The Lumumba Plot: The Secret History Of The CIA And A Cold War Assassination

October 17, 2023
Hoover Institution | Stanford University

The Hoover History Lab held a new book talk with Stuart A. Reid: The Lumumba Plot: the Secret History of the CIA and a Cold War Assassination (Knopf, 2023) on October 17, 2023 from 12:00pm - 2:00pm.

United States-African relations have multiple dimensions, and quite a bit of history. One aspect involves coups. Almost immediately after Congo became independent from Belgium in 1960, the CIA station in Leopoldville, the capital, received an order from Washington that Congo’s new leader, Patrice Lumumba, should be removed. Congolese rebels, backed by the CIA, assassinated him. Joseph Mobutu, originally a Lumumba loyalist, eventually seized power, also with U.S. backing. Mobutu’s misrule lasted decades, and wreaked devastation. Stuart Reid has uncovered new documents and new aspects to this episode, which formed part of a larger story of the U.S. in the Cold War in what was then called the Third World.

FEATURING
Stuart A. Reid
Stuart Reid is a New York-based writer and an executive editor at Foreign Affairs.

MODERATED BY
Stephen Kotkin
Kleinheinz Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution
Director, Hoover History Lab