Debate On Congo Crisis Among American Academia In 1960s

In the 1960s,with the vigorous development of Africa’s decolonization movement and the emergence of African emerging countries on the international stage,the importance of Africa in American cold war strategy and layout was increasing day by day,and American African studies correspondingly entered the era of rapid development.After independence in 1960,Congo fell into political chaos,which led to the world crisis in which many forces involved and played games,and became an important object of the study of African decolonization of American academia.With the support of government and private funds,scholars of different factions viewed the Congo crisis based on different values and positions.Although there were some similarities in the interpretation of the same event or the same object,the conflict and even fierce refutation of views were the mainstream and characteristic.The liberals,left and conservatives had different understandings and judgments about the Belgium group,Lumumba group and Tshombe group,as well as the causes and consequences of Katanga’s split in the Congo crisis.On this basis,they also had different opinions on the evaluation of the United Nations,the United States and the Soviet Union on the Congo crisis policy.In general,liberals and conservatives,at the heart of anti-communism,worried that the Congo crisis would give the Soviet Union a chance to infiltrate.The left,worried that Congo was manipulated by western capitalist interest groups,agreed with the UN peacekeeping operation aimed at ending Katanga’s division and objected to American interference in Congo’s internal affairs at the hands of the United Nations.The conflict between liberals and conservatives was highlighted in their acceptance of African decolonization.During the Congo crisis,liberals urged the United States to support the United Nations to help Congo end the division of Katanga.Conservatives,on the other hand,defending the Katanga division benefited from European allies,criticized U.S.intervention in Congo and support for the U.N.mission.The debate over the Congo crisis had also led American scholars to rethink their approach to Africa’s decolonization and to be more cautious about it,with the most dramatic shift among liberals.Finally,the views of scholars of different factions influenced the American policy on the Congo crisis and decolonization,from the Eisenhower Administration’s African policy centering on European suzerain to the Kennedy Administration’s African policy of supporting the nationalist movement and conforming to the trend of decolonization.