White House and White Africa

Eddie Michel is a Research Fellow in the Department of Historical and Heritage Studies at the University of Pretoria, South Africa.

"An invaluable narrative of the contrasting approaches of a series of White House administrations on the Rhodesian question, caught as they were between often conflicting international and domestic imperatives, including geopolitical concerns, economic interests, race relations and the rise of Human Rights... an indispensable account of U.S. policy towards Africa during the Cold War era."-Dr. Thula Simpson, author of Umkhonto we Sizwe: The ANC's Armed Struggle."The White House and Africa is a welcome addition to the flourishing literature on the history of Rhodesia's Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI). Eddie Michel's analysis of presidential decision-making highlights one of the key determinants of Rhodesia's varying fortunes during the UDI period."-Dr. Carl Peter Watts, author of Rhodesia's Unilateral Declaration of Independence: An International History."Michel’s work is a welcome addition to the field of US-Southern relations and the study of the Cold War on the periphery. It enriches the historiography by illuminating the contested nature of the Rhodesian questions across multiple presidential administrations, emphasizing the issues of natural resources and the impact of the US civil rights movement on the conduct of foreign policy toward Rhodesia, and southern Africa more broadly. Its methodological approach and multi-archival research can serve as a building block for further studies of southern Africa."- Julianne H. Haefner, H-Net

• Introduction 1. Measured Hostility: President Lyndon B. Johnson 2. The Luster of Chrome: President Richard M. Nixon 3. Laying the Foundations for Peace: President Gerald R. Ford 4. From Rhodesia to Zimbabwe: President Jimmy Carter Conclusion