“I have concluded that the US government will adopt a new focus in its policies towards the Government of South Africa.” President Jimmy Carter and Apartheid South Africa

Abstract

This article examines the shift in the bilateral relationship between the United States and South Africa that occurred during the period of the Carter administration. The White House, guided primarily by Carter’s deep commitment to humanitarian principles made a progressive transformation of South African society and the ending of racial discrimination a major foreign policy objective. Both publicly and privately the Carter administration took a tough stance against Pretoria including supporting a mandatory UN arms embargo. Ultimately, however, Carter failed in his goal of dismantling apartheid and his opposition to commercial sanctions led to a deepening of economic ties between Washington and Pretoria. His administration was also unable to stop South Africa from joining the nuclear club.