Kennedy talked about Africa on the campaign trail more than any U.S. presidential candidate before or since. By one count, he referenced the continent 479 times in his campaign speeches. As he saw it, the Eisenhower administration’s lack of interest in Africa had allowed the Soviets to gain ground. “I have seen us ignore Africa,” he said in his last televised debate against Richard Nixon. In a campaign booklet, he railed against “policies which refuse to accept the inevitable triumph of nationalism in Africa—the inevitable end of colonialism.”
