Toward International Accountability for All Dependent Territories
This chapter focuses on how the two most prominent Western nations, the United States and Great Britain, dealt with the push for accountability. It explains that Washington adopted a flexible approach to UN interest in the territories it administered and encouraged its allies to do likewise. It also refers to the administrations of Harry S. Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and John F. Kennedy that proclaimed their desire to pursue a middle-of-the-road approach that favored neither side in the evolving battle over mandated accountability for dependent territories. The chapter investigates that the British position for dependent territories was rooted in the nation's status as the world's leading colonial administrator. It explains Britain's approach to UN activism in the nontrust dependent territories that sought to protect its national prerogatives while also recognizing limited international interest.