A Familiar Frontier: The Kennedy Administration in the Congo ...
A Familiar Frontier: The Kennedy Administration in the Congo ...
A Familiar Frontier: The Kennedy Administration in the Congo ...
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
Chapter Two:LEOPOLDVILLEEvents <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> first month of 1961 might have prompted outside observers topredict a dramatically different course for <strong>the</strong> U.S. <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>Congo</strong> go<strong>in</strong>g forward. <strong>The</strong>leadership situations of both nations changed with <strong>the</strong> election of John F. <strong>Kennedy</strong> and<strong>the</strong> assass<strong>in</strong>ation of Patrice Lumumba, <strong>in</strong> all likelihood tak<strong>in</strong>g place just a few days apart<strong>in</strong> January 1961, seem<strong>in</strong>g to reshape <strong>the</strong> landscape <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>Congo</strong> fundamentally. Yetbetween January and August 1961, <strong>the</strong> <strong>Kennedy</strong> <strong>Adm<strong>in</strong>istration</strong> followed <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> footstepsof its predecessor by misjudg<strong>in</strong>g communist (and particularly Soviet) strength, fail<strong>in</strong>g toconfront Belgium and, most crucially, dictat<strong>in</strong>g from Wash<strong>in</strong>gton which candidate shouldtake over <strong>the</strong> leadership of <strong>the</strong> <strong>Congo</strong>. <strong>The</strong>se moves demonstrate that <strong>the</strong> primary concernof <strong>the</strong> United States throughout this period was its own <strong>in</strong>terest, no matter who wasserv<strong>in</strong>g as its president.<strong>The</strong> fact that <strong>the</strong> transition of power <strong>in</strong> both <strong>the</strong> United States and <strong>the</strong> <strong>Congo</strong> didnot lead to major changes bears explanation. As <strong>Kennedy</strong>’s Task Force on Africa toldhim, “<strong>the</strong> advent of a new <strong>Adm<strong>in</strong>istration</strong>” marked an excellent chance to reevaluate U.S.41