Nelson Mandela and the Presidents
Yesterday, Nelson Mandela died at the age of 95. Mandela was a famous South African anti-apartheid revolutionary and politician who served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. He was the first black South African to hold the office, and the first elected in a democratic and multiracial election. His government focused on dismantling the legacy of apartheid through tackling institutionalized racism, poverty and the fostering of racial reconciliation. Mandela successfully crusaded against apartheid and blazed the trail for democracy in his country. Through his struggle he forged a deep relationship with the United States and with its presidents, and especially with the three most recent presidents.
BILL CLINTON
Mandela was elected president in the middle of Bill Clinton’s first term, and the two men developed a close relationship that laid the foundation for two decades of solid U.S.-South Africa relations. At the beginning, that dynamic was a bit rocky. In 1990 President George H.W. Bush met with Mandela at the White House. The two men spoke often over the phone. Mandela, who spent 27 years in prison, was released in 1990. He entered office four years later and sought a substantial aid package from the U.S. After Mandela’s election, the U.S. offered up a three-year trade and investment package of $600 million. Manedla was expecting a huge commitment of support, but at the time, the US aid program was being cut. When the US came up with much less than he expected, Mandela was shocked and angry. When he came to the US on a state visit after the election, it was not friendly at first. But by the end of Mandela’s first state trip as president, in 1994, he and Clinton were able to set the stage for a bilateral relationship. However Mandela never stopped being unhappy with the aid program, calling it "peanuts."
The two administrations worked together on a variety of cooperative programs and found common ground in supporting the extension of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Clinton made several references to Mandela in his autobiography. Mandela showed Clinton the cell in which he lived for more than two decades when Clinton visited South Africa. Mandela offered Clinton encouragement to persevere during the Monica Lewinsky scandal and emphasized the power of forgiveness. Clinton said in a 2004 interview with the Guardian: “Mandela told me he forgave his oppressors because if he didn’t they would have destroyed him.”
GEORGE BUSH
Mandela left office in 1999, before George Bush entered the White House, but the two related to each other on matters of policy. Two policy areas in particular loomed large in the U.S.-South Africa relationship during the Bush years: Iraq and AIDS. In 2003, Mandela blasted Bush over the Iraq War, stating at a Johannesberg gathering of the International Women’s Forum: “It is a tragedy what is happening, what Bush is doing in Iraq. What I am condemning is that one power, with a president who has no foresight, who cannot think properly, is now wanting to plunge the world into a holocaust.” Bush downplayed Mandela’s criticism in a CNN interview, noting, “he wasn’t the only guy. ” Bush called Mandela a leader whose “legacy will last for a long time.”
The two men found common ground on the issue of AIDS, something that Bush's harshest credits give the President credit for his humanitarian policies . Bush announced the President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (PEPFAR) in 2003, pledging billions of dollars to fight the disease around the world. Mandela praised that commitment as a “quantum leap,” moving “the debate from hundreds of millions of dollars to tens of billions of dollars.” Mandela was a vocal crusader against AIDS after leaving office, announcing in 2005 that the disease killed his son. By the time Bush left office in 2009, their unity in fighting AIDS transcended any disagreement they had over foreign policy.
BARACK OBAMA
For President Barack Obama, America’s first African-American president, Nelson Mandela was a formative influence both politically and personally. In a speech that Obama made in Capetown in June of this year, Obama said: “As the son of an African father and a white American mother, the diversity of America was in my blood, but I had never cared much for politics. I didn’t think it mattered to me. I didn’t think I could make a difference. And like many young people, I thought that cynicism — a certain ironic detachment — was a sign of wisdom and sophistication. But then I learned what was happening here in South Africa.”
Mandela first met Obama in 2005 during a trip to Washington. The two had a brief sit-down when the president was still the junior senator from Illinois. Obama wrote that Obama's example “helped awaken me to the wider world, and the obligation that we all have to stand up for what is right. Through his choices, Mandela made it clear that we did not have to accept the world as it is — that we could do our part to seek the world as it should be.”
When a decision was made to release the latest book of Mandela’s writings, Mandela asked President Obama to write the forward for his book.
Nelson Mandela was an extraordinary and courageous man. In the words of Hambe Kahle Madiba of the Nelson Mandela Foundation:
"We give thanks for his life, his leadership, his devotion to humanity and humanitarian causes. We salute our friend, colleague and comrade and thank him for his sacrifices for our freedom. The three charitable organisations that he created dedicate ourselves to continue promoting his extraordinary legacy."
BILL CLINTON
Mandela was elected president in the middle of Bill Clinton’s first term, and the two men developed a close relationship that laid the foundation for two decades of solid U.S.-South Africa relations. At the beginning, that dynamic was a bit rocky. In 1990 President George H.W. Bush met with Mandela at the White House. The two men spoke often over the phone. Mandela, who spent 27 years in prison, was released in 1990. He entered office four years later and sought a substantial aid package from the U.S. After Mandela’s election, the U.S. offered up a three-year trade and investment package of $600 million. Manedla was expecting a huge commitment of support, but at the time, the US aid program was being cut. When the US came up with much less than he expected, Mandela was shocked and angry. When he came to the US on a state visit after the election, it was not friendly at first. But by the end of Mandela’s first state trip as president, in 1994, he and Clinton were able to set the stage for a bilateral relationship. However Mandela never stopped being unhappy with the aid program, calling it "peanuts."
The two administrations worked together on a variety of cooperative programs and found common ground in supporting the extension of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Clinton made several references to Mandela in his autobiography. Mandela showed Clinton the cell in which he lived for more than two decades when Clinton visited South Africa. Mandela offered Clinton encouragement to persevere during the Monica Lewinsky scandal and emphasized the power of forgiveness. Clinton said in a 2004 interview with the Guardian: “Mandela told me he forgave his oppressors because if he didn’t they would have destroyed him.”
GEORGE BUSH
Mandela left office in 1999, before George Bush entered the White House, but the two related to each other on matters of policy. Two policy areas in particular loomed large in the U.S.-South Africa relationship during the Bush years: Iraq and AIDS. In 2003, Mandela blasted Bush over the Iraq War, stating at a Johannesberg gathering of the International Women’s Forum: “It is a tragedy what is happening, what Bush is doing in Iraq. What I am condemning is that one power, with a president who has no foresight, who cannot think properly, is now wanting to plunge the world into a holocaust.” Bush downplayed Mandela’s criticism in a CNN interview, noting, “he wasn’t the only guy. ” Bush called Mandela a leader whose “legacy will last for a long time.”
The two men found common ground on the issue of AIDS, something that Bush's harshest credits give the President credit for his humanitarian policies . Bush announced the President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (PEPFAR) in 2003, pledging billions of dollars to fight the disease around the world. Mandela praised that commitment as a “quantum leap,” moving “the debate from hundreds of millions of dollars to tens of billions of dollars.” Mandela was a vocal crusader against AIDS after leaving office, announcing in 2005 that the disease killed his son. By the time Bush left office in 2009, their unity in fighting AIDS transcended any disagreement they had over foreign policy.
BARACK OBAMA
For President Barack Obama, America’s first African-American president, Nelson Mandela was a formative influence both politically and personally. In a speech that Obama made in Capetown in June of this year, Obama said: “As the son of an African father and a white American mother, the diversity of America was in my blood, but I had never cared much for politics. I didn’t think it mattered to me. I didn’t think I could make a difference. And like many young people, I thought that cynicism — a certain ironic detachment — was a sign of wisdom and sophistication. But then I learned what was happening here in South Africa.”
Mandela first met Obama in 2005 during a trip to Washington. The two had a brief sit-down when the president was still the junior senator from Illinois. Obama wrote that Obama's example “helped awaken me to the wider world, and the obligation that we all have to stand up for what is right. Through his choices, Mandela made it clear that we did not have to accept the world as it is — that we could do our part to seek the world as it should be.”
When a decision was made to release the latest book of Mandela’s writings, Mandela asked President Obama to write the forward for his book.
Nelson Mandela was an extraordinary and courageous man. In the words of Hambe Kahle Madiba of the Nelson Mandela Foundation:
"We give thanks for his life, his leadership, his devotion to humanity and humanitarian causes. We salute our friend, colleague and comrade and thank him for his sacrifices for our freedom. The three charitable organisations that he created dedicate ourselves to continue promoting his extraordinary legacy."