Foreign relations of South Africa during apartheid: Difference between revisions - Wikipedia

Line 93:

===USA===

At the outset of apartheid, the United States avoided serious criticism of South Africa's racial policies in part because several U.S. states had similar policies under the [[Jim Crow laws]]. Following the 1960 Sharpeville massacre, however, the country voted at the UN conference against it. The US impressed a severe armament embargo on South Africa from 1964, and, from 1967, the [[United States Navy]] avoided South African harbours. Unlike Britain, the USA did not see much importance in the Cape route, but they did see the economic opportunities for South African investment. Imports and exports between the two states came to many millions of dollars. Financial ties aside, there were also numerous cultural links between South Africa and America. South Africans of all creeds were given the chance to study in America with scholarships. The US even utilised South Africa for her exploration of outer space, setting up a satellite tracking post near [[Krugersdorp]], and building numerous telescopes for lunar probes. This picked up ailing ties between the two countries, but, in the 1970s, America withdrew from the tracking station.

[[Richard Nixon]] and [[Henry Kissinger]] had adopted a policy known as the [[Tar Baby Option]], according to which the US ought to maintain close relations with the white rulers in South Africa.<ref name="Dowdall 2009">{{cite book|last=Dowdall|first=Aaron T.|title=THE BIRTH AND DEATH OF A TAR BABY: HENRY KISSINGER AND SOUTHERN AFRICA|year=2009|url=https://mospace.umsystem.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10355/10125/research.pdf?sequence=3|accessdate=13 August 2012|month=December}}</ref> Ronald Reagan continued to support links with South Africa, describing the ANC as "a terrorist organisation", but [[Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act|congressional pressure]] forced increased distance between the two governments.