Office of the Historian

200. Report Prepared by Samuel E. Belk of the National Security Council Staff0

Washington, September 25, 1961.

SUMMARY OF GOVERNOR WILLIAMS’ TRIP TO AFRICA

August 8 to September 1, 1961

General Conclusions

1.
The personal meetings between the President and African leaders at the White House are a tremendous asset to our good relations.
2.
In my personal contacts I was able to correct the views of U.S. African policy and thereby increase the good will toward the U.S., not only in the friendly territories but in the Portuguese territories as well.
3.
Southern African countries, except for the Portuguese territories, are looking to the U.S. for needed substantial amounts of aid in fiscal ’63 and ’64, and U.S.-African relations will suffer if we are unable to provide it.
4.
The current attempts at self-rule in Africa, particularly in the problem areas of the Congo, where nationalism has gone wild, and in the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, where varying views on an adequate rate of progress complicate matters, must be given aid and encouragement toward success, so they can serve as examples for the development of self-government in the surrounding areas.
5.
U.S. contribution can best be made in the fields of information, education, technical aid, medical facilities, and development of the economic potentials. In connection with education, one specific field needing sympathetic understanding and guidance, is the education of African women in order to improve their social status and to inculcate a desire for a better standard of living.
6.
Two instances of Communist influence—Basutoland and the Malagasy Republic—need to be watched and combatted.

[Here follow country-by-country observations.]

  1. Source: Kennedy Library, National Security Files, Countries Series, Africa, General. Secret. The report was sent under cover of a memorandum from McGeorge Bundy to the President’s Naval Aide, Captain Shepard, that reads: “Attached is Soapy Williams’ report of his last trip. Sam Belk of our office has put a 4-page summary on top, and I think that is all you need to read.” The report of Assistant Secretary Williams on his second trip to Africa August 8-September 1 is in Department of State, Central Files, 110.5-WI/9-961.↩