.00, box 5009/1, Jester to State, ‘Reported suspension of dollar allocations by ECA to the Office du Niger project’, 22 April 1950.

[45]. USNA, RG 59, 851T.00, box 5009/1, AMCONGEN, Dakar, ‘Financial difficulties concerning development projects in FWA’, 29 June 1951.

[46]. Nwaubani, The United States and Decolonisation, 63–64, 66–71.

[47]. For the Office du Niger irrigation project, see Roberts, Two Worlds of Cotton; Echenberg and Filipovich, ‘African Military Labour’, 533–51; Filipovich, ‘Destined to Fail’, 239–60.

[48]. USNA, RG 59, Lot File, R20B, OAA, country files 1944–63, box 5, ‘Preparation of country policy statements’, 10 Jan. 1950; Kent, ‘United States Reactions’, 197–200.

[49]. USNA, RG 59, 851T.00, box 5009/1, State memcon., ‘General review of French problems in Africa south of the Sahara’, 25 Sept. 1950.

[50]. USNA, RG 59, 851T.00, box 5009/1, W. D. Moreland report, ‘Labor problems in FWA’, 21 Oct. 1950.

[51]. Coquery-Vidrovitch and Goerg, L'Afrique occidentale au temps des français, 323–25.

[52]. Chafer, The End of Empire in West Africa, ch. 3.

[53]. USNA, RG 59, 851T.00, box 6326/3, AMCONGEN, Dakar, to State, ‘Criticism of the US by the “Rassemblement Démocratique Africain”’, 6 April 1948.

[54]. RG 59, 851T.00, box 6326/2, Jester to State, ‘Communist line for FWA’, 1 Dec. 1949.

[55]. USNA, RG 59, 851T.00, box 6326/3, AMCONGEN, Dakar, to State, ‘Criticism of the US by the “Rassemblement Démocratique Africain”’, 6 April 1948.

[56]. Person, ‘French West Africa and Decolonisation’, 155.

[57]. Coquery-Vidrovitch and Goerg, L'Afrique occidentale, 325–26.

[58]. Chafer, End of Empire, 105–09.

[59]. Cooper, Decolonisation and African Society, 222–24, 286–87.

[60]. USNA, RG 59, 751T.00, box 3702/2, Moreland to State, ‘Communist developments in FWA’, 18 February 1950.

[61]. For analysis of the 1947 strikes and African trade union politics, see Cooper, ‘The Senegalese General Strike of 1946’, 165–215; ‘“Our Strike”’, 81–118; Colonialism in Question, 204–30.

[62]. USNA, RG 59, 851T.00, box 6328/4, Brazzaville consulate, ‘Communism in FEA’, 8 April 1948.

[63]. USNA, RG 59, 751T.00, box 3702/2, Jester to State, ‘Communist developments in FWA’, 19 April 1950.

[64]. USNA, RG 59, 751T.00, box 3702/1, Jester to State, ‘Cominform pattern for FWA’, 1 Aug. 1950.

[65]. USNA, RG 59, Office of African Affairs, Political-military adviser records, 1951–63, box 1, ‘Contacts between the Free World and the Sino-Soviet Bloc – a review’, 30 Oct. 1959.

[66]. Nwaubani, The United States and Decolonisation, 56–59; see also McGhee, Envoy to the Middle World.

[67]. The National Archives, London (hereafter TNA), Colonial Office confidential original correspondence, CO 537/5263, ‘A Survey of Communism in Africa’, 30 Aug. 1950.

[68]. TNA, CO 537/2760, Colonial Defence: Local intelligence services, minutes of Colonial Office meeting with M.I.5 representatives, 9 June 1948.

[69]. TNA, CO 537/4307, M.I.5 memo, ‘Communist influence/African continent’, 10 March 1949.

[70]. TNA, CO 537/4307, M.I.5 memo, ‘Communist influence/African continent’, 10 March 1949, 42; Colonial Office draft report to Joint Intelligence Committee and M.I.5 Director, ‘Communism in the African Colonies’, n. d. Nov. 1948.

[71]. The expansion of youth movements in the post-war decade was especially marked; see Goerg, ‘Le mouvement associatif’, 87–101.

[72]. TNA, CO 537/5263, ‘A Survey of Communism in Africa’, 30 Aug. 1950, 4.

[73]. Ibid., 10, 44, 48–49.

[74]. TNA, CO 537/5263, ‘Communist influence in the African Continent: summary of Foreign Office discussions’, 20 Sept. 1950.

[75]. USNA, RG 59, RG 59, 751T.00, box 3702/1, Bourgerie letter to Moreland, 23 April 1951.

[76]. Coquery-Vidrovitch and Goerg, L'Afrique occidentale, 326.

[77]. Doumergue-Cloarec, ‘Le soutien de l'UDSR et de l'SFIO aux parties politiques d'AOF (1951–1958)’, 115–16.

[78]. USNA, Joint Chiefs of Staff records, RG 218, Geographic files 1954–56, box 1/CCS92/Africa, Assistant Secretary of Defense, Instructions for Brigadier General J. P. Doyle, 26 Feb. 1954.

[79]. Service Historique de l'Armée de terre, Vincennes (hereafter SHA), Série 14H: Administration centrale des affaires militaires d'Outre-Mer, Carton 14H48/Dossier 1, Direction des affaires militaires, 3e bureau to Commandant supérieur des forces armées, zone de défense AOF-Togo, ‘Mobilisation des forces terrestres dans le groupe AOF-Togo’, 5 Oct. 1951. See also 14H48/D3, Direction des affaires militaires, ‘Plan quinquennial’, n.d., Nov. 1952.

[80]. SHA, 14H46/D1, Ministère de la France d'Outre-Mer, Section des affaires militaires, ‘Politique de défense eurafricaine à long terme’, n.d. 1954. Regarding African troops in the Indochina expeditionary force, see Bodin, ‘Le combattant français du corps expéditionnaire’, 175–93.

[81]. SHA, 14H48/D4, Direction des affaires militaires, ‘Effectifs des forces terrestres d'Outre-Mer mises sur pied à la mobilisation’, 17 May 1954.

[82]. SHA, 14H48, Comité de défense de l'Afrique centrale, compte-rendu annuel, 25 May 1954.

[83]. SHA, 14H48/D3, ‘Rapport du Général Borgnis Desbordes sur le moral des forces terrestres stationnées Outre-Mer pendant l'année 1953’, 2 Feb. 1954.

[84]. SHA, 1H1374/D2, ‘Situation des effectifs en AFN au 1er avril 1956’, n.d., 1956.

[85]. SHA, 14H48/D5, MFOM, Direction des affaires militaires, ‘Organisation militaire des territoires d'Outre-Mer en vue du maintien et du rétablissement de l'ordre’, 27 June 1956.

[86]. USNA, RG 59, 851T.00, box 5009/1, State memcon., ‘French government discrimination against U.S. Oil Companies’, 26 Jan. 1950.

[87]. For a chronological summary of the inter-actions between French and US oil companies, see http://www.ihtp.cnrs.fr/dossier_petrole/petrole_chronologie.html

[88]. USNA, RG 59, 851S.00, box 5008/1, AMCONGEN, Algiers, to State, 25 Aug. 1952.

[89]. Ibid., AMCONGEN, Algiers, ‘Recent developments concerning American Overseas Petroleum Limited activities in Algeria’, 18 Sept. 1952.

[90]. Ibid., Olaf F. Sundt, Petroleum Attaché, Paris, ‘CALTEX petroleum exploration in Algeria’, 10 Oct. 1952.

[91]. USNA, RG 59, Lot file Africa, 65D350/box 12, Bureau of Intelligence and Research memo, ‘US aid programs in Africa’, 15 Oct. 1955.

[92]. USNA, RG 59, 851T.00, box 5009/1, Williams Blake, Dakar, to State, ‘Resumé of achievements of the four year plan’, 11 Aug. 1952.

[93]. USNA, RG 59, 851T.00, box 5009/1, Williams Blake, ‘Report on 24-hour general strike’, 4 Nov. 1952.

[94]. USNA, RG 59, 851T.00, box 5009/1, C. Vaughan Ferguson, Dakar, ‘Labor in West Africa: The Code du Travail’, 16 Nov. 1953.

[95]. USNA, RG 59, 851T.00, box 5008/2, AMCONGEN, Dakar, ‘1952 annual economic review’, 30 April 1953.

[96]. USNA, RG 59, 851T.00, box 5009/1, AMCONGEN, Dakar, ‘1953 annual economic review’, 14 June 1954.

[97]. USNA, RG 59, 851T.00, box 5009/1, C. Vaughan-Ferguson, Dakar, to State, 1 Dec. 1954. Regarding ‘flight capital’, see Hodeir, Stratégies d'Empire, 164–69.

[98]. USNA, RG 59, Lot file, 65D350/box 12, ‘Conference of Social Scientists on the social impact of industrialization and urban conditions in Africa’, Abidjan, 9 March 1955.

[99]. USNA, RG 218, Geographic file, 1958, Box 1/CCS92/Africa, Joint Strategic Survey Council report to JCS, ‘US Policy toward Africa south of the Sahara prior to 1960’, 15 Aug. 1958.

[100]. Kent, ‘United States Reactions’, 209–16.

[101]. Compare USNA, RG 59, 851T.00, box 6327/3, Paris Embassy memo, ‘Promulgation of the native labor code in French African colonies’, 24 July 1945, with RG 59, 851T.00, box 5008/2, AMCONGEN, Dakar, ‘Economic war potential of French West Africa’, 24 May 1951. The latter document began from the following proposition: ‘We are interested in how this [West African] Federation would be able to contribute to a war effort of the U.S. and its allies now or in the near future – not five or seven years from now’.

[102]. Kim, ‘France's Agony’, 61–84.

[103]. Kent, ‘United States Reactions’, 209.

[104]. Cooper, Colonialism, 226–28; Chafer, ‘Students and Nationalism’, 388–407.

[105]. Girault, ‘Les indépendances des pays d'Afrique noire’, 467–74.

[106]. USNA, RG 59, Lot file 65D350,/box 13, Office of Research and Analysis for Africa memo, ‘Outstanding trends and events in past year in Africa’, 15 Sept. 1959.

[107]. USNA, RG 59, Lot file 63D393/box 3, 16th UNGA airgram 273, 19 April 1962.