ABSTRACT
Richard Nixon, well known for his anti-Communist posture, had however realised that the international environment had changed and that policies that would serve American interests in peace had to be adopted. Moreover Nixon wanted to fulfil his ambition to create the image of a diplomatist. Whatever was proclaimed about the new policy, Nixon was not prepared to base American policy decisions entirely on the assumption that the Soviet Union had ceased to be a revolutionary power. Neither Africa nor South Africa was a priority of the Nixon administration in January 1969. Donald Rothchild described American policy towards Africa until the nineteen seventies as being one of “benign neglect”. Both the Air Transport Agreement issue and that of the extension of sanctions were portents of the Nixon administration’s South Africa policy which was to be given a concrete shape later. An interdepartmental review of American policy towards Southern Africa was initiated by Henry Kissinger in April 1969.
