CHAPTER 12 The Winter of Discontent: The Third State Visit, 1967
And each man shares The strength derived from head held high . . . As holds his head, the King of Kings . . . Our symbol of a dream That will not die. —Emperor Haile Selassie on Liberation Day, May 5, 1966, reading from The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes1 A little before eight o’clock, the motorcade of black limousines pulled up to the North Portico entrance of the White House after making the ridiculously short journey from Blair House, the official state guest house of the president, just across Pennsylvania Avenue. On a blustery, cold February evening, the automobiles went through the White House gates, where 12 herald trumpets greeted them with a rousing fanfare. Two Marine musicians played a drum roll as Emperor Haile Selassie, attired in a black, double-breasted tuxedo, stepped out of the lead limousine accompanied by his granddaughter, Princess Ruth Desta. They were warmly greeted by President Lyndon Johnson and Mrs. Johnson, who walked down the front steps through the glaring lights of the photographers and into the icy weather to usher them into the warmth of the mansion. Johnson, standing six-feet, three-inches tall, towered over the little king, although Mrs. Johnson was only two inches taller than HIM. The other limousines carrying the emperor’s official entourage of distinguished Ethiopians followed close behind; among them, Commander Iskender Desta, HIM’s grandson; Ethiopian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ketema Yifru (one of a very few IEG officials known The Winter of Discontent 137 to talk back to HIM and get away with it); and the Ethiopian ambassador to the United States Tashoma Haile Mariam (described by the State Department as “intelligent, discreet, confident, well-trained”), and their State Department handlers (including Korry and Symington) and security officers. President Johnson was hosting a black-tie dinner in honor of the emperor on his third state visit to the United States. The president and first lady escorted the royal guests upstairs to the Yellow Oval Room for an intimate gathering and presentation of gifts (the part of the evening Mrs. Johnson “liked best”). 2 A small number of guests, among them Vice President Hubert Humphrey and Acting Secretary of State Nicholas Katzenbach, were already there enjoying cocktails when the heads of state arrived. Chief Justice Earl Warren, who knew the emperor better than any of the other officials present, was the first to greet HIM. The president and the emperor sat on a couch and engaged in lively conversation before making a formal exchange of gifts. To commemorate his visit, Johnson gave Haile Selassie a portable pocket dictating machine, IBM’s latest (to the delight of HIM, who adored electronics and took great interest in things practical); a set of surgical implements, including a bronchoscope, which allowed direct examination of areas of the lungs that are not accessible with stethoscopes or seen on X-rays, in a chest with a gold plaque to be given to Princess Tsehai Hospital in Ethiopia, named after the emperor’s daughter, who died in 1942; a sterling silver tray with edging in vermeil bearing the presidential seal and an engraved inscription from President and Mrs. Johnson (her only gift to HIM); leather-bound books, The Living White House and Washington: Magnificent Capital ; a book box in vermeil with the seals of the emperor and the president engraved on top; and an autographed photograph in a vermeil frame. Mrs. Johnson confessed that she was sometimes “vaguely unhappy that our gifts seem less imaginative and less meaningful than the gifts that foreign monarchs make to us.” 3 This was one of those times, for Haile Selassie presented LBJ with a silver box, a set of cufflinks, and tie pin and gave Lady Bird Johnson and her daughters jewelry boxes, traditional Ethiopian dresses, and sets of gold jewelry. By the time of the emperor’s visit, Lady Bird was accustomed to entertaining royalty in the Executive Mansion and had personally endured alleged faux peerage jibes by the nobility-conscious in Europe who inquired about “Lady who?” 4 She, along with Ethiopian poet laureate Tsegaye Gabre-Medhin, who, to the English ear, was “Sir Guy Gabre-Medhin,” were peerless in confusing the class-conscious British 138 The Lion of Judah in the New World wags of their day. Mrs. Johnson had met Haile Selassie at the White House state dinner in 1963, and she would renew the acquaintanceship by sitting next to the emperor at dinner. Following the presentation of gifts came what Lady Bird Johnson described as “the always thrilling removal of the colors, the forming of the line, and the marching downstairs,” “down the rather terrifying staircase,” to the sound of four ruffles and flourishes followed by Hail to the Chief5 echoing throughout the White House. This stately salute accompanied the president and the emperor as they led the procession of dignitaries down the Grand Staircase. The party stopped for photographs at the bottom of the stairs before standing in line in the East Room, where approximately 150 guests, a cascade of Washington society converging on the White House, filed by to shake hands. The president introduced the guests—Supreme Court justices, cabinet members, congressional couples, and big donors to Johnson’s Democratic Party—to Haile Selassie. The emperor with mournful eyes and tremendous dignity grasped the bejeweled and manicured hands of a variety of Americans bearing greetings to emperor and king. The heads of state then walked down the Cross Hall to the State Dining Room, where a Marine string ensemble, wearing red jackets with light blue trousers, awaited them. While the guests were being seated, the 22-piece string ensemble played and the music reverberating in the White House created an irresistible holiday mood. During the banquet of European splendor, the dress-blue-uniformed U.S. Air Force Strolling Strings came with the salad course and played on either side of the head table. In front of a huge fireplace and beneath a portrait of Abraham Lincoln, President Johnson leaned on his right elbow to talk to Vice President Humphrey over Princess Ruth, who was seated between them. The president called over his shoulder to Charles “Steve” Gillispie, a Peace Corps executive on loan as a translator for the evening, who was standing immediately behind him throughout the dinner. Said LBJ, “I want you to translate every word of my speech for the emperor. Every word .” 6 Fortunately for Gillispie, Ambassador Korry heard the president’s command and alerted Dr. Minassie Haile, the emperor’s primary translator for important events, who quietly provided HIM with a running translation during LBJ’s remarks. Johnson toasted the emperor, saying, “With God’s help, we have always stood proud and free upon our native mountains.” 7 LBJ said how pleased he was to “exchange views on international affairs with one whom I consider to be one of the world’s greatest elder statesmen.” The Winter of Discontent 139 The president drew subtle parallels between the fascist aggression that Ethiopia had survived and that faced in the 1960s by South Vietnam. He recited Haile Selassie’s words to the League of Nations and added, “We all know, to our shame, the reply your majesty received.” Johnson concluded, “It is my genuine and most earnest hope that succeeding generations of our peoples will continue to reinforce the solid edifice of American-Ethiopian amity and understanding.” In reply, Haile Selassie said, “We take this opportune moment, Mr. President, to express our deep gratitude for the numerous forms of assistance which Ethiopia has benefited from your Government, be it in the form of technical knowledge or in human resources in all walks of our country’s endeavor for national development.” 8 After coffee and liqueurs, the party went to the East Room, where Lady Bird always introduced the after-dinner program with grace and a touch of humor. 9 Performing for the first time at the White House that night were Metropolitan Opera stars, tenor Richard Tucker and soprano Nedda Casei. They sang songs very appropriate for Ethiopia: “Celeste Aida,” a special salute to one of Haile Selassie’s granddaughters, Princess Aida; “You’ll Never Walk Alone;” and the duet, “Make Believe.” 10 At the conclusion of the program, the president and first lady accompanied their guest of honor to the front porch to say good-bye. Johnson had considered having Haile Selassie at his ranch in Texas (which might have produced some interesting photo opportunities), but his schedule was such that he chose to play host to the emperor in Washington, where the president again performed with meticulous correctness the duties of a head of state within the confines of protocol. Dr. Minassie, who was with the emperor on several of his state visits to the United States, recalls Haile Selassie’s not being beguiled with LBJ.11 Unlike other presidents, Johnson did not signal his recognition of HIM as a world leader—at least in the manner that the monarch thought appropriate. The emperor found LBJ to be absent minded (perhaps he was distracted at the time by the Vietnam War), and he resented the president’s interrupting him when he was speaking. In official correspondence, one would never sense a cacophony in their relationship. Whatever the personal chemistry of the two, Johnson ultimately satisfied Haile Selassie’s rapacity for military aid. * * * President Johnson brought some experience in Africa to bear on his foreign policy toward that continent. As vice president, he had gone 140 The Lion of Judah in the New World twice to Senegal and thought he had some perspective into “what life in an African village was like and what its problems were.” 12 As a senator, he had met leaders of African states and knew of their displeasure at being considered pawns in the Cold War games. He knew there was a need for “a coherent American policy to deal with the African continent, at least that portion south of the Sahara.” Foreign aid had been more plentiful during the Kennedy administration when there were fewer countries, and Johnson faced tighter budgets due to increased U.S. involvement in Vietnam. Thus, the president looked for new ways to be responsive to the challenges of development in Africa and to review aid programs with the aim of improving them. 13 A major problem was what to do with traditional bilateral programs. With 36 independent African states in existence and the number growing, and most of them requesting U.S. aid, how could the Johnson administration best meet its obligations during a time of tight budget restrictions? Advising Johnson in the State Department was Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, G. Mennen Williams, a carryover from the Kennedy administration who opposed apartheid in South Africa and the still extant European colonial rule and who supported African unity. Mennen encouraged the president to correspond with African heads of state and to invite them to Washington to share ideas and plans for cooperation. During the LBJ administration, there were some 20 visits by African chiefs of state and heads of government, and the president’s skills at personal diplomacy with them was described as “damned good” by an assistant secretary of state. 14 Johnson set up an active program of taking Ambassadors on the presidential yacht down the Potomac, and the Africans were the first to go. The ambassadors also were invited to informal luncheons in the White House Fish Room hosted by the president’s staff, usually Walt Rostow or Ernie Goldstein, and occasionally Vice President Humphrey. Johnson would drop in during desert and spend 15 to 30 minutes with them. According to a state department observer, the president related quickly and well to the African diplomats. “He did everything he possibly could to give them a feeling that he was concerned.” 15 Ethiopian ambassadors Tashoma Haile-Mariam and his predecessor Berhanou Dinke were recipients of such special treatment. 16 Berhanou, who represented Ethiopia in Washington from 1961 until mid-1965 made headlines when he resigned to protest the oppression of HIM’s absolute monarchy and sought asylum in the United States. A Washington Post editorial on the resignation referred to Ethiopia as one of Africa’s most backward countries and criticized the IEG’s massive military expenditures. 17The Winter of Discontent 141 The president had laid out the principles and plans of his foreign policy in a major address at the Associated Press luncheon in New York City on April 20, 1964. At a time when U.S. involvement in Vietnam was escalating, Johnson cited military might as the bedrock of the administration’s policy. In a prophetic statement about what would be his attitude about Southeast Asia, he proclaimed, “Surrender anywhere would mean defeat everywhere.” 18 Resistance to communist expansion and the strengthening of allies, and encouragement of developing countries, while still pursing lasting peace would continue to be basic. The president mentioned certain areas of concern: (1) to build military strength of unmatched might; (2) to resist efforts by communists to extend their dominion and expand their power; (3) to revive the strength of allies, to oppose communist encroachment, and to protect the American future; (4) to aid the independence and progress of developing nations and to help them resist outside domination; (5) to pursue peace through agreements that would decrease danger without decreasing security. The language and thrust of Johnson’s principles were remarkably similar to those proclaimed by the State Department during the Kennedy administration. Citing a “Great Society” parallel, the president asserted that America could wage war against poverty in the new nations of Asia and Africa—as well as at home. In conclusion, Johnson said the United States could never again retreat from world responsibility and would have to get used to working for liberty abroad as well as at home. U.S. domestic politics during the height of the civil rights movement also were of concern to African leaders. In March 1965, Johnson addressed a joint session of Congress, announcing his signing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that outlawed discriminatory voting practices that had disenfranchised African Americans in several states. Johnson said passage of the act spoke “for the dignity of man and the destiny of democracy.” 19 A few weeks later, the president sent a letter to African heads of state, 39 in all, enclosing what he called “The American Promise,” a copy of the Act that was the “definitive statement of the policy of my Administration.” Johnson wrote that the Act also reflected “the determination of the American people to utilize all the resources at their command to achieve rapidly the goal of full and equal rights for all citizens.” This indeed was “The American Promise,” proclaimed the president. It is not just African Americans, “but it is all of us, who must overcome the crippling legacy of bigotry and injustice. And we shall overcome.” 20 The speech was made on March 15, 1965, a week after deadly racial violence had occurred in Selma, Alabama, as African Americans were preparing to march to Montgomery to protest voting rights discrimination. 142 The Lion of Judah in the New World Likewise, LBJ’s inspiring June 4, 1965, commencement address at Howard University on race relations, “To Fulfill These Rights,” 21 had an impact in Africa because a defamatory book called The Invisible Government had been published a few months earlier and was being used in Africa against the United States. The book that was read by Ethiopian university students sensationalized “America’s intelligence and espionage apparatus with the CIA at its center that conducts the clandestine activities of the Government.” 22 Atlanta Journal editor Ralph McGill reported to the president that “among the questions most frequently asked” about the book by Africans, “are those about American civil rights, the CIA and the young people, American national politics, Vietnam, and foreign aid.” 23 Johnson’s eloquent statements in the Howard address; for example, “We seek . . . equality as a fact and equality as a result,” took some of the steam out of the affect of the supposed exposé. On May 26, 1966, President Johnson gave the first major speech by an American president on Africa since Eisenhower’s address to the UN in 1960. At a White House reception marking the third anniversary of the Organization of African Unity, the president spoke about “U.S. Africa Policy” to the ambassadors of 36 African member states and an audience of 300. The speech was given to demonstrate that the administration was capable of new foreign policy initiatives. Johnson took a firm stand in support of truly representative government and the termination of white racial rule in Africa, believing that such a stance would have a positive impact on African attitudes toward the United States. The president expressed sympathy for African efforts toward economic development and made several specific proposals for channeling aid into more useful fields: first, to strengthen the regional economic activities; second, to increase the number of trained Africans; and third, to develop effective communications systems for Africa. 24 Although Johnson did not offer an increase in aid, he indicated that the United States would increasingly channel assistance into regional and subregional economic groupings. The president expressed aspirational thoughts for the OAU: “Our dreams and our vision are of a time when men of all races will collaborate as members of the same community, working with one another because their security is inseparable, and also because it is right and because it is just . . . It is this deepening appreciation and respect for the diversity of the world— each man and nation in it—that increases the possibilities for peace and order.” 25 With the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 only recently enacted, the president probably had an African American The Winter of Discontent 143 audience in mind during his speech too. Johnson’s civil rights policies and diplomacy in Africa doubtlessly played a role in his reelection by a large margin in November 1966. Johnson also announced that a team of specialists headed by Ambassador Korry would prepare a major comprehensive report on U.S. development policy and programs in Africa. His study would examine needs for economic growth expressed by Africans, prospects of multilateral cooperation, application of regionalism and subregionalism to African development, and ways for the most efficient use of U.S. resources. Korry’s report was completed on August 8, 1966, but Johnson ordered it kept secret. 26 At the heart of the Korry report was the question of regionalism versus bilateral aid. The report contained 42 recommendations spread over 16 categories and included initial proposals in regional activities, communications, education, transport, power, and agriculture, and proposed ways in which policy and programs could be made more effective. Korry recommended that the United States concentrate aid on a few “development-emphasis countries” and lend support to the World Bank for external aid. In 1967–1968, USAID adopted a new policy that reduced its regular bilateral programs from 30 to 10 by phasing out existing programs and not undertaking new ones. 27 The 10 nations to retain bilateral programs were those where development prospects were best or where there was a special U.S. interest or relationship. Ethiopia was one of the 10 “development-emphasis countries” and one of five in the “special relationship” category. As soon as possible, USAID projects in other countries would be limited to support for regional institutions, regional projects, and multidonor projects. Also as soon as possible, the United States should consider transfer of funds to multilateral institutions, such as the World Bank, for their use in providing capital and technical assistance. The Korry report advocated a renewed and expanded emphasis on self-help by African nations. In a short time, Korry had reviewed an extremely complicated subject and had explained it in his usual trenchant and understandable English. Later, Johnson would praise the report as “the most comprehensive study of Africa and our role there ever compiled for a President.” 28 To implement the report, Johnson named a committee of experts in the State Department and USAID to work with White House representatives. A steering committee was formed with members from the United States, the UK, Italy, Belgium, and Canada to consider the plans. Interdepartmental and interagency rivalries and bureaucratic 144 The Lion of Judah in the New World turf battles kept the plan from ever reaching its full potential, but during the Johnson administration, the Korry report was a center of controversy and kept Africa foreign assistance as a focus of attention at a time when Vietnam was of central concern. As Johnson explained, “Economic and social development is a slow business, especially among nations in a very early stage of modernization.” 29 During his term as U.S. ambassador to Ethiopia, Korry, a political appointee and outsider to career foreign service officers, received glowing official reviews of his work. National Security Council staff member Edward Hamilton, in a memo to Walt Rostow, said Korry had “thrown great intelligence, energy, and imagination into a job which has probably never before been filled by a man of his ability. He has managed a good relationship with the Emperor without becoming in any sense a captive. In short, he has done quite a job.” 30 Harry C. McPherson Jr., the president’s counsel and top speech writer, informed Johnson about an Inspector General’s report on Ethiopia, in which Korry and his embassy came out very well. Korry was described as “providing the Embassy with dynamic, imaginative, and purposeful leadership.” 31 The ambassador was well-informed and made his presence felt throughout the staff. He had “affected a substantial revaluation of the importance of Ethiopia to the U.S. and this, in turn, under his initiative, has led to a significant shift in U.S. policy toward the country. He has taken advantage of every opportunity to press his view.” The inspectors complained mildly of the embassy’s excessive use of cables. Korry put many ideas on the African desk in the State Department, and State had “its hands full trying to process them.” With the appearance of Korry in Addis Ababa, cable traffic flowing to Washington enjoyed a new birth of literacy and pungency. He was an intrepid watcher and an unsurpassed commentator. His writing was knowledgeable and gracefully expressed, thoroughly researched and full of uncontrolled zest for the subject. This was a welcome relief from lack-luster Foggy Bottom speak that permeated the telegrams from the embassy that preceded and followed Korry’s prodigious tenure in Ethiopia. While still in his first year in Addis Ababa, Korry put Ethiopia in perspective in the State Department in a memo to the secretary of state: “In past 7 years (since 1956) Ethiopia became first nation in modern times which succeeded changing its geography, moving from isolated Middle Eastern country of no particular consequence to committed African nation with considerable role in continental The Winter of Discontent 145 affairs. Ethiopia rapidly attaining aspiration of becoming fulcrum of Africa.”32 By 1964, a series of events had made Ethiopia, if not the fulcrum of Africa, at least more significant to American foreign policy. Ethiopia was increasingly openly nonaligned, and Haile Selassie again was waging a charm offensive on the communists by visiting the USSR and by extending a warm welcome to Premier Chou En-lai of the PRC in Addis Ababa. The soviets offered Haile Selassie anything he wanted if he would break off ties with the United States. While the possibility of defection by the feudal state was not likely, the threat of losing the investment in Kagnew gave the United States impetus to pay the rent in a timely way and more in keeping with the expectations of the landlord. It also inspired the U.S. Department of Defense to give thought to alternatives to the Kagnew technologies. In 1966, the Defense Satellite Communications System was launched and successfully used satellites to transmit reconnaissance photos and other data that held the promise of making land-based communications posts obsolete. Also in 1966, the United States signed a secret agreement with the UK to use the Indian Ocean coral atoll of Diego Garcia, 1,000 miles south of India, for joint defensive needs that might include those of a listening station. Kagnew was still prime real estate, but it was obvious that its valuation might be going down. Continuing disagreements between the United States and Ethiopia over the types of military arms being given and the speed of their delivery exacerbated frustrations on both sides. Squabbling until the heavens fall was the trademark of the Ethiopian-U.S. relationship about military assistance from its origins, and it would continue to plague diplomatic ties between the two nations. Korry was perturbed by an anti-American tone in the government-controlled Ethiopian press. The State Department began to ponder just how long-term American military assistance could be continued. And always in the background was concern about royal succession, should, God forbid, the emperor die. By this time, the Johnson administration’s policy was reminiscent of the Eisenhower-Dulles years. The United States was playing a stricter zero-sum game in assessing political trends and alignments. Washington was choosing sides forcefully in combating communist expansionism and insurgencies in the third world. The Kennedy strategy of preparing for United States disengagement from potential political hot spots came to be viewed as an unacceptable option under 146 The Lion of Judah in the New World LBJ. Threats to U.S. interests should be faced down, and Johnson believed that “U.S. political, economic, and military interests could be safeguarded by a better effort and greater investment of resources.” 33 There was no shortage of threats to American interests in the mid1960s in Africa. Mounting concerns about Africa resulted from the outbreak of the Biafran War in eastern Nigeria, the unilateral declaration of independence by Rhodesia, the growing threat of Eritrean dissidents, and the soviets’ providing sophisticated arms to Somalia, which were used against Ethiopian forces in combat. The two Horn nations fought over the Ogaden region in southeastern Ethiopia, dominated by ethnic Somalis and claimed by Somalia. Since independence in 1960, Somalia had rejected the border demarcation by colonial powers that gave the Ogaden to Ethiopia. In the ensuing struggle, the United States served as the proxy for Ethiopia, and the Soviet Union for Somalia. 34 The Ethiopian military blamed its lack of success against the Somalis on inadequate military aid from the United States, and the soviets, in becoming arms merchants in Somalia, had made their profound entrance into the Horn. In May 1966, the IEG got delivery of four of the muchanticipated F-5 jet fighters, but the number was smaller than foreseen and the schedule of future deliveries was vague. 35 The emperor had won a qualitative battle: Somalia’s Soviet MiG-17 combat fighters were thought to be of lesser quality. Early in 1967, the IEG Defense Ministry submitted a large request to the embassy for arms and training for the next five years. Included was a list of major equipment requirements totaling well over $150 million, including tanks, armored personnel carriers, antitank and anti-aircraft guns, C-130 Hercules aircraft, more F-5 jet fighters, and helicopters. The IEG justified the request on the basis of soviet military aid to Somalia and the Sudan and support from various sources to armed dissidents operating within Ethiopia in Eritrea, the Ogaden, Bale, and Sidamo. Korry tried to dissuade the Ethiopians from making such an impractical proposal while the United States was heavily involved in Vietnam and budgets were tight. The emperor, however, thought it a propitious time for HIM to practice his personal diplomacy in America and to again seek to raise the rent for Kagnew. 36 It was the threat of a saber-rattling Somalia that most influenced Haile Selassie to seek a meeting with President Johnson to request additional military arms. At the time of Haile Selassie’s February 1967 state The Winter of Discontent 147 visit, Johnson was preoccupied with the escalating war in Vietnam, and his administration was more susceptible to the argument that the communist bloc was actively advancing its interests worldwide and campaigning to dislodge the United States from the Horn of Africa. * * * The emperor had been a fair-weather friend of America during his first three visits to the New World, having been there during spring and summer and mild autumns, but he gamely faced Washington’s harsh chill when he arrived for his third state visit. Haile Selassie was in the United States as part of a 21 day tour that included the USSR, Turkey, and the Sudan in the itinerary. He arrived on February 13, 1967, at 4:30 in the afternoon at Andrews Air Force Base, where he was met by Vice President Humphrey and Ambassador Symington. They departed by helicopter for the President’s Park on the Ellipse and continued to the North Portico of the White House where President Johnson welcomed HIM. Full military honors were rendered the visiting head of state by an honor guard from all the armed services. The weather was bitter and windy, and the 74-year-old emperor looked cold even in his heavy double-breasted military overcoat. Welcoming ceremonies quickly were moved inside to the East Room for an exchange of brief remarks by the leaders. Johnson said Haile Selassie “believes men are closer than ever to achieving a better, more peaceful world.” 37 The emperor in response stressed friendship among nations as a worthy goal in Africa and all through the world. He added, “I believe that leaders must from time-to-time come together, face each other, and discuss problems they share in common. It is not enough that we deal through diplomatic channels.” The royal party then went to Blair House for the evening. A Washington Post editorial the next morning welcomed the emperor, because at the age of 74 he had “seen more history and held power longer than any other living Chief of State. Because relations between the United States and Ethiopia throughout his long rule have been both cordial and constructive, and remain so, the Emperor might be said to be this country’s oldest friend.” 38 The Post continued, “For all that may seem antiquated about his ancient monarchy, his rule in recent years has been increasingly progressive. His standing among younger, more volatile African leaders is astonishingly high.” The emperor still was esteemed in Washington as a wise friend on a troubled continent. 148 The Lion of Judah in the New World More cautionary was an editorial published in the Christian Science Monitor two days later. In Ethiopia, there is a risk, warned the Monitor, that the United States should not overlook. So long as Emperor Haile Selassie is on the throne, his peculiar and remarkable qualities will probably guarantee security and stability within his Empire. But it is an empire whose unity might be severely put to the test once Haile Selassie were no longer at the helm. And it would be unfortunate indeed if the United States, through too close a commitment, became involved in civil war in the Horn of Africa. 39 The Monitor concluded, “Such strife is something which Emperor Haile Selassie prays will never come. And so do we.” At 10:30, the hardy emperor walked through the chill with Ambassador Symington and party from Blair House to the White House without a top coat. He met with President Johnson to discuss shared concerns about the United Arab Republic and soviet advances in the Red Sea basin, and the soviet-sponsored Somali threat to Ethiopian security. Haile Selassie’s primary objective was to convince the president of the need for the United States to provide Ethiopia with more arms. 40 They talked for more than 90 minutes on world problems but not about more aid for Ethiopia. The leaders discussed economic development in Ethiopia and the country’s problems in education, health, and agriculture. They touched on Vietnam only in passing, Johnson mentioning it as a problem he faced. 41 The emperor described his talks with LBJ as “completely satisfactory.” 42 Haile Selassie was concerned with the build-up of soviet arms in Somalia and sought accelerated U.S. assistance in modernizing the Ethiopian armed forces. “We achieved a great measure of understanding,” he said. In preparation for the meeting, the State Department had sent the president a packet of information including a secret memorandum for the president from the undersecretary of state summarizing the foreign policy implications of the visit (e.g., the United States could not satisfy the emperor’s demands for more military assistance, but ”on the other hand, friendly relations with Ethiopia” were important to American interests in Africa) and suggesting talking points on questions for discussion with the emperor (e.g., “Topics the Emperor will raise: threats to the Red Sea Area and Ethiopia. I recommend that you say. . . . Topics you might raise: The danger of a continued arms race in the Horn of Africa . . .”); the emperor’s itinerary; “confidential” The Winter of Discontent 149 biographies of the 12-member official party in order of precedence, with personal descriptions in pithy language (e.g., “on occasion he becomes arrogant and ‘uppity’”; “his tastes run to American clothes and whiskey”), their titles and manner of address, and a guide to pronouncing their names; a copy of a confidential country fact sheet including information about governmental structure, natural resources, human resources, economic activity, defense forces, and Americans in Ethiopia; confidential “suggestions on approaching the Ethiopians and topics of conversation” (e.g., “Ethiopian court etiquette makes the Hapsburgs look breezy . . . Ethiopians are generally aware of what is going on in the United States and also follow with some interest developments in Vietnam, China, the Middle East and Europe;” “Subjects to be avoided, if possible . . . Somalia, controversial African issues, such as Rhodesia, South Africa”). After leaving the president, the emperor and the royal entourage drove to the Supreme Court, where the emperor would be the honoree at a rare luncheon for a visiting head of state in that stately temple of justice. His Imperial Majesty was met by Chief Justice Warren and escorted to the East Conference Room, where a reception was held. In hastening the royal party and getting as many as possible into the elevators, uniformed U.S. security guards apparently shoved people so tightly that the emperor’s black-and-red military hat was knocked askew—a misfortune doubtlessly galling to the ever-meticulous ruler. Although the incident was quickly passed over, some of the Ethiopians interpreted the zealous security arrangements and the actions of the guards as showing a lack of respect for the emperor and the royal party. 43 After the 45 guests had arrived, the party moved to the West Conference Room where lunch was served. Many of those invited were attorneys working in a variety of federal government positions and included “at least some of the important persons who [were] not going to the White House dinner” later that evening. 44 Among the eclectic roster of guests were Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall; Senator Frank Lausche (D-OH); Congressman Ross Adair (R-IN), who later would serve as Ambassador to Ethiopia in the 1970s; former ambassador to Ethiopia Arthur L. Richards; an admiral and a general; a half dozen State Department officers; representatives of the Peace Corps, USAID, and USIA; and theWashington Post columnist Joseph Kraft. At the head table, Haile Selassie was flanked by the chief justice and Senator Frank Carlson (R-KS), who, on the next morning, hosted a prayer breakfast at the Capitol that the emperor attended. Warren was a charming host who, in his remarks, made 150 The Lion of Judah in the New World several comparisons of California to Ethiopia. He and the emperor competed with bragging rights about their homelands and urged the guests to visit them to see for themselves their natural beauty. In his toast, the chief justice said: When mention is made of the Emperor of Ethiopia, Americans today recall with pride and affection your many courageous and far-sighted actions which have contributed to the freedom of mankind. Yet, on this occasion as we are breaking bread at the Supreme Court of the U.S. where all Americans who come here pursue our national ideal of equal justice under law, I think it is more appropriate to salute Your Majesty for your contribution to Ethiopia’s legal system.” 45 Warren concluded with “a toast to Your Majesty—a great statesman, a valued friend, a wise law-giver.” After the luncheon the emperor attended a reception at Howard University during which he again was awarded an honorary degree by the university. The emperor returned to the White House office for a 4:30 meeting with Katzenbach and Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara. They talked for one-and-a-half hours about continuing military assistance. Haile Selassie again expressed his concern about soviet arms in Somalia and repeated his oft-repeated mantra that peace can be assured only by collective security measures. He spoke strongly in favor of a nuclear nonproliferation treaty and of the importance of multilateral and regional approaches to development problems. HIM asked the secretaries for a doubling of the Military Assistance Program and a new program of support for the IEG budget. Katzenbach reminded HIM that the United States already was supporting his nation’s budget through revenues from PL 480 shipments of cotton. He asked the emperor to put his requests in writing for reply by Ambassador Korry in Addis Ababa. Taking leave of the cabinet officers, Haile Selassie briefly met astronauts Charles Conrad Jr. and L. Gordon Cooper before receiving the Chiefs of the Diplomatic Missions of African countries in the White House. That evening the Johnsons held the state dinner in honor of HIM. The next morning, after attending a prayer breakfast at the Capitol hosted by Senators Carlson and Mark Hatfield (R-OR), the emperor left by helicopter from the South Lawn of the White House for Andrews Air Force Base, where he departed for New York City. The Ethiopians’ plane landed at JFK International Airport just before noon, and at 12:30 the emperor was at UN Headquarters to meet The Winter of Discontent 151 Secretary General U Thant for a discussion centered on current attempts to bring peace to Vietnam. Haile Selassie was the guest of honor at a state luncheon at the UN, where he exchanged remarks with soviet ambassador Nikolai T. Federenko. Lunch concluded with a toast to HIM and the Ethiopian people by Secretary Thant and a toast by Haile Selassie expressing his hopes for the continued success of the UN and continued good health of Thant. At a press conference that followed, the emperor expressed his willingness to take the initiative in seeking peace in Vietnam if any of the countries concerned requested that he do so. 46 His remarks in Amharic were translated by Ethiopia’s permanent representative to the UN Endalkachew Makonnen, who had performed the same service for HIM during his first state visit to the United States in 1954. In the afternoon, Mayor John V. Lindsay gave a tea for the emperor at his residence at Gracie Mansion. 47 On the porch of Gracie Mansion, Mayor Lindsay’s youngest child, John, was introduced to HIM by Mrs. Lindsay. John bowed from the waist and shook the emperor’s hand, drawing a broad smile from the usually stoical king. At the tea, the mayor presented Haile Selassie with a silver cigarette box adorned with a lion on its cover. The tea was attended by a dozen city officials and their wives and by 10 members of the royal party. After the tea, the emperor met members of the Council on Foreign Relations at their headquarters at Pratt House on East 68th Street. That evening Haile Selassie hosted a reception for the permanent representatives to the UN at the Carlyle Hotel, where he was staying. On the following morning, Haile Selassie gave an interview to New York Times reporter, Sam Pope, in his suite on the 34th floor of the Carlyle. The emperor sat on a large satin sofa, while his pet Chihuahua, Lulu (a male), who would be HIM’s traveling companion throughout the day (except at lunch), romped over HIM, “pawed at his hands and lay down against his thigh and went to sleep.” 48 The emperor spoke to Pope about his personal diplomacy and said it was wise to talk not only with the executive branch but also with senators and representatives “to ask them to help President Johnson to strengthen relations with Ethiopia.” At 11:00 a.m. the emperor was interviewed by a distinguished group of reporters, including Christian Daniels of the New York Times and Pauline Fredrick of NBC News, for “Today,” the NBC television program. Dr. Minase Haile served as interpreter for the program that was tape-recorded for later broadcast. In the afternoon, HIM privately received King Hassan II of Morocco at the Carlyle, and at four o’clock he held a reception for the Ethiopian community at the Bronxville residence of Endalkachew. That evening, 152 The Lion of Judah in the New World the emperor attended a performance of Wagner’s Die Meistersinger at the Metropolitan Opera at Lincoln Center. On Saturday morning, New York Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller called on HIM at the Carlyle for a half-hour conversation. The governor petted the frisky Lulu without untoward results. Haile Selassie addressed a luncheon meeting of the African American Chamber of Commerce, an organization with about 75 large corporations as members, at the Plaza Hotel. The emperor made an appeal to American businessmen to put more private capital into Ethiopia to speed its general development. He said his countrymen already were doing all they could for themselves and getting aid from foreign governments and international organizations but that still more was needed from the private sector. He told his audience of 250 that Ethiopia had enacted liberal legislation to encourage private capital and that his country had “vast untapped natural resources” to be developed by such capital. 49 In the afternoon the emperor called on Jacqueline Kennedy for a brief visit at her home on Fifth Avenue. Before departing from the United States on a private airliner for the USSR in the late afternoon, Haile Selassie thanked President Johnson and the people of the United States “for the spontaneous and warm welcome accorded us during our short stay in your country.” 50 Two weeks later, when HIM was on the Turkey leg of his tour, the U.S. ambassador there reported that the emperor made unsolicited comments about his stay in Washington. Wrote Rostow to LBJ, “Obviously there is a certain amount of diplomatic blarney involved, but he seems to have gone out of his way to let you know he enjoyed himself.” 51 * * * After his 21-day trip to the United States and other ports of call, Haile Selassie was back in Addis Ababa and ready for what Korry called “unwrapping the package” of U.S. aid. The contents had good news/bad news aspects. There would be no increase in funding, and the United States could not make a five-year commitment for military assistance. The United States, however, would provide Ethiopia with seventeen M-41 tanks, four helicopters, and, eventually, eight more F-5 fighters. In addition, augmented MAAG training would continue for another year. 52 A high level of economic assistance would be maintained. The emperor’s personal diplomacy—playing on U.S. vulnerabilities in its costly commitment to the defense of South Vietnam, its acceptance of the domino theory of communist expansion and fear of The Winter of Discontent 153 the Soviet’s displacing the United States from its dominant place in the Horn—paid off. America’s great stall on providing modern weaponry to Ethiopia had come to an end. Johnson’s largesse was influenced by Kagnew’s continuing significance in U.S. research in satellite communications and in the development of ballistic missiles. U.S. policy also sought to assure a stable, cohesive, and friendly government in Ethiopia. The emperor was facing stiffer resistance to his regime at home, and he no longer was the international celebrity he once had been. The White House meetings of the emperor and the president underscored the complexities of Ethiopia’s problems at the time and also the nature of U.S. governmental operations. The State Department reported to the White House that “our limited response to the emperor’s requests for significantly more military equipment during his February visit was a disappointment to him (despite his satisfaction with the personal aspects of the visit). We have been attempting in a number of ways since then to sweeten the pill.” 53 One of the sweetened pills that Haile Selassie seemed to enjoy was being sent high-level officials for visits to the palace. Among the American VIPs received by HIM were Governor Soapy Williams, to discuss the problem of achieving an honorable and peaceful settlement in Vietnam; LBJ’s “trusted colleague,” Governor Averill Harriman, “to obtain your wise counsel and advice;” and Senator Robert Kennedy with wife Ethel, who petted HIM’s cheetah and laid the cornerstone of the John F. Kennedy Memorial Library at Haile Selassie University. 54 Under Secretary of State Nicholas Katzenbach spent two days in Addis Ababa and met with HIM as part of a 17-day, 12-nation tour of Africa in May 1967 to demonstrate that the United States remained interested in its problems and opposed to white rule in South Africa. 55 Former Vice President Richard Nixon came to Ethiopia on a fact-finding tour of Africa, and Vice President Hubert Humphrey and wife Muriel, leading a 10-member party touring nine African nations in January 1968, called on HIM. Humphrey’s trip was remarkable for what he saw and learned in his travels. In a report to the president, Humphrey said, “Among African leaders, I found a fierce self-pride and healthy nationalism, combined with a sense of pragmatic realism.” 56 Traveling in his party were Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall; Leonard Marks, director of USIA; and Dr. Samuel Proctor, a former Peace Corps executive and future pastor of the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem. The vice president demonstrated the continued concern of the United States and the American people with the African continent. He spoke to the OAU at its headquarters in Addis Ababa on January 6, 1968. 154 The Lion of Judah in the New World The vice president “found emperor Haile Selassie vigorous, alert and clearly feeling in charge of his country’s affairs.” The emperor “warmly reminisced with enthusiasm about his visit” with the president in 1967. “If Ethiopia continues to play its role as balance wheel in the changes of the Red Sea Basin and Horn of Africa, and as moderator in the broader spectrum of Africa’s problems, it then rests with us to respond affirmatively, as best we can, to meet the legitimate needs of this country,” wrote Hubert Humphrey. Haile Selassie specifically asked that the United States “maintain the tempo” of its delivery of military equipment and provide special training in counterinsurgency. “I think we should respond affirmatively to both requests,” Humphrey concluded. 57 The vice president also was favorably impressed with the situation in Somalia, where there was a thaw in relations with Ethiopia. Somalia had been the first country in Africa to peacefully replace a government in power through the vote. Praising President Abdirashid Ali Shermarke and Prime Minister Mohamed Ibrahim Egal, Humphrey asserted that Somalia may well deserve the label of “the most democratic country in Africa.” As one of the fathers of the idea of the Peace Corps, Humphrey spoke most favorably of that organization’s work throughout the continent and especially in Ethiopia and Somalia. 58 Haile Selassie also enjoyed playing royal host to a stream of admiring American celebrities. Most noteworthy was the visit of the African American poet Langston Hughes, who visited Addis Ababa in 1966 as part of a State Department–sponsored tour of Africa. Hughes participated in the First World Festival of Negro Arts in Dakar and, after spending a month in Senegal, continued on to Nigeria, Tanzania, and Ethiopia. While in the Ethiopian capital, he wrote a stirring poem, “Emperor Haile Selassie on Liberation Day, May 5, 1966,” that he personally presented to the emperor at Jubilee Palace. 59 * * * Haile Selassie maintained his own busy schedule of international travel and state visits during the 1960s. One visit to the New World was especially noteworthy. On April 21, 1966, HIM made a historical call on Jamaica and was greeted upon his arrival at the then Palisadoes Airport in Kingston by an estimated 100,000 Rastafarians from across the country. A haze of holy smoke generated by the faithful engulfed the landing site. The crush of the boisterous crowd prevented Haile Selassie from coming down the mobile steps of the airplane. He The Winter of Discontent 155 returned into the plane, disappearing for several minutes, but eventually order was restored to the island universe, and the Rastas met the man they considered to be God. The visit became part of their mythology and is commemorated by Rastafarians as Grounation Day, the second holiest holiday after November 2 , the emperor’s coronation day. A few weeks after the emperor’s return from his three-week tour of the United States, the USSR, Turkey, and the Sudan, he took off again for North America on what he described as a private trip. On April 23, 1967, after a brief layover in Bermuda, Haile Selassie and a party of 24 flew on LBJ’s Air Force One, the president’s private jet, directly to Los Angeles. Upon his arrival at Los Angeles International Airport, he was given the key to the city by Mayor Sam Yorty. During a three-day visit in California, Haile Selassie sailed around Los Angeles and Long Beach harbors on the luxury corporate yachtArgo, inspected offshore drilling operations in Long Beach, and enjoyed the Magic Kingdom of Disneyland, where he shook hands with Mickey Mouse. He was Charter Day speaker at UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion, where Chancellor Franklin D. Murphy conferred an honorary doctor of laws degree upon HIM. The motion picture-loving emperor was pleased that one of the other five honorary degree recipients was film director George Cukor, who had won an Academy Award in 1964 for his work on My Fair Lady. The emperor’s praise of the California system of higher education brought his audience of 4,000 to its feet for four standing ovations. UCLA was an appropriate place to honor Haile Selassie. Almost 1,000 Peace Corps Volunteers had trained there for service in Ethiopia and other countries, and its law school had a cooperative program with Haile Selassie I University. 60 Haile Selassie presented the UCLA library with antique illuminated manuscripts written in Ge’ez on parchment during the visit. 61 The university’s professor of Semitic languages, Dr. Wolf Leslau, would have been one of the few people in the country who could have read the manuscripts. On his last day in the Golden State, the emperor flew by military jet to Palm Springs to visit briefly with President Eisenhower at the airport. He then departed by plane to Vancouver, British Columbia, on April 26, 1967, to start a state visit to Canada, the first such visit arising from Canada’s celebration of its centennial year. 62 The royal party made its way across Canada from west to east in three Canadian Northern Railroad business cars, passing through British Columbia’s scenic Canadian Rockies and the prairie provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba on the way to Ontario and Quebec. The emperor entered Canada in Vancouver and flew on to 156 The Lion of Judah in the New World Victoria, British Columbia. His arrival was upstaged by his pet dog Lulu, who turned out to be the media star of the royal Ethiopian entourage during its stay in Canada. Lulu charged off the plane ahead of Haile Selassie when they landed in Victoria and played “ring-aroundthe-legs” of U.S. Secret Service agents and Canadian police. By law, any dog from Africa arriving in Canada is required to be quarantined for three months. Canadian officials apparently gave Lulu diplomatic immunity, or at least looked the other way while HIM’s canine slipped through customs and frolicked across the country. Lulu, a brown dog identified in the press as a Chihuahua, although the emperor said he wasn’t, was HIM’s constant companion. He was to receive a bad rap from Polish journalist Ryszard Kapuscinski who, in his fantasy biographyThe Emperor, made the undocumented claim that Lulu was trained to irrigate the shoes of Jubilee Palace visitors that HIM did not like. 63 Lulu did travel to Iran’s 2,500-year celebration of the Persian Empire at Persepolis in 1971, however, where he again would be the center of attention because of a diamond-studded collar he sported in the midst of the rich and famous. Haile Selassie was the first of some 60 heads of state to visit Canada’s centennial celebration. His eight-day sojourn was marked by controversy. En route to Ontario, he issued an announcement that all questions for his press conferences had to be in writing and submitted in advance. This edict apparently was made in response to what the emperor thought had been rude treatment on the west coast by Canadian reporters who peppered HIM with embarrassing questions about what was happening in Ethiopia. His pronouncement was anathema to the proud Canadian press. At the same time, 14 Ethiopian students were demonstrating in front of the Ethiopian mission to the UN in New York City, protesting the IEG’s treatment of fellow students at Haile Selassie I University. The protestors were carrying signs saying “Down with Haile Selassie and his Clique.” Although there had been antiemperor Somali protestors at the UN earlier in the year, this was the first time Americans saw Ethiopians demonstrating against HIM. Times were changing in Ethiopia. In Ottawa, Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson greeted the emperor and accompanied HIM to a guard of honor ceremony at Canada’s 100th birthday flame in front of the gothic parliament buildings. Haile Selassie received assurances from Pearson that Ethiopia would receive more foreign aid from Canada. The emperor announced that he soon would appoint an Ethiopian ambassador to Canada. In Addis Ababa, there was already a Canadian ambassador at work. 64 That evening at a state dinner, Lulu stood quietly by his master in the receiving line. The Winter of Discontent 157 As the receiving line followed guests down long corridor to the dining room, Lulu let out a series of high-pitched barks preceding the party down the hall. 65 If the press was skimping on coverage of HIM, it was making up for it with canine scoops. The emperor took a train to Quebec City’s Central Station, where he arrived during a light spring shower. HIM was welcomed by Daniel Johnson, premier of Quebec, and informed that he was the guest of Quebec and no longer of Canada. Haile Selassie, on a state visit, should have been greeted by the representative of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth, but that gentleman was ill and recuperating in Florida and was unable to perform his duty. The protocol-conscious emperor made his way to City Hall, where Quebec, rather than Canada, gave HIM a most regal reception. The royal party flew from Quebec to Montreal on an RCAF Cosmopolitan, the Canadian standard VIP aircraft. Upon arrival, Lulu sprinted out of the aircraft and down the red carpet toward the official greeting party. The dog responded to the call of nature at a huge white concrete flower pot and proudly sprinted back to the airplane and his imperial owner. 66 The royals proceeded to the Queen Elizabeth Hotel, where, according to Paulos Milkias, waiters at the hotel competed to clean up any carpets that Lulu spoiled, “as they got $200 tips for their services.”67 During his two-day visit in Montreal, the emperor was among the first dignitaries to attend Expo 67, the 1967 International and Universal Exposition, ultimately considered to be the most successful World’s Fair of the 20th century. 68 HIM presided over his country’s national day and passed by a heraldic lion in front of the red and gold Ethiopian pavilion, where he saw replicas of the imperial throne and St. George’s church in Lalibela, as well as works of artists and artisans. Accompanied by an honor guard of RCMP, he was the recipient of the first state dinner at the Pavillon d’Honneur on Île Sainte-Hélène. Lulu wandered around the restaurant, and a disgruntled reporter, who could not get close to the royals, groused, “The dog, in fact, had a good deal more freedom granted members of the press.” 69 HIM also attended the first performance in the new Théâtre Port-Royal, featuring the Haile Selassie I Ethiopian Theatre Folkloric Ensemble, composed of 10 musicians and 24 dancers from Addis Ababa. 70 In Quebec City, the African monarch ended his state visit with a 10-minute meeting with Pearson and a brief public address praising cultural diversity as enriching nations. At City Hall, the little king thanked Canadians for “a warm welcome.” 71 When Haile Selassie stepped out of the elevator at Chaâteau Frontenac for the trip to the 158 The Lion of Judah in the New World airport, a crowd of about 200 at the main entrance broke into applauses. Lulu, seizing the moment, sprinted out down the red carpet, an imperial charge beating HIM to his black limousine. The emperor left Canada from Montreal on an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 721 jetliner for Geneva, concluding another public relations triumph. The emperor’s burnish, however, was not what it once had been in North America.72 Only a few days later in May, Haile Selassie, spending little time in his homeland, continued his international travels by going to Cambodia for a four-day state visit. Was the king of kings aware of what was happening in his ancient kingdom? * * * Haile Selassie’s third state visit to the United States, the winter visit, was highlighted by discontent. President Johnson was focused on deepening crises in Vietnam, and although he still was willing to pay the rent for Kagnew, he also had begun investigating alternatives to the listening post on the roof of Africa. The war in Southeast Asia, with all its costs, had torn apart traditional American cohesiveness, and a dispiriting malaise hung over the land. All the hard knocks were taking their toll on the president. The emperor remained depressed about Somalia getting more and better military assistance from the soviets than he, the long-time friend and supporter of the United States, was receiving from his Eritrean real estate lessee. Payment was never enough, nor was it delivered fast enough. The monarch’s travels in North America were receiving far less notice in the media, and the aging king was showing a crotchety side in some of his dealings with the press. Open demonstrations against his government were being held at home and, what was even more disgruntling, in the foreign countries where he traveled. The Lion in winter was enmeshed in malcontent. In April 1968, the U.S. government postulated optimistically about “the Outlook for Internal Security in Ethiopia.” The emperor’s foreign neighbors had backed down from aggressive behaviors. Ethiopia’s military countermeasures had been successful. Somalia under Egal sought détente with the IEG and was reducing aid and encouragement to ethnic Somalis in the Ogaden. Even Eritrea was quieter than it had been a year before. Nevertheless, Haile Selassie was much more concerned with building his country’s military strength to meet possible external aggression than with nation building through economic and social reform. When the United States did not meet urgent requests for increased military aid, Ethiopia bought Canberra bombers from the UK The Winter of Discontent 159 and other war materials from France and Italy. The emperor’s army of nearly 40,000 and well-equipped air force gave Ethiopia by far the strongest military capability in the region. Both had been trained by U.S. MAAG units for more than a decade. HIM continued to harbor a nightmare scenario of his isolated Christian empire being under siege from hostile Muslim neighbors backed by the soviets. The IEG spent about a quarter of the national budget on military expenditures. The nation’s fundamental problem was the remarkably low level of government revenues from domestic sources. The people were poor and lacked education; the few gentry and the Ethiopian Church were unwilling to pay taxes on their substantial land holdings, and the IEG had little interest in national development. Dissatisfaction with the emperor’s arbitrary rule and the slow progress of modernization was muted but growing. The feudal regime still basically ruled by court intrigue that undermined the efficiency of the civilian and military ministries and cooperation among their leaders. The emperor was receiving his Kagnew rent, but despite spiffy U.S. military aid, HIM was chronically dissatisfied with the level of deliveries. To complicate matters, the United States was considering reducing yearly deliveries as part of a general cutback in foreign aid. Because of his perceived internal and external threats, Haile Selassie would almost certainly continue to seek increased deliveries. 73 What the U.S. Embassy and the IEG were missing was that the Ethiopian student movement, bolstered by Western education, had become very antiemperor and anti-United States, and the influence of the young radicals was being widely dispersed. Young intellectuals were beguiled by the soviets’ glib and appealing quick fix for Ethiopia’s chronic problems of poverty, ignorance, and disease through Marxist-Leninism. The Americans’ slow but steady development strategy of demonstrating the virtues of freedom of choice and self-determination and explaining the accomplishments of democracy and capitalism lacked immediacy. Besides, the United States was propping up the repressive IEG and wallowing in the slough of despondency with the hapless old guard. In metropolitan areas the soviet-financed Crocodile Societies were winning the hearts and minds of the students who lacked the maturity to appreciate the meaning of Jefferson, Madison, Mill, and Lincoln. Many Ethiopians in the universities distrusted U.S. motives in Vietnam, foreign aid, student exchanges, and military assistance. They also feared that continuing racial strife in America revealed a state of mind which precluded meaningful understanding of the African commitment to independence and self-sufficiency. 74 U.S. government informants, secret 160 The Lion of Judah in the New World police, and CIA agents did not realize the significance of the battles in and around the classrooms then underway. But in the greater scheme of foreign policy, the United States paid little attention to Africa and its affairs during the last years of the Johnson administration. Leading African leftist leaders, such as Ghana’s Kwame Nkrumah, Algeria’s Ben Bella, and Mali’s Modibo Keita, had fallen, and anticolonialist guerrilla movements in Angola, Mozambique, and Rhodesia seemed on the wane. In 1968, LBJ, having boldly attempted to build a Great Society at home, was hoist with his Southeast Asia petard abroad. There simply wasn’t enough in the U.S. larder to pay for a domestic war on poverty and a war on communism overseas. Despite the deployment of more than 500,000 U.S. troops in Vietnam, U.S. forces achieved only a costly stalemate. Under attack at home by opponents of the war, Johnson saw his plans for reelection in the 1968 presidential election collapse in the face of turmoil within his Democratic Party. On March 31, the president announced that he would not run. There would be change in the chief executive’s office. Change was afoot too in the embassies in Washington and Addis Ababa. Menassie Haile, the emperor’s trusted translator during his most recent U.S. state visits, was appointed Ambassador to the United States. In Addis Ababa, Ed Korry had been appointed Ambassador to Chile by LBJ, and he departed leaving behind a nonpareil legacy of accomplishment. “More than any other American chief of mission in Addis Ababa either before or since, he had the greatest impact on U.S. policy towards Ethiopia,” wrote an ambassadorial successor David Shinn. 75 “He was not only a highly capable ambassador but served there during the highwater mark in relations and at a time when there was frequent tension in the relationship.” Korry was replaced by a Career Foreign Service Officer William O. Hall, who had been assistant administrator of administration for USAID and who relaxed by jogging in the rarified heights of Addis Ababa. Would Hall run into difficulties as the Horn entered into a season of volatility? Would his more traditional leadership make a difference in U.S. programs and actions in Ethiopia? A larger question was whether change would come to feudal Ethiopia at a fast enough pace to ease the pressure mounting for a drastic reordering of the entire system. Robert Kaplan observed that “pushing [Haile Selassie] for reform would have been like tinkering with the divine order.” 76 The enigmatic emperor seemed confident that governing would continue as it had for almost 40 years under his enlightened rule. He would adhere to the lesson of the old Ethiopian folk saying: “Slowly, very slowly, the egg walks upon its own two feet.” Would a glorious summer follow the winter of discontent for HIM?
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