| Summary: | 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. === Arts, Faculty of === History, Department of === Graduate
|
|---|
