About the Book
Using John F. Kennedy as a central figure and reference point, this volume explores how postcolonial citizens viewed the US president when peak decolonization met the Cold War. Exploring how their appropriations blended with their own domestic and regional realities, the chapters span sources, cases and languages from Latin America, Africa, Asia and Europe to explore the history of US and third world relations in a way that pushes beyond US-centric themes.
Examining a range of actors, Globalizing the U.S. Presidency studies various political, sociocultural and economic domestic and regional contexts during the Cold War era, and explores themes such as appropriation, antagonism and contestation within decolonisation. Attempting to both de-americanize and globalize John F. Kennedy and the US Presidency, the chapters examine how the perceptions of the president were fed by everyday experiences of national and international postcolonial lives. The many examples of worldwide interest in the US president at this time illustrate that this time was a historical turning point for the role of the US on the global stage. The hopes and fears of peaking decolonization, the resulting pressure on Washington, Moscow and other powers, and a new mediascape together ushered in a more comprehensive globalization of international politics, and a new meaning to ‘the United States in the world’.
Table of Contents:
List of Figures
List of Tables
List of Contributors
Acknowledgments
List of Abbreviations
Introduction, and a Note on the US Imperial-Postcolonial Field, Cyrus Schayegh
Part I: Actors
1. First New Nation or Internal Colony? Modernization Theorists, Black Intellectuals, and the Politics of Colonial Comparison in the Kennedy Years, Sam Klug
2. John F. Kennedy as Viewed by Africans, Philip E. Muehlenbeck
3. “I Named My Son Kennedy”: Rural Kenyan Perceptions of John F. Kennedy during Decolonization, Kara Moskowitz
4. Brazilian Public Opinion of John F. Kennedy and the Alliance for Progress in Cold War Brazil (1961-3), Felipe Loureiro
Part II: Appropriation: Domestic Contexts
5. “An Example for Other Small Nations to Follow”: John F.Kennedy, Ireland and Decolonization, David P. Kilroy
6. Global Media, Emotions, and the ‘Kennedy Narrative’: John F. Kennedy as Seen from the ‘Global South’, Sönke Kunkel
7. From Hope to Disillusionment: Moroccan Perceptions of the Kennedy Presidency, David Stenner
8. Foreign Gifts and US Imperial Ambiguities: the Kennedy Years, Cyrus Schayegh
Part III: Appropriation, Cont’d: Antagonisms and Contestations
9. Watching, Countering, and Emulating Peaceful Evolution: PRC Responses to Kennedy Administration Cultural Diplomacy and Global Strategy, Matthew D. Johnson
10. Whose Revolution? López Mateos, John F. Kennedy’s Mexican Visit, and the Alliance for Progress, Vanni Pettinà
11. Camelot in Korea: The Paradox of John F. Kennedy in Authoritarian South Korea, 1961-3, Inga Kim Diederich
12. John F. Kennedy through the Lens of a Divided Vietnam, Aaron Lillie and Diu-Huong Nguyen
Part IV: Intermediaries and Afterlives
13. The President’s Messenger: American Visions, Indian Citizens, and National Development in the Kennedy Years, Benjamin Siegel
14. Mediating the Kennedy Presidency: James Baldwin’s Decade in Turkey, Begüm Adalet
15. “The Kennedys Know Something about That, Too”: Law, Lineage, and Martyrdom in US-South Africa relations, Myra Ann Houser
16. Conclusion: “Someone Talking the Same Language with All of Us”, Robert B. Rakove
Bibliography
Index
About the Author :
Cyrus Schayegh is Professor of International History at the Graduate Institute of Geneva, Switzerland. He was previously Associate Professor at Princeton University, USA, and in 2005-2008, Assistant Professor at the American University of Beirut, Lebanon. His current research focuses mainly on the interplay between post-war globalisation and decolonisation, Arab views of Afro-Asian decolonisation, interwar European inter-imperial cooperation, and historiography.
Review :
This wide-ranging and important collection sheds light on the global significance of John F. Kennedy’s presidency. A remarkable variety of essays, expertly curated, capture the power and complexity of the Kennedy brand by considering the ways in which it was interpreted, repackaged and re-purposed throughout the postcolonial world. Highly recommended.
John F. Kennedy is a global icon. This collection provides rich and fascinating insights into how JFK was seen and appropriated across the globe. Many Kennedys, some familiar, others less, emerge from its pages, shedding new light on US imperial-postcolonial relations during the 1960s.
Within the vast corpus of books devoted to US President John F. Kennedy, this volume is unique. Schayegh has assembled a stellar cast of scholars to probe how JFK resonated in the postcolonial world and what he (and, by extension, the United States) meant to people there from all walks of life. The result is an illuminating volume packed with lively characters and trenchant analysis that should be read by anyone interested in the postcolonial world in the 1960s and its relationship to US power.
There is no doubt that many scholars, and even general readers, will learn much from this well-researched and utterly professional collection of essays, and it comes highly recommended .. this book’s contribution to internationalizing United States history is a welcome addition to a variety of international and US historiographies.
