Overview

This volume is part of a Foreign Relations subseries that documents the most important issues in the foreign policy of President Lyndon B. Johnson. However, this volume also includes documentation on U.S. foreign policy toward Congo-Léopoldville during the administrations of Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy. It is therefore a retrospective, composite volume, which covers U.S. policy in Congo-Léopoldville from March 1960 through December 1968. It should be read as a supplement to Foreign Relations, 1958–1960, Volume XIV, Africa, and Foreign Relations, 1961–1963, Volume XX, Congo Crisis.

The first part of the volume, covering 1960–1963 documents the chaotic nature of the Congo crisis and the pervasive influence of covert U.S. Government policies in the newly independent nation designed to install a pro-Western regime and limit Soviet influence. The second part of the volume, covering 1964–1968, chronicles the evolution of U.S. policy towards Congo-Léopoldville. It documents the continuation of covert political action programs, the U.S. role in providing paramilitary and air support, and efforts to develop a more strategic long-term approach to U.S. relations.