Bread and Bombers: American Diplomacy Concerning Military Bases in Morocco, 1950-1963

In the 1950s, the U.S. secured air and naval bases in Morocco through France, then faced new negotiations after Moroccan independence. This book explores the diplomacy, power struggles, and strategic shifts that defined America’s Cold War presence and withdrawal from North Africa. In the early years of the Cold War, US diplomacy forged strategic footholds not through colonies, but through bases. Nowhere was this more evident than in Morocco. In the early 1950s, Washington negotiated with Paris – the colonial power – to construct major US Air Force and Navy installations on Moroccan soil. After Moroccan independence in 1956, the diplomatic landscape shifted; the United States had to re-negotiate its presence with a newly sovereign government eager to assert control over its territory. This book traces the tense, layered diplomacy of securing, maintaining, and ultimately withdrawing from these bases, revealing how Cold War strategy collided with post-colonial nationalism. Drawing on diplomatic archives and first-hand accounts, it uncovers a critical but often overlooked episode in US–North African relations.