American policy on Algeria shifted from backing France to abstaining

Evidence

At the end of February 1957 an Arab “summit” composed of Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Egypt convened in Cairo and, in a first display of Middle East unity, declared its total support for the Algerian cause. All this was duly noted in Washington, and the following month Vice-President Nixon arrived in Tunis to help celebrate the first anniversary of her independence. Following his meetings with Bourguiba, Nixon proposed to President Eisenhower a referendum whereby the Algerians could choose freely between the loi-cadre statute being prepared by Lacoste, or total independence. Then, in July, Chanderli’s influential friend in the Democratic opposition, Senator John F. Kennedy, rose to make an important pronouncement in the United States Senate. … No speech on foreign affairs by Senator Kennedy attracted more attention, both at home and abroad, and under such pressure United States official policy on Algeria now began to shift. Henceforth, instead of backing France at the United Nations, the United States would abstain. — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 767 (#expands, via linked claim)

Through 1957 and 1958, official American policy gradually began to change under the unofficial pressures upon it. Another American correspondent, Michael Clark of the New York Times (who supported Algérie française), recalls how the “courteous briefing” handed out to itinerant journalists by American diplomats now usually took the line that their function was “to ease the French out as painlessly as possible”. — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 762 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: American diplomacy aimed to ease France out of Algeria as painlessly as possible; Senator Kennedy’s speech pressured American policy toward Algerian independence; Kennedy’s Senate speech shifted US policy toward abstaining on Algeria at the UN — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 767 (+2 more)

Related

• Kennedy’s Senate speech shifted US policy toward abstaining on Algeria at the UN (similarity 0.94)
• Senator Kennedy’s speech pressured American policy toward Algerian independence (similarity 0.93)
• American diplomacy aimed to ease France out of Algeria as painlessly as possible (similarity 0.87)
• American diplomatic briefings in 1957-58 aimed to ease France out of Algeria (similarity 0.87)
• American military aid to France shrank dramatically as Kennedy pushed for Algerian peace (similarity 0.86)
• US and Soviet block pressure converged to force de Gaulle toward Algerian concessions (similarity 0.79)

Broader Connections

• Kennedy’s Senate speech shifted US policy toward abstaining on Algeria at the UN #expands (0.80) — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 767
• American diplomatic briefings in 1957-58 aimed to ease France out of Algeria #corroborates (0.50) — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 762