The United States and South Africa currently maintain strong bilateral relations with one another. The United States and South Africa have been economically linked to one another since the late 18th century which has continued into the 21st century. United States and South Africa relations faced periods of strain throughout the 20th century due to the segregationist, white minority rule in South Africa, from 1948 to 1994. Following the end of apartheid in South Africa, the United States and South Africa have developed a strategically, politically, and economically beneficial relationship with one another and currently enjoy "cordial relations" despite "occasional strains". South Africa remains the United States' largest trading partner in Africa as of 2019.
History The United States has maintained an official presence in South Africa since 1799 when an American consulate was opened in Cape Town. The U.S. Embassy is located in Pretoria, and Consulates General are in Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town.
Boer War The United States remained formally neutral during the Second Boer War. Although the U.S. press and the administration of President William McKinley favored the British Empire, many Americans sympathized with the Boer republics and some traveled to South Africa to fight as foreign volunteers in the conflict. Some of these American volunteers were taken as prisoners-of-war by the British, leading to a minor diplomatic crisis until negotiations between U.S. Secretary of State John Hay and British Foreign Secretary Lord Lansdowne led to their repatriation in 1902.
Union of South Africa During World War I both countries fought for the Allied Powers, and U.S. President Woodrow Wilson and South African Prime Minister Jan Smuts formed a friendship at the Paris Peace Conference. Initially Smuts opposed Wilson's proposal for the League of Nations, but by the beginning of the conference shifted into one of its strongest proponents. In 1929, the United States and the Union of South Africa established official diplomatic relations. However, following World War II, both the United States and South Africa had political affairs that impacted their relations with all of the world. The United States had entered into the Cold War with the Soviet Union; while, simultaneously, the National Party in South Africa won the 1948 general election against its rival, the United Party. With the National Party in power, this meant that the segregationist policies that had been impacting South Africa had become lawful, and the Apartheid Era had begun. Due to this, the United States policies towards South Africa were altered; and, overall, the relation between South Africa and the United States was strained until the end of apartheid rule. Following the Apartheid Era, the United States and South Africa have maintained bilateral relations.
Apartheid Era The apartheid era began under the rule of the National Party which was elected into power in the 1948 general election. President Harry S. Truman was moderately supportive of the civil rights movement, but supported the new government as an anti-communist ally against the Soviet Union. Throughout the Apartheid Era, United States foreign policy was heavily influenced by the Cold War. During the early period of apartheid in South Africa, the United States maintained friendly relations with South Africa, which may be attributed to the anti-communist ideals held by the National Party. However, over the course of the 20th century, American-South African relations were impacted by the apartheid system in place under the National Party. At times, the United States cooperated with and maintained bilateral relations with South Africa; and, at other times, the United States took political action against it.
Cooperation
Throughout the Apartheid Era, economic ties between the United States and South Africa played a prominent role in their relations with one another. From the 1950s to the 1980s, United States exports to, imports from, and direct investment in South Africa as a whole increased. South Africa was seen as an important trade partner because it provided the United States with access to various mineral resources— like chromium, manganese, vanadium— vital for the U.S. steel industry.Thomson, p 8. Aside from trade and investment, South Africa also provided a strategic location for a naval base and access to much of the African continent. In addition, the United States had a NASA missile tracking station located in South Africa, which became controversial in American politics due to segregation being practiced on the stations in compliance with apartheid policy. In the early 1950s the South African Air Force supported the United States during the Korean War by fighting on the side of the United Nations Command. Donald Rickard, a former US vice-consul in Durban and CIA operative, admitted that the United States believed Nelson Mandela was under the control of the Soviet Union and therefore gave the intelligence tip that led to his 1962 capture and subsequent 27-year incarceration by the Apartheid regime.
Resistance Following the Sharpeville Massacre in 1960, the United States relations with South Africa began to undergo changes. In 1963, under the Kennedy administration, the United States voluntarily placed an arms embargo on South Africa in cooperation with the United Nations Security Council Resolution 181. After President Kennedy's assassination and under Lyndon B. Johnson, the United States policy towards South Africa was greatly impacted by the Civil Rights Movement taking place at home. In regards to the African struggles in Africa, President Johnson shared that: The foreign policy of the United States is rooted in its life at home. We will not permit human rights to be restricted in our own country. And we will not support policies abroad which are based on the rule of minorities or the discredited notion that men are unequal before the law. We will not live by a double standard—professing abroad what we do not practice at home, or venerating at home what we ignore abroad.
The primary political action taken by the Johnson administration was the implementation of National Security Action Memorandum 295 in 1963. This, in short, aimed to promote change in apartheid policy in South Africa whilst still maintaining economic relations. Similarly, in 1968, the Johnson Administration created a National Policy Paper which discussed the U.S. political objectives of balancing a bilateral economic relation with South Africa, while also promoting the end of apartheid in South Africa.
Despite rhetorical opposition to apartheid, the United States continued to block sanctions against South Africa at the United Nations in the 1960s and the 1970s. Although controversial, most scholars agree that Richard Nixon and Gerald R. Ford failed to combat apartheid policy in South Africa. President Jimmy Carter is known for his confrontational strategy against apartheid and white rule in South Africa. However, although the Carter administration advocated for human rights in South Africa, most scholars agree that it was unsuccessful in creating change in South Africa. The Carter administration feared that divestment of American companies in South Africa could have worsened the conditions for the black majority, while strengthening the position of the white minority in South Africa. This resulted in the Carter administration refraining from placing sanctions—often promoted by the anti-apartheid movement—on South Africa, and led to growth in investments in South Africa.
Throughout the Johnson, Nixon, Ford, and Carter administrations, the United States anti-apartheid movement as well as divestment from South Africa campaigns increasingly gained support from the American public. The growth of the anti-apartheid movement as well as the divestment campaign lead to increased pressure on the U.S. government to take action against apartheid policy in South Africa. It is during this time— when these movements had more support than ever before— that the Reagan administration came into office.
President Ronald Reagan practiced a policy of "constructive engagement" to gently push South Africa toward a moral racially sensitive regime. The policy had been developed by State Department official Chester Crocker as part of a larger policy of cooperation with South Africa to address regional turmoil.J. E. Davies, Constructive Engagement? Chester Crocker and American Policy in South Africa, Namibia and Angola 1981–1988 (2008). It also supported South Africa in the South African Border War and the Angolan Civil War, in which Cuba had intervened to assist the MPLA. However, anger was growing in the United States, with leaders in both parties calling for sanctions to punish South Africa. Lawrence Eagleburger, Reagan's Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, in June 1983 announced a clear shift in policy to an insistence upon fundamental change in Pretoria's racial policy, as the Reagan administration had to confront growing congressional and public support for sanctions.Michael Clough, "Beyond constructive engagement." Foreign Policy;; 61 (1985): 3–24. Online The new policy was inadequate to such anti-apartheid leaders as Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Weeks after it was announced that he had been awarded the 1984 Nobel Peace Prize he went to the United States and denounced the Reagan administration's policy as inherently immoral. On 4 December 1984, he told the U.S. House Subcommittee on Africa: Apartheid is an evil as immoral and unchristian in my view as Nazism, and in my view the Reagan administration's support in collaboration with it is equally immoral, evil, and totally unchristian, without remainder.
However, on 7 December, Tutu met face-to-face with Reagan at the White House. They agreed that apartheid was repugnant and should be dismantled by peaceful means.Allen, p 249. Because efforts at constructive engagement had not succeeded in altering South Africa's policy of apartheid, Washington D.C. had to adapt this policy. In 1986, despite President Reagan's effort to veto it, the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act of 1986 (CAAA) was enacted by United States Congress. This act was the first in this era that not only implemented economic sanctions, but also offered to aid to the victims living under apartheid rule. The Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act was the starting point for unified policy towards South Africa in United States politics. Under the Reagan, Clinton, and Bush administrations, there were continued efforts to try to end apartheid. These efforts gained more traction after the end of the Cold War and the Cuban withdrawal from the Angolan Civil War, which removed the United States's incentive to support the apartheid regime. By 1994, apartheid in South Africa had officially ended. Nelson Mandela was elected as the first president of this newly democratic nation.
Post-apartheid
Since the abolition of apartheid and the first-ever democratic elections of April 1994, the United States has enjoyed a bilateral relation with South Africa. Although there are differences of position between the two governments (regarding Iraq, for example), they have not impeded cooperation on a broad range of key issues. Bilateral cooperation in counter-terrorism, fighting HIV/AIDS, and military relations has been particularly positive. Through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the United States also provides assistance to South Africa to help them meet their developmental goals. Peace Corps volunteers began working in South Africa in 1997.