![Sample our Humanities journals, sign in here to start your FREE access for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5939/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Humanities.jpg"})
Abstract
Careful examination of relations between Zambia and the USA during Lyndon Johnson's presidency, based on archival research in both nations, provides valuable insights into their often very different perspectives in the midst of the Cold War. The Johnson administration at times sympathized with Zambia but dismissed southern Africa as a low priority in the confrontation with communism, whereas Kenneth Kaunda feared for his nation's survival on the racial frontier and desperately needed help, but insisted on a non-aligned foreign policy nonetheless. American officials questioned Zambian policy decisions such as accepting Chinese aid and opposing non-proliferation as naïve or irrational; however, from his perspective, Kaunda was upholding national security and resisting superpower hegemony.
Acknowledgements
The author would like to thank Marja Hinfelaar, Giacomo Macola, David Gordon, Webby Kalikiti, Andrew Nyambe, and Gabriel Banda for helping make his research in Lusaka productive. He is indebted to the US government for a Fulbright grant which made the year in Zambia possible, and most of all to his wife Heather Choonya.
Notes
[2] Kaunda, “KK's Diary: Remembering Africa's Braves,” Sunday Post (Zambia), 29 May 2005, 8.
[3] Cobbs Hoffman, All You Need Is Love, 160–61.
[4] CitationBirmingham, Kwame Nkrumah , 98.
[5] CitationNoer, Cold War and Black Liberation ; CitationBorstelmann, The Cold War and the Color Line ; DeRoche, Black, White, and Chrome.
[6] Mwaanga, An Extraordinary Life; Mudenda, Zambia; Good, U.D.I.
[8] CitationNoer, Soapy ; Noer, Cold War; Borstelman, Cold War; Lyons, “Keeping Africa.”
[9] CitationWatts, The United States ; DeRoche, Black, White, and Chrome.
[11] CitationLewis, Walking with the Wind , 289.
[12] Georgetown University Library, Washington, District of Columbia, USA (hereafter GU), Foreign Affairs Oral History Collection, Robert Foulon Interview, 22 April 1988, 17.
[13] Borstelmann, The Cold War, 184; Lyndon Baines Johnson Library, Austin, Texas, USA (hereafter LBJ), National Security File (hereafter NSF) – Special Head of State Correspondence, Box 61, “Zambia Pres Corr (4 of 4),” Kaunda to Johnson, 29 December 1964.
[14] Political Archives of the United National Independence Party, Lusaka, Zambia (hereafter UNIP), UNIP 7/1 Office of the President, box 77, folder 2, Kaunda phone message, 22 December 1964.
[15] UNIP, UNIP 5 Provincial Series, box 5/1/1/12/1-7, folder A, “UNIP Information Section,” 21 April 1961; Kaunda, “KK's Diary: US Presidents, Johnson's Anger,” Sunday Post (Zambia), 2 October 2005, 6; Author's interview with Kaunda, Lusaka, Zambia, 12 September 2005.
[16] CitationSchlesinger, A Thousand Days , 558–9.
[18] LBJ, NSF – Country File, box 102, folder “Zambia Memos and Misc.,” Samuel Belk to Dave Powers, 4 December 1964.
[19] LBJ, NSF – Country File, box 102, folder “Zambia Kaunda Visit,” Rusk's memorandum for the president, 28 November 1964.
[20] CitationHoyt, Captive , especially 212–25.
[21] CitationGleijeses, Conflicting Missions , 66–75.
[22] New York Times, 1 December 1964, A14.
[23] LBJ, NSF – Country File, box 102, folder “Zambia Memos and Misc.,” Brubeck's talking points for the president, 1 December 1964.
[24] Kaunda elaborated on this view at a Press Club Luncheon after his meeting with Johnson, explaining that the US operation could encourage a future South African intervention on the Zambian Copperbelt to rescue its nationals if conflict arose. “Kaunda Says Rescue Created Apprehension,” Washington Post, 3 December 1964, A20.
[25] LBJ, NSF – Country File, box 102, folder “Zambia: Memos and Misc. Vol. 1 8/64–9/68,” William's “Report of Meeting of President Johnson and President Kaunda of Zambia,” 2 December 1964.
[26] Kaunda, “KK's Diary: US Presidents, Johnson's Anger,” Sunday Post (Zambia), 2 October 2005, 6.
[27] Author's interview with Kaunda, Lusaka, Zambia, 12 September 2005.
[28] CitationLyons, “Keeping Africa Off the Agenda,” 258–9; Borstelmann, The Cold War, 184–5.
[29] CitationDallek, Flawed Giant , 519–20, 627–8.
[30] Zambia Hansard No. Citation 2 , 12 January 1965, 10.
[31] Zambia Hansard No. Citation 2 , 14 January 1965, 172.
[32] LBJ, NSF – Country File, box 102, folder “Zambia Memos and Misc.,” Central Intelligence Agency special report, “Zambia and Its Refugee Nationalist Problem,” 2 July 1965.
[33] GU, Oral History Collection, Robert Foulon Interview, 22 April 1988, 14.
[34] CitationMwangilwa, The Kapwepwe Diaries , 27 January to 10 February, 53–4.
[35] GU, Oral History Collection, Robert Foulon Interview, 22 April 1988, 12–13.
[36] LBJ, NSF – Special Head of State Correspondence (hereafter SHC), box 45, folder “Tan-Nye Corr.,” Komer's memo to Johnson, 26 May 1965; CitationGood, U.D.I. , 92–3.
[37] Komer's memo to Bundy, 28 May 1965 in Howland, Foreign Relations of the United States, 798–9.
[38] CitationOsei-Hwedie and Osei-Hwedie, Tanzania–Zambia Railroad , 12–13; National Archives II, College Park, Maryland, USA (hereafter NAII), Record Group 59, G. Mennen Williams Papers – Country Files, box 28, folder “Alg-Zam,” telegram from Lusaka to State with message from Fredericks to Mulcahy, 29 June 1965.
[39] Memo from Komer and Haynes to President Johnson, 12 July 1965, in CitationHowland, Foreign Relations of the United States , 800–801.
[40] National Archives of Zambia, Lusaka, Zambia (hereafter NAZ), FA1/1/94, folder “Relations with China, 1965 to 1968,” Report by Goodwill Mission, Annex D, Minutes of the Meeting with Premier Chou En-Lai, 20 August 1965.
[41] Author's interview with Elijah Mudenda, Lusaka, Zambia, 20 July 2005.
[42] Mwaanga, Extraordinary Life, 105–8.
[43] NAZ, FA/1/98, folder “Moscow Reports,” Mwaanga to Mark Chona, foreign affairs permanent secretary, 26 August 1965.
[44] NAZ, FA/1/98, folder “Moscow Reports,” Mwaanga to Chona, 21 September 1965.
[45] LBJ, NSF – Country File, box 102, folder “Zambia Memos and Misc.,” memorandum of conversation among Rusk, Zulu et al., 14 September 1965.
[46] His Excellency's Address, 9 December 1965, Zambia Hansard No. 5, 9 December 1965, 94–5.
[47] CitationDeRoche, Black, White, and Chrome , 112–27.
[48] LBJ, George Ball Papers, box 1, folder “Brit III 11/24/64–12/31/65,” memo of telephone conversation between Ball and Bundy, 13 November 1965; box 6, folder “Zambia,” memo of telephone conversation between Ball and McNamara, 13 November 1965.
[49] LBJ, George Ball Papers, box 6, folder “S Rhod 10/2/65–5/10/66,” memo of telephone conversations between Ball and Bundy, 9 December and 13 December 1965.
[50] LBJ, NSF – SHC, box 61, folder “Zambia – Kaunda Corresp.,” Kenneth Kaunda to Lyndon Johnson, 15 December 1965.
[51] NAZ, FA/1/98, folder “Moscow Reports,” Vernon Mwaanga to Chona, 10 December 1965.
[52] Anglin, Zambian Crisis Behavior, 147–51.
[53] Mwaanga, An Extraordinary Life, 110; ZNA, FA/1/98, folder “Moscow Reports,” Mwaanga to Chona, 31 December 1965.
[54] CitationMudenda, Zambia , 50–51; author's interview with Mudenda, Lusaka, Zambia, 13 July 2005.
[55] NAZ, FA/1/98, folder “Moscow Reports,” Mwaanga to Chona, 7 April 1966; Mwaanga, An Extraordinary Life, 115.
[56] Author's interview with Grey Zulu, 18 July 2005, Lusaka, Zambia.
[57] Mwangilwa, The Kapwepwe Diaries, 61–2.
[58] LBJ, NSF – SHC, box 61, folder “Zambia – Kaunda Corresp.,” Haynes’ memo for the president, 28 December 1965.
[59] CitationKrenn, Black Diplomacy , 167; Borstelmann, The Cold War, 201, 249–50.
[60] Anglin, Zambian Crisis Behavior, 147–51.
[61] LBJ, NSF – Country File, box 97, folder “Rhodesia – Memos and Misc., 12/63–1/66,” Rhodesia/Zambia Situation Report No.4, 5 January 1966.
[62] LBJ, NSF – SHC, box 61, folder “Zambia – Kaunda Corresp.,” Kaunda to Johnson, 26 January 1966, and Johnson to Kaunda, 10 February 1966.
[63] LBJ, NSF – Files of Ulric Haynes, box 1, “Chrono (Haynes) 3/1/65–6/15/66 [1 of 3],” Haynes to Komer, 7 March 1966.
[64] Good, U. D. I., 109–10.
[65] Author's interview with Kaunda, Boulder, CO, USA, 10 April 2003.
[66] LBJ, NSF – SHC, box 61, folder “Zambia – Kaunda Corresp.,” Johnson to Wilson, 11 January 1966; folder “Zambia Pres. Corresp.,” Komer's memo to Johnson, 11 January 1966; Files of Ulric Haynes, box 1, folder “Chrono (Haynes) 3/1/65–6/15/66 [1 of 3],” Komer's memo to Johnson, 13 January 1966.
[67] CitationWhite, Holding the Line , 3–4, 21–2, 37–8.
[68] LBJ, NSF – SHC, box 61, folder “Zambia Pres. Corresp.,” Kaunda to Johnson, 14 February 1966; folder “Zambia – Kaunda Corresp.,” Komer to Johnson, 7 March 1966; White, Holding the Line, 2–3, 128–9, 140.
[69] Kaunda, “A Racial Holocaust in Central Africa?” in Punch (9 March 1966), 334–5.
[70] LBJ, NSF – Files of Ulric Haynes, box 1, folder “Chrono (Haynes) 3/1/65–6/15/66 [1 of 3],” Haynes to Walt Rostow, 4 April 1966.
[71] Zambia Hansard No. Citation 6 , 6 April 1966, 1216.
[72] LBJ, NSF – SHC, box 61, folder “Zambia – Kaunda Corresp.,” Kaunda to Johnson, 18 May 1966; telegram from State Department to Lusaka, 23 May 1966.
[73] LBJ, NSF – Speech File, box 5, folder “Pres. Speech on the 3rd Anniv. of Org. for African Unity, 5/26/66,” remarks of the president.
[74] Zambia Hansard No. Citation 7 , 12 August 1966, 687–8, 692.
[75] NAZ, FA/1/105, folder “United States of America, Relations with,” Rusk to Kapwepwe, 12 August 1966.
[76] Mwangilwa, The Kapwepwe Diaries, 12 April 1966, 69.
[77] Mwangilwa, The Kapwepwe Diaries, 13–25 August 1966, 75–6.
[78] NAZ, FA/1/98, folder “Moscow Reports,” Soko to Kapwepwe, “Report No.5 for the Period 15th to 31st August, 1966.”
[79] NAZ, FA/1/98, folder “Moscow Reports,” Soko to Kapwepwe, 15 July 1966.
[80] LBJ, NSF – SHC, box 61, folder “Zambia Pres. Corresp., (3 of 4),” Kaunda to Johnson, 8 November 1966.
[81] Mwangilwa, The Kapwepwe Diaries, 16 November 1966, 82.
[82] Memorandum of conversation, Rusk and British ambassador Patrick Dean, 16 November 1966, in Howland, Foreign Relations of the United States, 922–3.
[83] DeRoche, Black, White, and Chrome, 150–55.
[84] Summary notes of the 567th meeting of the National Security Council, 25 January 1967, in Howland, Foreign Relations of the United States, 940–42.
[85] Summary notes of the 567th meeting of the National Security Council, 25 January 1967, in Howland, Foreign Relations of the United States, 940–42.
[86] Summary notes of the 567th meeting of the National Security Council, 25 January 1967, in Howland, Foreign Relations of the United States, 940–42.
[87] LBJ, NSF – Files of Ed Hamilton, box 4, folder “Zambia,” CIA Intelligence Memorandum, “Zambia: Economic Problems and Prospects,” May 1967, 1.
[88] Osei-Hwedie and Osei-Hwedie, Tanzania–Zambia Railroad, 13–14.
[89] NAII, Record Group 59, box 2847, folder “Pol 7 Zambia,” telegram from State to Lusaka, 8 June 1967.
[90] Times of Zambia, 15 June 1967.
[91] Times of Zambia, 22–24 June 1967.
[92] NAZ, FA1/1/94, folder “Relations with China, 1965–68,” Kaunda to Zhou Enlai, 6 July 1967.
[93] Times of Zambia, 29 June 1967.
[94] NAII, Record Group 59, box 2847, folder “Pol 7 Zambia,” telegram from Lusaka to State, 3 August 1967.
[95] CitationNyerere, Freedom and Development , 235.
[96] Good, U. D. I., 93.
[97] Mudenda, Zambia, 72–4.
[98] Times of Zambia, 22 June 1967.
[99] NA II, Record Group 59, box 2847, folder “Pol 7 Zambia,” “Joint Communique of the Republic of Zambia and the People's Republic of China,” enclosed in telegram from Lusaka to State, 31 July 1967.
[100] Times of Zambia, 29 June 1967.
[101] NA II, Record Group 59, box 2847, folder “Pol 7 Zambia,” telegram from Lusaka to State, 31 July 1967.
[102] LBJ, NSF – SHC, box 61, folder “Zambia, Presidential Correspondence,” Kaunda to Johnson, 27 September 1967.
[103] LBJ, NSF – SHC, box 61, folder “Zambia Presidential Correspondence [2 of 4],” telegram from Lusaka to State, 3 October 1967.
[104] Author's interview with Mark Chona, Lusaka, Zambia, 24 December 2005.
[105] NAZ, FA/1/98, folder “Moscow Reports,” Soko to Foreign Minister Kamanga, “Monthly Report for February 1968.”
[106] NAZ, FA/1/105, folder “USA, Relations with,” record of discussion between Kaunda and Humphrey, 5 January 1968.
[107] LBJ, NSF – Name File, box 3, folder “Hamilton Memos,” Hamilton to Roscow, “Great North Road,” 18 January 1968.
[108] LBJ, NSF – Country File – Africa, box 77, folder “Africa – VP's Report on African Visit,” Humphrey to Johnson, 12 January 1968, 27–30.
[109] Dallek, Flawed Giant, 544.
[110] LBJ, NSF – SHC, box 61, folder “Zambia, Presidential Correspondence,” Kaunda to Johnson, 9 September 1967; Roger Morris to Rostow, 2 October 1967.
[111] NA II, Record Group 59, box 2847, folder “Pol 7 Zambia,” memo of conversation between Kamanga, Rusk et al., 18 January 1968.
[112] UNIP, UNIP 7/1 Office of the President, box 79, folder 19, Kaunda to Carter, 15 February 1980.
[113] CitationWina, The Night Without A President , 42–3.
[115] CitationSchulzinger, A Time for War , 259.
[116] Dallek, Flawed Giant, 529.
[117] LBJ, Country Files – General CO 312, box 86, folder “CO 328 Zambia,” telegram from Lusaka to State; Kaunda, “KK's Diary: US presidents,” Sunday Post, 16 October 2005, 8.
[119] New York Times, 13 June 1968, 1.
[120] New York TimesIbid., 46.
[121] LBJ, NSF – Country File, Africa Upper Volta to Zambia, box 102, folder “Zambia Memos and Misc.,” CIA Memorandum, “Troubles Ahead for Zambia,” 18 June 1968, 10.
[122] NAZ, FA/1/98, folder “Moscow Reports,” Soko to the Foreign Ministry, 38 March 1967.
[123] NAZ, FA/1/98, folder “Moscow Reports,” Soko to Kamanga, 27 February 1968.
[124] CitationKaunda, Kaunda on Violence , 69–75.
[125] Author's interview with Mwaanga, 7 December 2005.
[126] CitationMwaanga, An Extraordinary Life , 127.