Yet, after their confrontation, Malcolm could not help but try to protect Ali. Before he departed Accra, he sent Ali a telegram, offering brotherly advice as he always did, reminding him of his immense cultural power. “Because a billion of our people in Africa, Arabia, and Asia love you blindly, you must now be forever aware of your tremendous responsibilities to them. You must never say or do anything that will permit your enemies to distort the beautiful image you have here among our people.” When he made a vague reference to Ali’s “enemies,” he was really referring to his own adversaries in the Nation of Islam, those who would exploit Ali, use him up, and discard him when he was no longer valuable, just as they did to Malcolm.34
ALI MOVED ON as if he had never seen Malcolm. He performed his usual shtick, making outrageous pronouncements and entertaining strangers. When a local man asked him why he was going to visit Egypt, he answered that he intended to find his future wife there. Actually, he was “going to get four wives” and bring them back home, where he would build a castle. One of his wives, “Abigail,” would feed him grapes. Another wife, “Susie,” would rub olive oil all over his “beautiful muscles,” while “Cecilia” shined his shoes. He was not sure what his fourth wife, “Peaches,” would do. Perhaps, she would entertain him, singing or dancing. It was all part of his fantasy of being worshipped, being loved, being king of the world.35
Mesmerized by the crowds of ordinary men and women who followed him at every stop, Ali fell in love with Africa. He toured Ghana like a politician courting voters. Whenever he met government authorities, state boxing officials, or casual fans, he made sure that he won them over with his charm, endlessly praising Ghana, hugging women, and kissing babies. He claimed that he wanted to build a home and a gym in Accra so that he could train among his people. “Until I came to Ghana, I never realized that I was so popular and loved by Africans, my people,” he said. “I am so overwhelmed and fascinated and I feel it is my obligation to arrange for my next championship fight to be staged in Accra.” This was one of many empty promises he uttered during his visit. He never intended to defend his title in Ghana, let alone move there. In fact, he would not return to Africa until a decade later.36
Soon, Kwame Nkrumah invited Ali to Ghana’s presidential palace. Draped in a striped orange and blue kente cloth, Ali towered over the tiny president as they toured the Flagstaff House. Nkrumah, dressed in his signature khaki pants and open-necked shirt, a modern look befitting a man who aspired to lead Africa into the modern age, presented Ali with his two books, both promoting African nationalism.
They visited for a short time, just long enough for the state’s photographers to snap pictures for the next day’s newspapers. Ali told reporters that he was honored to meet Nkrumah, which translated into the headline, “Mohamed Ali Meets His Hero.” The press exaggerated his reverence for Nkrumah, a propaganda ploy advancing the Ghanaian leader’s agenda. Just as he did for Elijah Muhammad, Ali followed Nkrumah’s party line. When they met, he said, “I humbled myself before him, a thing I rarely do, because I saw in him a dedicated man who is anxious to free Africa and bring about unity.”37
On May 18, the same day he visited Nkrumah, Ali met with Ambassador William Mahoney at the US embassy. Less than four months after protestors demonstrated outside the embassy, the State Department feared that Ali might inflame anti-American rhetoric. Consequently, the United States Information Agency, the government’s foreign affairs propaganda machine, did not publicize his tour. Even before his meeting with Mahoney, Ali understood the political implications of his trip. “Many Negro celebrities,” he said, “take State Department ‘goodwill tours’ of Africa or Asia, but few have received the personal congratulations and invitations from so many world leaders.” Promoting black athletes as symbols of American democracy, the State Department figured that famous stars like Rafer Johnson, Bill Russell, and Floyd Patterson could counter anti-American views among Africans.38
Yet Ali rejected the role of the State Department’s goodwill ambassador. As an independent guest of the Ghanaian government, he assumed no responsibility for the embassy’s agenda. During a press conference, he criticized the NAACP and derided the Civil Rights Act as a deceptive attempt to convince blacks that integration would work. The law, he charged, “won’t change the hearts of the slave masters. And like the counterfeit money it is, if the Negroes tried to spend it they would be arrested.”39