International records / Foreign Relations of the United States

The Consul General at Salisbury ( Steere ) to the Director of the Office of African Affairs ( Utter )

ay that the decision to form a Federation strikes me, above all, as having been a bold and imaginative action aimed primarily, with Southern Rhodesia as an anchor, at preventing Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland from going the way of the Gold Coast or Nigeria—or Kenya. 2. The Federation decision is one from which there can be no voluntary turning back—nor is there now any great pressure to do so. Still the Federation leaders really “have a bear by the tail.” Fortunately, it is as yet only a cub bear, and therefore manageable. But this bear is growing rapidly, and if he is not subdued or tamed in…