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'Literally a continent to win': The United States, development, and the Cold War in Africa, 1961--1963

Posted on:2004-06-27Degree:Ph.DType:Dissertation
University:University of South CarolinaCandidate:Grubbs, Larry BenjaminFull Text:PDF
GTID:1466390011964353Subject:History
Abstract/Summary:
During the presidency of John F. Kennedy (1961--1963), the United States embarked upon its first major attempt to promote economic development in sub-Saharan Africa. Cold War concerns and changes in American ideology provided the impetus for an ambitious foreign aid policy in the Third World. Africa seemed a particularly important region to the Kennedy administration, and Washington tried to influence political and economic change there. The influence of academic theories of economic development pioneered by Walt Whitman Rostow and others helped shape American foreign aid programs. By the end of the Kennedy years, however, it became increasingly apparent that African development would require much more time and money than American experts had envisioned. Moreover, U.S. officials found their efforts met with increasing African criticism, as the growth of American influence on the continent seemed to limit African autonomy. The failure of American policies during the early 1960s paved the way for decades of economic decline in Africa and represented one of the great missed opportunities in the history of American foreign relations.
Keywords/Search Tags:Africa, Economic, American, Development
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