Dreams and Disappointments: Kenneth Kaunda and the United States, 1960–64

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Notes

¹ Among the many important works on the civil rights movement, two titles that pay significant attention to international issues are Branch, Parting the Waters, and Branch, Pillar of Fire.

² For example, see Fredrickson, Black Liberation.

³ Start with Massie, Loosing the Bonds.

⁴ There is a growing body of literature on US–Africa relations based primarily on research in American archives. For two of the more important works, see Borstelmann, The Cold War, and Noer, Soapy.

⁵ MacPherson, Kenneth Kaunda, 263–303.

⁶ Houser, No One Can Stop the Rain, 99–100.

⁷ Branch, Parting the Waters, 298.

⁸ “Rising African Leader Takes Look at the US,” Life, 30 May 1960, 89–92.

⁹ For a brief assessment of Luce's influence on American relations with Asia, see Jacobs, “Advocacy Journalism.”

¹⁰ Thomas, “The Black Revolt,” 325.

¹¹ John F. Kennedy Library, Boston, Massachusetts, USA (hereafter JFK Library), Oral History Project, Gordon Hagberg interview with Thomas Mboya, 10 March 1965.

¹² Noer, Soapy, 223–7.

¹³ Dallek, An Unfinished Life, 303–4.

¹⁴ United National Independence Party Archives, Lusaka, Zambia (hereafter UNIP Archive), UNIP 5 Provincial Series, box 5/1/1/12/1-7, folder A, “UNIP Information Section, 21 April 1961.” Thanks to David Gordon for pointing out this document to me.

¹⁵ UNIP Archive, UNIP 5 Provincial Series, box 5/1/1/12/1-7, folder A, “UNIP Information Section, 21 April 1961.”

¹⁶ Author's interview with Kenneth Kaunda, Lusaka, Zambia, 12 September 2005.

¹⁷ Kaunda, “KK's Diary: US Presidents, Johnson's Anger,” Sunday Post (Lusaka, Zambia), 2 October 2005, 6.

¹⁸ Schlesinger, A Thousand Days, 558–9.

¹⁹ Memorandum of conversation between Kennedy and Banda, 2 May 1961, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961–1963 Volume XXI, Africa (Washington: United States Government Printing Office, 1995), 508–9.

²⁰Idem.

²¹ JFK Library, White House Central File, box 68, folder “CO 250 Rhodesia,” Kaunda to Kennedy, 22 August 1961.

²² National Archives of the United States, College Park, Maryland, USA (hereafter NAUS), State Department Decimal File, 745c.00/9-861, Rusk to Kaunda, 8 September 1961.

²³ NAUS, Record Group 59, G. Mennen Williams Papers, Trips File, 1961–66, box 24, folder “Feb. 1963 Trip–G. Mennen Williams,” clipping of article from Baltimore Sun, “Sock-On-Jaw Site Visited,” 18 February 1963.

²⁴ MacPherson, Kenneth Kaunda, 367.

²⁵ Rabe, U.S. Intervention in British Guiana, 86–9; Jagan, The West on Trial, 415–8.

²⁶ Rotter, Comrades at Arms, 23–4 and 215–9. For an important earlier example of American officials distrusting a foreign leader due to perceived weakness and femininity, see Heiss, “Real Men Don’t Wear Pajamas.”

²⁷ Sutherland and Meyer, Guns and Gandhi in Africa, 63.

²⁸ MacPherson, Kenneth Kaunda, 370.

²⁹ Makasa, Zambia's March, 141.

³⁰ NAUS, State Department Decimal Files, 745c.00/2-2362, Wight to Tasca, 23 February 1962.

³¹ NAUS, State Department Decimal Files, 745c.00/2-2362, telegram from Salisbury to Secretary of State, 23 February 1962.

³² Sutherland and Meyer, Guns and Gandhi in Africa, 63–4.

³³ Anderson, Bayard Rustin, 234–5.

³⁴ Kaunda, Kaunda on Violence, 22–3.

³⁵ Branch, Parting the Waters, 913.

³⁶ JFK Library, National Security File–Countries, box 155a, folder “Rhod Gen 2/62-7/62,” memo of conversation between Dungan and Kaunda, 13 April 1962.

³⁷ Ibid., Kennedy to Kaunda, 30 April 1962.

³⁸ MacPherson, Kenneth Kaunda, 384–401.

³⁹ Martin Luther King Center, Atlanta, Georgia, USA, Martin King papers, box 125, folder 9, American Negro Leadership Conference on Africa, “Resolutions,” 23–25 November 1962.

⁴⁰ Branch, Parting the Waters, 684.

⁴¹ NAUS, State Department Decimal File, 745c.00/1-363, Geren to State, 3 January 1963.

⁴² Ibid.

⁴³ NAUS, State Department Decimal File, 845c.00pc/8-762, Geren to State, 7 August 1962.

⁴⁴ NAUS, State Department Decimal File, 845c.00pc/1-2863, Geren to State, 28 January 1963.

⁴⁵ Mwaanga, An Extraordinary Life, 72–9. Mwaanga would become Zambia's first ambassador to the USSR, then permanent representative at the UN, then foreign minister. Young would become a US congressman, UN ambassador, and mayor of Atlanta.

⁴⁶ DeRoche, Andrew Young, 19–20.

⁴⁷ NAUS, Record Group 59, G. Mennen Williams Papers, Trips File, 1961–66, box 24, folder “Feb. 1963 Trip–G. Mennen Williams,” clipping of article from Baltimore Sun, “Sock-On-Jaw Site Visited,” 18 February 1963.

⁴⁸ JFK Library, National Security File–Countries, box 155a, folder “Rhodesia, General 1/63–9/63,” Geren to State, 20 February 1963.

⁴⁹ Legum, Zambia, 248–54.

⁵⁰ JFK Library, White House Central File, box 68, folder “CO250 Rhodesia,” Kennedy to Kaunda, 20 May 1963.

⁵¹ National Archives of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa, BTS 1/157/1, volume 6, subfile “Northern Rhodesia Political Situation and Developments,” ambassador William Naude to the secretary for foreign affairs, “Visit to the U.S.–Kenneth Kaunda,” 24 May 1963; Washington Post, 24 May 1963, A6 and D2.

⁵² JFK Library, National Security File–Countries, box 155a, “Rhodesia General 1/63–9/63,” Stevenson to the Secretary of State, 24 May 1963.

⁵³ DeRoche, Andrew Young, 20.

⁵⁴ Nyerere to Kennedy, 18 June 1963, cited in Dudziak, Cold War Civil Rights, 174.

⁵⁵ Noer, Cold War and Black Liberation, 146.

⁵⁶ Massie, Loosing the Bonds, 148–50.

⁵⁷ Branch, Parting the Waters, 883–7.

⁵⁸ DeRoche, Black, White, and Chrome, 82–3.

⁵⁹ Author's interview with Kaunda, Lusaka, Zambia, 12 September 2005.

⁶⁰ Kaunda, “KK's Diary: Mandela: International Action,” Sunday Post (Lusaka), 20 November 2005, iv.

⁶¹ Toure quoted in Noer, Soapy, 272.

⁶² Dallek, The Flawed Giant, 12–3; Johnson, The Vantage Point, 352–3. Johnson hosted Senghor for a White House visit in late September 1966.

⁶³ Johnson quoted in Branch, Pillar of Fire, 178 and 187. For a good analysis of Johnson's initial approach to civil rights see Dallek, Flawed Giant, 111–21.

⁶⁴ Lyndon Johnson Library, Austin, Texas, USA (hereafter LBJ Library), National Security File–Country, box 97, folder “Rho Memos and Misc, 12/63–1/66,” Central Intelligence Agency Special Report: Breakup of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, 12 December 1963, 5–9.

⁶⁵ Brownrigg, Kenneth Kaunda, 108–10.

⁶⁶ Kenneth Kaunda's “Foreword,” in Mwanakatwe, The Growth of Education in Zambia, ix.

⁶⁷ Mwanakatwe, Growth of Education in Zambia.

⁶⁸ Mwanakatwe, Teacher, Politician, Lawyer, 142–64.

⁶⁹ Klarman, From Jim Crow to Civil Rights, 408.

⁷⁰ Georgetown University Library, Washington, District of Columbia, USA (hereafter Georgetown Library), Foreign Affairs Oral History Collection, Robert Foulon Interview, 22 April 1988, 10 and 13.

⁷¹ Mwanakatwe, Growth of Education in Zambia, 105, 111, 113.

⁷² American documents indicate that two Peace Corps officials met with the Zambian minister of education in February 1964 to discuss the issue, but it does not specify that it was Mwanakatwe. LBJ Library, National Security File–Country, box 102, folder “Upper Volta–Zambia,” “Background Paper: Peace Corps,” 25 November 1964. In a 27 February 2007 response to my query, Mwanakatwe insisted quite emphatically that he had never met with US officials to discuss the Peace Corps, “not even once.” While it had been over 40 years since the meetings in question may have taken place, Mwanakatwe was generally very sharp and there is no clear reason why he would want to deny involvement in the discussions. Thanks to Lydia Nyirenda, a Zambian journalist, for help in interviewing Mwanakatwe.

⁷³ Georgetown University Library, Robert Foulon Interview, 22 April 1988, 7. Foulon did not specify which Zambians, saying “I can’t remember who exactly.” Notes taken by a scholar who conducted many interviews in the 1960s, but who has requested anonymity, indicate that the UNIP official most adamantly against the Peace Corps was Hyden Dingiswayo Banda, minister for housing and social welfare in 1964. In a 1965 interview with the anonymous scholar, Kaunda praised Kennedy's intentions in forming the Peace Corps, but questioned whether it was well-suited to small nations such as Zambia. The interview notes also suggest that Simon Kapwepwe opposed any Peace Corps program in Zambia.

⁷⁴ Efforts by CUSO personnel to differentiate themselves from Peace Corps volunteers are detailed in Cobbs Hoffman, All You Need Is Love, 98, 118, 178.

⁷⁵ Mahoney, JFK, 185–6.

⁷⁶ Cobbs Hoffman, All You Need Is Love, 93–5.

⁷⁷ Kenneth Kaunda, “KK's Diary: Remembering Africa's Braves,” Sunday Post (Lusaka), 29 May 2005, 8.

⁷⁸ William Edmondson, who served as the deputy chief of mission at the US embassy in Zambia from 1965 to 1969, explained that his boss, Ambassador Robert Good, tried repeatedly to convince Kaunda to accept the Peace Corps to no avail. Edmondson did not think it was due to any specific incident, but rather reflected Zambians’ general suspicion of foreigners. Edmondson email to author, 2 July 2007.

⁷⁹ Kaunda, Kaunda on Violence, 22–3.

⁸⁰ MacPherson, Kwacha Ngwee, 62.

⁸¹ Mwanakatwe estimates that “probably more than 1000” died. Mwanakatwe, End of the Kaunda Era, 41–2. For much higher figures see Mulenga, Blood On Their Hands, iii, 99, 183.

⁸² Legum, Zambia, xii. The quotation is from Legum's recollection of a conversation with Kaunda.

⁸³ Mudenda, Zambia, 33.

⁸⁴ MacPherson, Kenneth Kaunda, 422–47.

⁸⁵ Lewis, Walking with the Wind, 289.

⁸⁶ Merriwether, Proudly We Can Be Africans, 200–7.

⁸⁷ Massie, Loosing the Bonds, 214–5.

⁸⁸ Georgetown University Library, Robert Foulon Interview, 22 April 1988, 17. The initial concern that sending Englehard would generate protest was expressed by mine magnate Ronald Prain, and seconded by Soapy Williams. See LBJ Library, George Ball Papers, box 6, folder “Zambia,” memo of phone conversations between Williams and Ball, 25 September 1964, and Harriman and Ball, 26 September 1964.

⁸⁹ Borstelmann, The Cold War and the Color Line, 184; LBJ Library, National Security File (hereafter NSF)–Special Head of State Correspondence, box 61, folder “Zambia Pres Corr (4 of 4),” Kaunda to Johnson, 29 December 1964.

⁹⁰ UNIP Archives, UNIP 7/1 Office of the President, box 77, folder 2, Kaunda phone message to all under ministers, 22 December 1964.

⁹¹ LBJ Library, NSF–Country File, box 102, folder “Zambia Memos and Misc.,” Samuel Belk to Dave Powers, 4 December 1964.

⁹² Johnson hosted several heads of state for a reception after Kennedy's funeral, and Ethiopia's Haile Selassie was among them. In May 1964 the king of Burundi paid a private visit to the White House. Banda of Malawi met with Johnson a few days after Kaunda's visit.

⁹³ The detailed background papers and reports can be found in LBJ Library, NSF–Country File, box 102, folder “Zambia Kaunda Visit,” and folder “Upper Volta–Zambia.”

⁹⁴ For analysis of Rusk's advocacy of civil rights and opposition to apartheid, see Zeiler, Dean Rusk, 90–3.

⁹⁵ LBJ Library, NSF–Country File, box 102, folder “Zambia Kaunda's Visit,” Rusk's memo for the president, 28 November 1964. Emphasis in original.

⁹⁶ Hoyt, Captive in the Congo, especially 212–25.

⁹⁷ Gleijeses, Conflicting Missions, 74–5. Also see Gleijeses, ‘“Flee! The White Giants Are Coming!’”

⁹⁸ LBJ Library, NSF–Country File, box 102, folder “Zambia Memos and Misc.,” Brubeck's talking points for the president, 1 December 1964. Emphasis in original.

⁹⁹ “Kaunda Says Rescue Created Apprehension,” Washington Post, 3 December 1964, A3. Thanks to Douglas Anglin for sharing this clipping with me. Also see “Kaunda Criticizes Mission,” New York Times, 3 December 1964, 7. In addition, Kaunda's response may have reflected his preference for Kennedy's Congo policy, which had included strong support for a UN intervention to prevent the secession of the Katanga Province. For a powerful treatment of Kennedy's policy, see Gibbs, The Political Economy of a Third World Intervention.

¹⁰⁰ LBJ Library, NSF–Country File, box 102, folder “Zambia Memos and Misc.,” William's “Report of Meeting of President Johnson and President Kaunda of Zambia,” 2 December 1964. This crucial document was declassified on 1 July 2004.

¹⁰¹ A.N. Spanel, “They Defend Genocide and Cannibalism,” New York Times, 2 December 1964, 12. Abram Nathaniel Spanel, the founder of the International Latex Corporation (later known as Playtex), was known for frequently placing such political adds in major papers. He was a strong supporter of Israel and France, and in the early 1960s was seeking the post of US ambassador to France, donating $10,500 to Senator Thomas Dodd's campaign in 1964.

¹⁰² Time, 4 December 1964 cited in Borstelmann, The Cold War and the Color Line, 185. Although the issue was dated after the Kaunda meeting, magazines often appear before the date on their cover and so there is a chance that Johnson had already seen it.

¹⁰³ LBJ Library, NSF–Country File, box 102, folder “Zambia Memos and Misc.,” William's “Report of Meeting of President Johnson and President Kaunda of Zambia,” 2 December 1964.

¹⁰⁴ Kaunda, “KK's Diary: US Presidents, Johnson's Anger.”

¹⁰⁵ Author's interview with Kaunda, Lusaka, Zambia, 12 September 2005. Listening to the 81-year-old Kaunda energetically impersonate Johnson was one of the highlights of my year as a Fulbright scholar in Zambia. His version was not completely accurate, though, as photos clearly show him and Johnson seated in the Oval Office.

¹⁰⁶ Hall and Peyman, The Great Uhuru Railway, 67. Thanks to Doug Anglin for pointing out this reference. I have not yet found any other mention of a public announcement by Kaunda against the Peace Corps before his meeting with Johnson, nor is there any evidence that Johnson ever discussed the issue of the Peace Corps in Zambia with Kaunda.

¹⁰⁷ Lyons, “Keeping Africa Off the Agenda,” 258–9; Borstelmann, The Cold War, 184–5.

¹⁰⁸ Dallek, The Flawed Giant, 519–20, 627–8.

¹⁰⁹ Fredrickson, Black Liberation, 274–5.

¹¹⁰ Branch, Pillar of Fire, 547.

¹¹¹ DeRoche, “Non-Alignment on the Racial Frontier.”

¹¹² DeRoche, “Standing Firm for Principles.”

¹¹³ LBJ Library, NSF–Country File, box 102, folder “Zambia Memos and Misc.,” Benjamin Read's Memo for McGeorge Bundy, “Presentation of Credentials: Hosea Soko, Ambassador of the Republic of Zambia,” 9 December 1964.

¹¹⁴ After his diplomatic career, Soko worked in the coal and railroad industries and then returned to the village. In 1991 he joined the opposition Movement for Multiparty Democracy and was appointed Deputy Minister for Eastern Province. Daniel Posner interviewed Soko in 1995, and kindly shared his notes with me.

¹¹⁵ LBJ Library, NSF–Country File, box 102, folder “Zambia Memos and Misc.,” Brubeck's memo to Bundy, 5 December 1964.

¹¹⁶ Ibid.

¹¹⁷ JFK Library, Oral History Project, Moss interview with G. Mennen Williams, 28 January 1970, 41.

¹¹⁸ Good, U.D.I. After serving in Zambia, Good became a dean at the University of Denver and then president of Dennison University. He died from a brain tumor in 1984 at the age of 60.

¹¹⁹ Plummer, Window on Freedom, 14. Plummer argued that Kaunda made a “deal” with the British.