Search

The Evolution and Drivers of US Strategy Towards Francophone West African Countries from Neglect to Strategic Engagement 1946 to 1969

Author(s)

Chenrui Wang*, Yang Chen

Affiliation(s)

Faculty of Humanities, Dalian University, Dalian, Liaoning, China *Corresponding Author

Abstract

This paper aims to systematically examine the complex trajectory and multiple driving factors of U.S. strategy towards Francophone West African countries during the Cold War. It focuses on tracing and summarizing the phased evolution of strategies under different U.S. administrations towards this region from 1946 to 1969. By integrating factors such as geostrategy, ideology, economic interests, and domestic strategies, it analyzes the inherent historical logic of U.S. foreign strategy and the motivational mechanisms behind its Africa strategy. Based on multi-source literature, particularly the interpretation of primary documents such as the U.S. Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS) series, and combined with comparative case studies of Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire, this research demonstrates the specific practice of cross-verifying diverse historical materials under a team collaboration model, as well as the reflections and insights gained by team members during the research process. This study not only deepens the understanding of the complexity of the Cold War in the "peripheries" and the pragmatic nature of U.S. strategy towards Africa but also provides a historical perspective based on solid archival analysis for examining contemporary major-power strategies towards Africa.

Keywords

Cold War; U.S. Foreign strategy; Francophone West African Countries; Geostrategy; Archival Research and Team Collaboration

References

[1]Peter J. Schraeder. United States Foreign Policy Toward Africa: Incrementalism, Crisis and Change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994. [2]Herman J. Cohen. US Policy Toward Africa: Eight Decades of Realpolitik. Boulder, Colorado and London: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2020, p15-84. [3]Thomas J. Noer. Cold War and Black Liberation: The United States and White Rule in Africa, 1948-1968. Columbia, Missouri: University of Missouri Press, 1985, p15-156. [4]Ji, Hongjuan. “The Cold War Rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union in Africa: Dynamics, Process, and Impact.” Academic Exploration, no. 9, 2018, pp. 26–32. [5]The Consul General at Dakar (Blake) to the Department of State, "Conversation with Governor Camille Bailly, Secretary General of the Government of French West Africa," confidential dispatch no. 158, Dakar, January 5, 1952, in Foreign Relations of the United States, 1952–1954, vol. XI, Africa and South Asia, Part 1 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office), document 93 (U.S. National Archives, Record Group 59, Central Decimal File 751T.00/1-552). [6]Memorandum of conversation by Jerome R. Lavallee of the Office of African Affairs, "General Economic Discussion," Washington, May 14, 1954, confidential, in Foreign Relations of the United States, 1952–1954, vol. XI, Africa and South Asia, Part 1 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office), document 98 (U.S. National Archives, Record Group 59, Central Decimal File 811.05151U/5–1454). [7]The Consul at Dakar (Ferguson) to the Department of State, "Desirability of an American Consulate at Abidjan, Ivory Coast, French West Africa," confidential dispatch no. 17, Dakar, July 27, 1954, in Foreign Relations of the United States, 1952–1954, vol. XI, Africa and South Asia, Part 1 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office), document 100 (U.S. National Archives, Record Group 59, Central Decimal File 122.51T/7-2754). [8]The Consul at Dakar (Corrigan) to the Department of State, "Some Observations Concerning Racism and Politics in FWA," restricted dispatch no. 54, Dakar, September 16, 1953, in Foreign Relations of the United States, 1952–1954, vol. XI, Africa and South Asia, Part 1 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office), document 96 (U.S. National Archives, Record Group 59, Central Decimal File 870.411/9–1653). [9]Thomas Borstelmann. The Cold War and The Color Line: American Race Relations in the Global Arena. Cambridge, Massachusetts, and London: Harvard University Press, 2001, p114-116. [10]Fredrik Logevall. JFK: Coming of Age in the American Century, 1917-1956. Beijing: Social Sciences Academic Press, 2024, p901-939. [11]Thomas G. Paterson. Kennedy's quest for victory: American foreign policy, 1961-1963. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989, p253-316. [12]Scott Stossel. Sarge: The life and times of Sargent Shriver. New York: Other Press, 2011, p247-371. [13]Philip E. Muehlenbeck. Betting on Africans: John F. Kennedy's Courting of African Nationalist Leaders. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012. [14]Mary L. Dudziak. Cold War and Civil Right: Race and the image of American Democracy. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2000, p152-202. [15]Luke A. Nichter. The Year of The Broke Politics: Collusion and Chaos in the Presidential Election of 1968. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2023, p13-39. [16]Francis J. Gavin and Mark Atwood Lawrence. Beyond The Cold War: Lyndon Johnson and the New Global Challenges of the 1960s. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014, p165-181. [17]Memorandum from the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs (Harriman) to President Johnson, "Report on Africa," Washington, October 28, 1964, in Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964–1968, vol. XXIV, Africa (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office), document 188. [18]Tony Chafer. The End of Empire in French West Africa: France's Successful Decolonization? Oxford and New York: Oxford International Publishers, 2002, p143-192. [19]Alessandro Iandolo: Arrested Development: The Soviet Union in Ghana, Guinea, and Mali, 1955–1968. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 2022, p20-38. [20]Vladislav Zubok. The World of the Cold War: 1945–1991. London: Pelican (an imprint of Penguin Books), 2025, p103-187. [21]Circular Telegram from the Department of State to Certain African Posts, Washington, May 28, 1963, 6:41 p.m., telegram 2032, in Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961–1963, vol. XXI, Africa (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office). [22]Yan, Boqiao. “The Formation of Senegal’s ‘Gateway to West Africa’ Status: A Long-Term Study of French Colonial History.” Etudes Francophones, no. 2, 2020, pp. 70–78, 93. [23]Peter Schwab. Designing West Africa: Prelude to 21st-Century Calamity. New York and Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004, p47-83. [24]Memorandum of conversation, "Wednesday Afternoon Talks," Paris, May 31, 1961, 2:50 p.m., US/MC/2, participants: President John F. Kennedy and General Charles de Gaulle, in Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961–1963, vol. XXI, Africa (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office), document 195. [25]Memorandum from the President's Special Assistant (Dungan) to President Kennedy, "Aid to Africa," Washington, March 6, 1963, in Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961–1963, vol. XXI, Africa (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office), document 217. [26]Memorandum by the Joint Chiefs of Staff, "Courses of Action to Counter Communist Penetration of Ghana, Guinea and Mali," Washington, January 31, 1962, JCISM-78-62, in Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961–1963, vol. XXI, Africa (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office), document 205. [27]Memorandum from Ulric Haynes of the National Security Council Staff to the President's Special Assistant (Rostow), "Check List of African Problems," Washington, June 8, 1966, in Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964–1968, vol. XXIV, Africa (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office), document 212. [28]Elizabeth Schmidt. Foreign Intervention in Africa: From the Cold War to the War on Terror. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 2013, p165-192. [29]Abou B. Bamba. African Miracle, African Mirage: Transnational Politics and the Paradox of Modernization in Ivory Coast. Athens, Ohio: Ohio University Press, 2016. [30]Report from Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey to President Lyndon B. Johnson, "The Vice President's Trip to Africa December 30, 1967–January 11, 1968," Washington, January 12, 1968, in Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964–1968, vol. XXIV, Africa (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office), document 231.