Abstract:
Previous historical scholarship has tended to support the idea that John F. Kennedy’s inauguration began a period of increased U.S. involvement in and cooperation with Africa. However, U.S. treatment of the crisis in the Congo stayed remarkably the same from Eisenhower to Kennedy. In its treatment of Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba, its efforts to secure a new national leader, and its handling of the Belgian-backed, secessionist government in Katanga Province, the Kennedy Administration largely followed the lead of its immediate predecessor. This thesis uses government documents from the high levels of both Administrations to show that Kennedy’s advisers reflected the same assumptions, often wrong ones, about U.S. interests in the Congo and the dangers of communist takeover. This thesis concludes that any desire for a changed Africa policy was not strong enough to lead the U.S. to compromise its perceived national interests in the Congo.
