ABSTRACT
Chapter 1 examines the cautious approach adopted by LBJ both during the build up to the UDI and in the years following the Rhodesian rebellion. It discusses the various factors that influenced the White House including the “special relationship” with London, the need to retain standing in black Africa to protect U.S. interests, the increasing power of the Afro-Asian bloc at the UN, potential communist involvement in southern Africa, the impact of the UDI on American race relations, domestic support for Rhodesia and LBJ’s own personal ideological opposition to white minority rule. The chapter explores how these diverse and often conflicting influences impacted White House decision-making throughout the road to UDI, the imposition of sanctions both bilaterally and at the UN, the Zambian airlift, the establishment of the Rhodesian Information Office (RIO) in Washington and during the tortuous negotiations between London and Salisbury over a potential ‘return to legality.’
