Colonialism and the Campaign Trail: On Kennedy's Algerian Speech and his Bid for the 1960 Democratic Nomination

Abstract

Colonialism and the Campaign Trail:On Kennedy's Algerian Speech and his Bid for the 1960 Democratic Nomination Theresa Romahn For a successful candidate, the road to the U.S. presidency is one that is not merely walked in the year before the election. Rather, it is something prepared for years prior to the attempt, for some their entire political career is aimed towards it, for others, their entire life. In recent memory, no one's career speaks more to this fact than America's youngest elected President, John F. Kennedy, whose political ambitions are well documented. What is not well integrated into this image, however, is how his 1957 Congressional Speech criticizing the Eisenhower administration's policy towards the aspirations of Algerian nationalists fits into his overall strategy to secure himself the Democratic nomination for the 1960 Presidential campaign. This paper analyzes the content and timing of Kennedy's Algerian speech, seeing it not only as a way to achieve recognition as someone versed in foreign affairs issues, but also as a method to overcome the criticisms that were made against his candidacy and attract the votes of various interest groups within his own party. While it was just one of many methods used to garner the nomination, it is important to understand the 1957 speech in this context in order to fully comprehend the way that Jack Kennedy ran for the Presidency and that, contrary to popular belief, he could not talk himself out of everything. John Kennedy came from a family immersed in politics, both his grandfathers holding office as Representatives of Massachusetts in Congress and the Senate, and his businessman father even held an ambassadorship in England from 1938-40. Jack's own career in politics began in 1946 when he ran for the position of Representative to the House for Massachusetts' Eleventh district. Although a decorated war hero, Kennedy still had to overcome the fact that he was only twenty-nine years of age and he had not held an occupation outside of his studies, military service and a short time writing for Hurst newspapers in 1945. Therefore, from the very beginning of his political career, he used every asset to achieve victory. The return to Boston was done to build on the popular Kennedy and Fitzgerald names established by his grandfathers. The specific choice of the Eleventh district, which contained both Cambridge and Boston's poor North and East ends, populated mainly by the poor Irish and Italians, allowed him to appeal to the Harvard intellectuals as well as use his Irish and Catholic background to gain votes in the North and East ends. His father also helped his first step into politics when he offered to pay off the mounting debts of James Curley, the Eleventh district's serving Congressman, and finance his campaign for mayor of Boston if he would vacate his seat.1 Kennedy stayed in the House of Representatives for three terms, from 1947-1953, where he held a fairly unremarkable record. While he neglected the needs of the people of his own district, he did use the opportunity to speak about foreign affairs, on occasion criticizing the Democratic administration for their failure to properly contend with Cold War threats.2 In 1952, he took his next step in his political career when he defeated Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. for his Massachusetts Senatorial seat. Biographer Robert Dallek notes that Kennedy's campaign for the Senate seat began as early as 1947, when he started taking both state-wide and nation-wide speaking engagements in which he portrayed himself as a Cold Warrior while discussing foreign affairs and points of national interest.3 He visited Indochina in 1951, using his report on that trip to criticize the government for failing to build a strong local government that could counter the onslaught of communism. This focus on creating a national profile continued once he became a Senator, taking his first controversial public stance on January 14, 1954 on the issue of foreign relations with Canada and the building of the St. Lawrence Seaway canals. Although these canals were seen as something that would harm Massachusetts's harbor cities, Kennedy argued that it...