Immunizing against the American Other: Racism, Nationalism, and Gender in U.S.-Icelandic Military Relations during the Cold War

In: Journal of Cold War studies, Band 6, Heft 4, S. 65-88

Abstract

The 1951 U.S.-Icelandic Defense Agreement paved the way for a permanent US military presence at the Keflavik base in Iceland, an outpost that played a crucial role in US strategy during the Cold War. The article explores two gender-related aspects of the US-Icelandic Cold War relationship: the restrictions on off-base movements of US soldiers, & the secret ban imposed by the Icelandic government on the stationing of black US troops in Iceland. These practices were meant to "protect" Icelandic women & to preserve a homogeneous "national body." Although US officials repeatedly tried to have the restrictions lifted, the Icelandic government refused to modify them until the racial ban was publicly disclosed in late 1959. Even after the practice came to light, it took another several years before the ban was gradually eliminated. Misguided though the Icelandic restrictions may have been, they did, paradoxically, help to defuse domestic opposition to Iceland's pro-American foreign policy course & thus preserved the country's role in the Western alliance. Adapted from the source document.