Felix Houphouet-Boeigny

Felix Houphouet-Boigny was the leader of the Ivory Coast after they gained their independence. As the author describes him, he had been a loyal supporter of the French for many years, even having become a member of the French national assembly. However, he began to shift his alliance to the United States after the Ivory Coast gained independence. Muehlenbeck explains the growth of this relationship through the “courting” of Biogny by US President John F. Kennedy. Because US Secretary of State Dean Rusk claimed that Boigny was “the most single leader in the French African colonies”, President Kennedy began to create a strong relationship with the Ivory Coasts’ leader. This started with aid, as well as attending various Ivory Coast independence …show more content…
However, these leaders were not completely to blame for this issue. As the nations of West Africa gained independence, they became a battleground for Cold War support. This is exemplified in the Volta Dam Project. US President John F. Kennedy worked tirelessly to gain the support of Ghana’s leadership. One of these tactics was to fund the Volta River Project. This caused the President of Ghana Nkrumah to gain a huge amount of arrogance in his leadership. Soon after the VRP was completed, he was ousted in a coup. While the project was a success for the nation, the leadership was severely effected by the support from the US. This pattern occurred in many different countries throughout West Africa during the Cold War. I think the single most important development project that any post-independence West African leader could have undertaken was agriculture. As discussed previously, there was virtually no sustainable agriculture in the new nations due to the colonial practice of cash crops. Therefore, in order to begin a sustainable nation, West African leaders should have looked to gain agricultural