193. Memorandum From Ulric Haynes of the National Security Council Staff to the President’s Special Assistant for National Security Affairs (Bundy)1
Note for Mr. Bundy
Secretary Rusk’s meeting with representatives of the Negro Leadership Conference on Africa was quiet and friendly.2
Concerning the Congo, the Secretary and the Negro Leadership group agreed on the necessity for an O.A.U. solution and for Tshombe to get rid of the white mercenaries. The Secretary indicated that the problems of Portuguese Africa were thorny because of the importance of the Azores to NATO. He suggested that the coming International Court of Justice decision in the South West Africa case might provide the U.S. Government a better “handle” with which to influence the South African Government to moderate its racist and totalitarian policies. He agreed with the Negro leaders that it would be most desirable to see an increase in U.S. aid to Africa. The Secretary himself initiated the discussion of the desirability of having more Negroes in the Foreign Service and invited suggestions from the Negro Leadership as to people who might qualify. Concerning their suggestion that he visit Africa, the Secretary said that it would be difficult to find an occasion around which to plan such a visit and that he wished to avoid offending those countries on the African Continent which he might not have time to visit.
It was mentioned in the course of the discussions that Dr. Martin Luther King may go to Africa this spring on his own.
None of the leaders expressed a desire to see the President or any one else in the White House about African affairs. All three spoke to the press afterwards for about an hour as “friendly critics” and were interviewed by CBS Television.
The meeting was given minimal press coverage and is not likely to give rise to any undesirable repercussions.
- Source: Johnson Library, National Security File, Country File, Africa, General, Vol. II, Memos & Miscellaneous, 7/64–6/65. Confidential.↩
- Roy Wilkins, Executive Secretary of the NAACP; Dr. John Davis, President of the American Society of African Culture; and Theodore Brown, Director of the American Negro Leadership Conference, met with Secretary Rusk on March 3.↩