Dr. Jagan's nationalism was mistaken by US policymakers for 'communistic' tendencies

Dr. Jagan’s nationalism was mistaken by US policymakers for ‘communistic’ tendencies

Dec 06, 2023 Letters

Dear Editor,

I thank Dr. Vishnu Bisram for his letter to the editor (Kaieteur News, Tuesday December 6, 2023) in which he pointed to a mistake I made regarding the recent passing of renowned US scholar and diplomat, Dr. Henry Kissenger.

While I agree with his view that Dr. Jagan was removed from office because of a perception that he was a ‘communist’, I do believe that Dr. Jagan’s nationalism was mistaken by US policymakers for ‘communistic’ tendencies. This acknowledgement was made by Schlesinger himself when he offered an apology to Dr. Jagan for an injustice that was done to him

This observation was made by Dr. Jane Sillery in her doctoral thesis on Guyana ‘Salvaging Democracy? The United States and Britain in British Guyana’.

According to Dr. Sillery, there was some tension between Britain and the United States on the issue of independence for Guyana. While Britain had wanted to grant independence to the then colony of British Guiana to any party that emerged victorious in the 1961 elections, pressure was brought to bear on them by the Kennedy administration which resulted in a deferral of independence until after the elections of 1964 which was held under a new system of proportional representation. The rest is now history.

Dr. Sillery’s thesis has recently been published and is available at the Cheddi Jagan Research Centre. I recommend the work for those who have an interest in Guyana’s political history during the 1961-1964 period.

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