Ally or Critic? The United States’ Response to South African Nuclear Development, 1949 – 1980 Martha S. van Wyk This article analyzes the role of the United States in and reaction to South African nuclear development from its inception in 1949 to the end of the Carter Administration, within the framework of the Cold War objectives of the United States and the anti-communism of the South African Apartheid Government. As early as 1965, South Africa hinted at developing nuclear weapons; yet the response from the United States remained placid and nuclear cooperation between the two countries continued. Thus, when the Ford Administration at the end of 1976 took the first step in the direction of limiting United States’ nuclear cooperation with South Africa, it was already too late to stem South Africa’s build-up of a nuclear arsenal. On 24 March 1993, South African State President F.W. de Klerk at a joint session of Parliament admitted that ‘at one stage South Africa did indeed develop a limited nuclear capability’ 1 and had built six and a half crude nuclear bombs during a top- secret 15-year programme. 2 De Klerk insisted that the nuclear bombs were developed and built without the assistance of other countries. Yet research has shown that by the end of the 1980s South Africa had a long list of imported machine tools, furnaces and other equipment for its nuclear weapons programme, of which many originated in the United States. 3 In addition, these imports occurred during a time when South Africa was labelled a ‘pariah of the nations’, due to the South African Government’s (Pretoria’s) apartheid policy and the internal unrest that it caused, as well as its ISSN 1468-2745 (print)/ISSN 1743-7962 (online)/07/020195-31 q 2007 Taylor & Francis DOI: 10.1080/14682740701284124 Martha van Wyk is a Post-doctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Historical Studies, University of Johannesburg, South Africa. She earned her DPhil from the University of Pretoria in 2005. Her current research entails United States–South African relations during the Cold War, with specific reference to military and nuclear aspects. She is working on a comprehensive book on the topic, utilizing both international and South African archival sources. Correspondence to: Dr. Martha S. van Wyk, 182 Duvernoy Street, Constantia Park, Glenstantia, Pretoria, South Africa 0181. Email: annamart.vanwyk@up.ac.za Cold War History Vol. 7, No. 2, May 2007, pp. 195–225