U. S. - Moroccan Relations in the Context of the Anfa Conference

Publication Date

11-15-2019

Abstract

This essay seeks to shed new light on the intricate course of U.S.-Moroccan relations following the landing of American troops on the Atlantic coasts of Morocco. The Anfa Conference and Sultan Mohamed V’s dinner meeting with President Roosevelt marked an important stage in the process of Moroccan struggle for independence. Roosevelt’s personal interest in the Moroccan situation may have accentuated the inconsistencies in U.S. foreign policy in the 1940s regarding the French colonial empire and confronted its fundamental idealism with the exigencies of pragmatic politics. The vicissitudes of the war and America’s deep commitment to its French ally as well as its efforts to contain the spreading influence of communism across North Africa compelled the American administration to generally adopt an ambivalent position vis-à-vis Moroccan nationalist movement in its fierce pursuit for independence.

Author Bio(s)

Karim Bejjit is currently Chair of the English Department at University Abdelmalek Essaadi, Tetouan which he joined in 2017. Formerly he taught English and American literatures at University Hassan II, Casablanca, and was Director of the Moroccan American Studies Research Laboratory. He is the recipient of NIAS research grant in 2007 (Netherlands) and Fulbright Post-doc 2011 (San Diego State). He is also the author of English Colonial Texts on Tangier, 1661-1684: Imperialism and the Politics of Resistance (Ashgate, 2015; Routledge 2016). His other publications include several book chapters and journal articles in English and Arabic.