"We hold these truths to be self-evident" : Kennedy, Nixon, and the issue of Cuban democracy in the American presidential campaign, 1960

• Main Author: McAndrew, Ian
• Language: English
• Published: 2009
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/8319

This essay argues that John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon demonstrated ambivalent feelings toward democracy as they participated in the American presidential campaign of 1960. Their oratory, on the one hand, suggested unqualified reverence for the Western democratic tradition. Both devoted considerable attention in their campaigns to establishing before voters their shared belief that America would eventually triumph over the communist enemy because of the strength and greatness that accrues to a society which recognizes freedom at home. In their campaign discussions of Cuba, Kennedy and Nixon argued that Fidel Castro would ultimately fall from power not because Americans opposed him, but rather because he was reviled and despised as an anti-democratic leader by Cubans. By implication Kennedy and Nixon were suggesting that democracy was not only an ideal ,they held dear, but one that was universal and intrinsic to the human essence. As they venerated democracy in these terms, however, Kennedy and Nixon showed by their behavior that they had a marked lack of reverence for the ideals and values underpinning the U.S. political system. Both candidates were ambitious and driven in their pursuit of the presidency, and both were willing to distort truth and contrive public images if these measures appeared expedient to their efforts to achieve victory. Clearly, Kennedy and Nixon must be held accountable for sanctioning and employing campaign tactics of this sort. The essay concludes, however, that scholars should also hold them accountable for their ambivalence, for failure to recognize their duplicity in portraying democracy in iconographic terms while simultaneously demonstrating that they held victory as more important than principles like honesty. Throughout, an important secondary theme of this study concerns the discourse Kennedy and Nixon used in discussing Cuba and Cubans, and the essay critiques in equal measure their scornful portrayal of Fidel Castro, and their paternalistic attitudes toward the Cuban nation.