Atomic Aparthied: United States-South African Nuclear

ATOMIC APARTHIED: UNITED STATES-SOUTH AFRICAN NUCLEAR RELATIONS FROM TRUMAN TO REAGAN, 1945-1989 Except where reference is made to the work of others, the work described in this dissertation is my own or was done in collaboration with my advisory committee. This dissertation does not include proprietary or classified information. ________________________________________ Javan David Frazier Certificate of Approval: _______________________________________ ________________________ Thomas Borstelmann Larry Gerber, Chair Thompson Professor of Modern World History Professor University of Nebraska-Lincoln History History _______________________________________ ________________________ Patience Essah William Trimble Associate Professor Professor History History ____________________________ Stephen L. McFarland Dean Graduate School ATOMIC APARTHIED: UNITED STATES-SOUTH AFRICAN NUCLEAR RELATIONS FROM TRUMAN TO REAGAN, 1945-1989 Javan David Frazier A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Auburn University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Auburn, Alabama May 11, 2006 ATOMIC APARTHIED: UNITED STATES-SOUTH AFRICAN NUCLEAR RELATIONS FROM TRUMAN TO REAGAN, 1945-1989 Javan David Frazier Permission is granted to Auburn University to make copies of this dissertation at its discretion, upon request of individuals or institutions and at their expense. The author reserves all publication rights. ________________________ Signature of Author ________________________ Date of Graduation iii VITA Javan David Frazier was born on March 31, 1974 in Smithville, Tennessee and lived there until he graduated from DeKalb County High School in 1992. He then entered Tennessee Technological University in Cookeville, Tennessee and graduated in 1996 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Secondary Education-Social Studies with an emphasis in History. He returned to Smithville and was employed as a teacher at the DeKalb County Middle School for one year and at the DeKalb County High School for two years. He took a leave of absence from teaching and earned a Master’s degree in History at North Carolina State University in 1999 and entered Auburn University’s Graduate History program in the fall of that year. iv ATOMIC APARTHIED: UNITED STATES-SOUTH AFRICAN NUCLEAR RELATIONS FROM TRUMAN TO REAGAN, 1945-1989 Javan David Frazier Doctorate of Philosophy, May 11, 2006 (M.A., North Carolina State University, 2001) (B.S. Tennessee Technological university, 1996) 338 Typed Pages Directed by Larry Gerber This dissertation analyzes nuclear cooperation between the United States and South Africa from the Truman to Reagan administrations. The focus of this work is to examine how and why the United States became involved in this type of relationship with South Africa and how issues of race and nuclear proliferation affected this partnership. South Africa’s dependability as a Cold War ally, its large supply of uranium, and the potential promise of nuclear power prompted the United States to assist South Africa’s nuclear program. Yet, growing international and domestic concerns regarding apartheid and nuclear proliferation caused the United States to pressure South Africa, for the most part unsuccessfully, to reform its racial policies and to adopt nuclear nonproliferation policies. Because of this failure, the United States restricted nuclear cooperation with South Africa but never severed it completely, as government officials reasoned that doing v so would limit America’s influence over South Africa’s nuclear program and hamper its ability to pressure it. This dissertation also demonstrates how consistent were the policies of administrations from Truman to Reagan in maintaining nuclear cooperation with South Africa. Once nuclear proliferation became a major issue after the Kennedy administration, presidential administrations consistently advocated strong nuclear nonproliferation policies toward South Africa. The only difference that political party affiliation caused in nuclear relations with South Africa was that Democratic administrations tended to be more publicly critical of South Africa than Republican ones. Finally, this study shows the limitations of America’s influence during the Cold War as it balanced its strategic interests with its commitment to civil rights. Even though the United States had more economic and military power than South Africa, it was unable significantly to pressure South Africa to change its nuclear or apartheid policies. As South Africa’s nuclear program matured and it became more isolated internationally in the 1970s and 1980s, America’s influence became even weaker. America’s nuclear cooperation with South Africa demonstrates how limited its influence was over an ally, even when it provided invaluable aid. vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I want to first thank Drs. Larry Gerber, Patience Essah, William Trimble, and Thomas Borstelmann from Auburn University for agreeing to be on my dissertation committee. Their insightful and critical comments helped to greatly improve my dissertation and made the difficult task of writing easier. I want to thank the Lyndon Baines Johnson Foundation and the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation for both rewarding me a Travel and Research Grant. I also want to thank the Auburn University History Department for granting me a Summer Enhancement Money Award for research and the College of Liberal Arts, particularly Assistant Dean Anthony Carey, for the granting of a research grant. I also want to express my gratitude to the staff at the Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Ford, Carter, Reagan Presidential Libraries, and the National Archives for their assistance. I want to thank the faculty, staff, and graduate students at Auburn’s History Department for making my time there enjoyable and enriching. I want to express my gratitude to Dr. Nancy Mitchell from North Carolina State University who initially put me on the road to conducting research on United States-South African nuclear relations when I wrote my Master’s thesis. Finally, I want to thank my family for their unwavering support they have given me toward my goal of earning a Ph.D. in history and writing a dissertation. vii Style manual or journal used: Chicago Manual of Style Computer software used: Microsoft Word 2000 viii TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………………...1 CHAPTER 1 TRUMAN ADMINISTRATION: FORMING AN ALLIANCE THROUGH URANIUM…………………………………………………17 CHAPTER 2 EISENHOWER ADMINISTRATION: THE FORMATION OF A NUCLEAR PROGRAM THROUGH COOPERATION………………..57 CHAPTER 3 KENNEDY AND JOHNSON ADMINISTRATIONS: THE NEAR TERMINATION OF SOUTH AFRICAN NUCLEAR COOPERATION……………………………………………………….109 CHAPTER 4 NIXON-FORD ADMINISTRATIONS: EVOLVING NUCLEAR RELATIONS…………………………………………………………...178 CHAPTER 5 CARTER ADMINISTRATION: STRAINED RELATIONS AND THE VELA EVENT…...……...………………………………………..239 CHAPTER 6 REAGAN ADMINISTRATION: IMPROVING RELATIONS, SANCTIONS, AND NUCLEAR COOPERATION…………………...272 CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………………………302 BIBLIOGRAPHY………………………………………………………………………318 ix INTRODUCTION America’s nuclear relationship with South Africa began as a necessity, evolved into a cooperative partnership, and developed into a liability. This study will trace the evolution of United States-South African nuclear relations and show how they became a liability for American foreign policymakers during the Cold War. The two main reasons this aspect of American foreign policy became a problem were the change in American attitudes toward race and growing concerns about nuclear proliferation. During World War II, preliminary studies on the vastness of South Africa’s mineral potential stimulated American interest in South Africa as a uranium supplier. The United States was unable to take advantage of South Africa’s uranium during World War II, but America’s continued development of nuclear weapons meant a constant need for more uranium. For their part, South African authorities were eager to supply the United States with uranium but lacked the infrastructure to extract it. On November 23, 1950, South Africa signed an agreement with the United States and Great Britain that provided South Africa with the necessary economic aid to develop a uranium extraction industry and ensured that the two countries would buy a certain amount of the mineral at a set price. During the 1950s, America’s nuclear relationship with South Africa changed from one of simply buying uranium to a cooperative partnership whereby the United States aided in the development of South Africa’s nuclear program. South Africa’s uranium 1 extraction industry had become so efficient that it produced more uranium than the United States or Great Britain could readily use. In addition, America’s uranium extraction industry had developed to the point that uranium mined in the United States became less expensive than that acquired from South Africa. Because of these two factors, the United States and Great Britain negotiated to end their purchases of South African uranium. South African officials were not pleased with this new development but were partly mollified by the new atomic relationship they entered into with the United States. In 1953, President Eisenhower gave his Atoms for Peace speech which espoused the peaceful applications of nuclear power. His administration established a program whereby the United States would provide nuclear information and technology to any nation as long as that nation agreed to develop only peaceful uses for nuclear power and not weapons. South

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