"It Is Man's Eternal Desire to Be Free and Independent"
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Svein Kjos "It is man’s eternal desire to be free Svein Kjos Svein and independent" Kennedy's relations with Algeria Master’s thesis in history Trondheim, November 2017 Master’s thesis Master’s "It is man’s eternal desire to be free and independent" be free to desire eternal "It is man’s NTNU Faculty of Humanities Faculty Department of Historical Studies Department of Historical Norwegian University of Science and Technology of Science University Norwegian Ben Bella's visit to the White House, October 15, 1962 Preface I have always been interested in American politics, and America’s place in the World, especially American foreign policy. I got interested in the 1960’s through music, first The Rolling Stones, then The Beatles and further Motown. I got interested in the stories behind the songs, and the culture that blossomed. So much of the culture came out of the tragedy of the assassination of John F. Kennedy. I began to read more of what Kennedy meant to America, and in my youth I became fascinated by his life, and what he meant to the World. When I got the opportunity to write a master thesis, the choice was simple, it had to be American foreign policy in the early 1960’s. First, I want to thank my supervisor, professor Tore T. Petersen, for giving me the opportunity to write about what I wanted to write about, and giving me the idea of writing of Kennedy and Algeria. I never would have come up with this theme without his help, and he has given me constructive criticism, which only has made this thesis better. I would like to thank Oda Svisdal, Joel Svendsen, Jørgen Benkholt and Maria Sæther for invaluable help. You have read through early and late drafts and given good feedback, helped with the technical difficulties and good expressions and phrases. Further, I would like to thank all those I have shared master reading room with. Brita, Trude, Karoline, Espen, Håvard, Kristoffer, Andreas, Hilde, Birgitte, Oda, Else, Guro, Øyvind and Rune. Thank you for all the great conversations and strange themes that was discussed when everyone was really stressed out. And last, but not least I would like to thank all the members, past and present, of “Det Historiske Selskab”, the student organization that I have been so lucky to be the leader of for two years. Thank you all for making these years at NTNU unforgettable. Svein Kjos Trondheim, November 14, 2017 III IV Abbreviations FLN - Front de Libération Nationale (Algerian National Liberation Front) PAG (GPRA) – Provisional Algerian Government (Gouvernement Provisoire de la République Algérienne) GOF – Government of France OAS - Organisation armée sacrète (Secret Army Organization) CIA – Central Intelligence Agency V VI Contents Preface ...................................................................................................................................... III Abbreviations ............................................................................................................................ V Contents ................................................................................................................................... VII 1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 1 Historiography ........................................................................................................................ 4 Questions .............................................................................................................................. 13 Findings ................................................................................................................................ 14 Method and sources .............................................................................................................. 18 2. Historical Background .......................................................................................................... 21 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 21 De Gaulle and France ........................................................................................................... 22 Algeria, the FLN, PAG and Ben Bella ................................................................................. 23 The War, the Peace and the Evian Accords ......................................................................... 26 Eisenhower and the Suez Crisis ........................................................................................... 27 3. First Phase, Kennedy changes America’s policy on Algeria ............................................... 31 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 31 Kennedy’s Algeria speech .................................................................................................... 32 Kennedy’s Algeria policy up to the election of 1960 ........................................................... 34 Getting in on the ground floor .............................................................................................. 35 The General Challe coup attempt and the OAS ................................................................... 39 Ceasefire to Referendum ...................................................................................................... 46 4. Middle phase, Chaos ............................................................................................................ 55 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 55 The Situation looked bad ...................................................................................................... 56 Things were not as bad as they seemed ................................................................................ 60 Aid ........................................................................................................................................ 62 VII 5. Second Phase, Socialist, not Soviet ...................................................................................... 65 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 65 UN ........................................................................................................................................ 66 UNGA, Ben Bella visit, and support for communists .......................................................... 67 Khemisti assassination ......................................................................................................... 74 Support through hard times .................................................................................................. 75 Moroccan crisis .................................................................................................................... 77 6. France ................................................................................................................................... 85 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 85 Pullout of NATO .................................................................................................................. 85 The OAS and de Gaulle assassination attempt ..................................................................... 88 7. Epilogue ............................................................................................................................... 91 Johnson and Algeria ............................................................................................................. 91 The coup of Ben Bella, the Arabian Spring and rising tensions with Morocco ................... 92 Further research .................................................................................................................... 93 8. Primary sources .................................................................................................................... 95 9. Bibliography ......................................................................................................................... 97 Appendix 1. List of important people .................................................................................... 101 Appendix 2. Kennedy’s Algeria Speech ................................................................................ 103 VIII 1. Introduction When John F. Kennedy became President in 1961, America’s policy toward Algeria was dominated by neglect. He had inherited a policy toward the Afro-Arabian World from former President Dwight D. Eisenhower, which he was determined to change. Algeria had been under French rule for over 130 years and had rebelled since the Second World War. In 1954, this rebellion evolved into a war; this war raged on until the Algerian rebels and the French government signed a peace agreement in Evian, on the French shore of the lake Lac Léman, March 18, 1962. This agreement would not only effectively end the war, but also grant Algeria its independence, the agreement stated: GENERAL DECLARATION The French people, by the referendum of January 8, 1961, recognized the right of the Algerians to choose by means of a consultation of direct and universal suffrage their political destiny in relation to the French Republic. The negotiations