"Worth a lot of negro votes": Black voters, africa, and the 1960 presidential campaign

Journal of American History

Volumn 95, Issue 3, 2008, Pages 737-763

  Meriwether, James H ^a  

^a CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY CHANNEL ISLANDS   (United States)

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[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 58149306296     PISSN: 00218723     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.2307/27694378     Document Type: Review

References (143)

1. Statement by Sen. Hugh Scott, Congressional Record, 86 Cong., 2 sess., Aug. 17, 1960, pp. 16629-30.
2. "1960 Presidential Election," John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, http://www.jfklibrary.org/historical+resources/archives/ reference+desk/1960+presidential+election.htm.
3. "What the Two Campaign Managers Said," Pittsburgh Courier, Nov. 19,1960, p. 6;
4. Theodore H. White, The Making of the President: 1960 (New York, 1962), 321-23, esp. 323;
5. Harris Wofford, Of Kennedys and Kings: Making Sense of the Sixties (New York, 1980), 11-28;
6. Taylor Branch, Parting the Waters: America in the King Years (New York, 1988), 351-78, esp. 378.
7. For more on participants' emphasis on their own roles, see Clifford M. Kuhn, "'There's a Footnote to History!': Memory and the History of Martin Luther King's October 1960 Arrest and Its Aftermath," Journal of American History, 84 (Sept. 1997), 583-95.
8. Robert Dallek, An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy 1917-1963 (Boston, 2003), 293. For textbook and survey accounts that emphasize the impact of the phone calls on the outcome of the election, see:
9. Alan Brinkley, American History: A Survey (Boston, 2007), 826;
10. John Hope Franklin and Alfred Moss, From Slavery to Freedom: A History of African Americans (Boston, 2000), 528-29;
11. and Darlene Clark Hine et al., The African-American Odyssey (Upper Saddle River, 2003), 527.
12. Frederick Cooper, "Decolonization in Africa: An Interpretation, " in Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience, ed. Kwame Anthony Appiah and Henry Louis Gates (New York, 1999), 576-77; "List of Member States," United Nations Member States, http://www.un.org/members/list.shtml.
13. Richard D. Mahoney, perhaps the scholar best versed in John F. Kennedy's African interests, early on noted his strategic use of Africa in the 1960 campaign.
14. See Richard D. Mahoney, JFK: Ordeal in Africa (New York, 1983), 31. Others have since noted that use.
15. See, for example, Brenda Gayle Plummer, Rising Wind: Black Americans and U.S. Foreign Affairs, 1935-1960 (Chapel Hill, 1996), 296.
16. See, for example, editorials in Atlanta Daily World, July 5, 1952, p. 6;
17. and ibid, July 12, 1952, p. 4.
18. For the Gallup Poll surveys, see James Wilson, "The Negro in American Politics: The Present," in The American Negro Reference Book, ed.
19. John P. Davis (Englewood Cliffs, 1966), 439; and "The Negro Vote, Which Way?," editorial, Chicago Defender, Oct. 19, 1960, p. 10.
20. "Nixon Running ahead of Kennedy in South," Washington Post, Oct. 28, 1960, p. 2; "Dixie's Indecision," Wall Street Journal, Oct. 18, 1960, p. 1.
21. "To-Morrow-Day of Decision," editorial, Chicago Defender, Nov. 7, 1960, p. 14.
22. Steven F. Lawson, Running for Freedom: Civil Rights and Black Politics in America since 1941 (New York, 1997), 72-74; White, Making of the President, 203-4.
23. Dallek, Unfinished Life, 215-17, esp. 215. Kennedy generally supported civil rights until his effort in 1956 to secure the vice-presidential nomination steered him toward alliances with segregationist southerners, according to Nick Bryant, The Bystander: John F. Kennedy and the Struggle for Black Equality (New York, 2006).
24. Odd Arne Westad, The Global Cold War: Third World Interventions and the Making of Our Times (Cambridge, Eng., 2005), 27.
25. Richard Nixon, "The Emergence of Africa: Report to President Eisenhower," State Department Bulletin, April 22, 1957, pp. 635, 638; "Report to the President on the Vice President's Visit to Africa," April 5, 1957, in Foreign Relations of the United States, 1955-57(27 vols., Washington, 1985-1993), XVIII, 65-66.
26. Memorandum of Discussion of the National Security Council, Aug. 22, 1957, in Foreign Relations of the United States, 1955-57, XVIII, 72;
27. Memorandum of Discussion of the National Security Council, April 14, I960, in Foreign Relations of the United States, 1958-60 (19 vols., Washington, 1986-1996), XIV, 126-28.
28. John F. Kennedy, "The Challenge of Imperialism: Algeria," July 2, 1957, in "Let the Word Go Forth": The Speeches, Statements, and Writings of John F. Kennedy, ed. Theodore Sorensen (New York, 1988), 331, 337; Mahoney, JFK, 20-26.
29. "Africa-The Coming Challenge," Kennedy Remarks at Democratic Luncheon, Watertown, Wise., Nov. 13, 1959, box 1030, John F. Kennedy Pre-Presidential Papers (John F. Kennedy Presidential Library, Boston, Mass.);
30. Remarks of John F. Kennedy at Saint Anselm's College, Manchester, N.H., March 5, 1960, ibid.
31. See Marika Sherwood, Kwame Nkrumah: The Years Abroad, 1935-1947 (Legon, Ghana, 1996).
32. "Proudly We Can Be Africans," editorial, Baltimore Afro-American, April 6, 1957, p. 4;
33. Ralph Bunche, "Introduction of Kwame Nkrumah," speech, July 27, 1958, box 52, Ralph J. Bunche Papers (Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles). Emphasis in original.
34. Lester Granger, "Welcoming Remarks," speech, July 29, 1958, box 39, series 1, part I, Records of the National Urban League (Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.). For more on expanding links between black Americans and Africa,
35. see James H. Meriwether, Proudly We Can Be Africans: Black Americans and Africa, 1935-1961 (Chapel Hill, 2002), 150-240;
36. and Kevin K. Gaines, American Africans in Ghana: Black Expatriates and the Civil Rights Era (Chapel Hill, 2006), 77-178.
37. Mansfield Irving Smith, "The East African Airlifts of 1959, 1960, and 1961" (Ph.D. diss., Syracuse University, 1966), 21-22;
38. Douglas Williams to editor, New York Times, Sept. 3, 1959, clipping, box 3, Jackie Robinson Papers (Manuscript Division, Library of Congress);
39. William Scheinman to editor, New York Times, Sept. 10, 1959,
40. ibid.
41. In comparison, roughly 60% of adult white men and women had a high school diploma, and among white 18-24-year-olds 1 in every 6.5 was enrolled in college. Mabel M. Smythe, ed., The Black American Reference Book (Englewood Cliffs, 1976), 418;
42. Jessie Carney Smith and Carrell Peterson Horton, eds., Historical Statistics of Black America (New York, 1995), 624-25.
43. Tom Mboya to Martin Luther King Jr., June 16, 1959, box 26A, Papers of Martin Luther King Jr. (Mugar Memorial Library, Boston University, Boston, Mass.); King to Mboya, July 8, 1959,
44. ibid.;
45. King to William Scheinman, Aug. 18, 1959, box 32,
46. ibid.;
47. King to Julius Kiano, Aug. 19, 1959, box 26A, ibid.;
48. King to Kiano, Nov. 30, 1959, box 29, ibid.; Tenisha Armstrong et al., eds., Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr., vol. V: Threshold of a New Decade, January 1959-December I960 (Berkeley, 2005), 320-21;
49. Francis Njubi Nesbitt, Race for Sanctions: African Americans against Apartheid 1946-1994 (Bloomington, 2004), 37-38. Throughout black America there were efforts to support individual African students or organizations aiding African education. For support of individuals, see, for example, box 83, part II, series 1, Records of the National Urban League; for support for organizations,
50. see "American Council of African Education, 1949-1960" folder, box 12, Papers of Roy Wilkins (Manuscript Division, Library of Congress).
51. Smith, "East African Airlifts of 1959, 1960, and 1961," 22-25;
52. David Goldsworthy, Tom Mboya: The Man Kenya Wanted to Forget (London, 1982), 118-20;
53. A. Philip Randolph to Mboya, Oct. 14, 1959, box 18, Records of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters (Manuscript Division, Library of Congress).
54. Harry Belafonte, Sidney Poitier, and Jackie Robinson appeal letter, Aug. 24, 1959, box 3, Robinson Papers;
55. Smith, "East African Airlifts of 1959, 1960, and 1961," 25-43. Barack Obama wrote that his rather "had been selected by Kenyan leaders and American sponsors to attend a university in the United States," but a list of the students who landed in New York on September 9, 1959, does not contain the name of the elder Obama.
56. Tom Shachtman, working in the African-American Students Foundation (AASF) papers for a book on the airlifts, has found that the elder Obama came in 1959 with support from the aasf but appears to have been routed a different way as he made his way to the University of Hawaii. Barack Obama, Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance (New York, 1995), 9;
57. "Eighty-One Kenya Airlift Students Arrived New York Sept. 9th 1959," box 3, Robinson Papers;
58. Tom Shachtman telephone interview by James H. Meriwether, Aug. 19, 2008, notes (confirmed via e-mail by Shachtman) (in James H. Meriwether's possession).
59. Scheinman to Charles Diggs, June 29, 1959, attached to Diggs to William Macomber, July 2, 1959, 511.45R3/7-259, box 2141, Central Decimal File, Records of the Department of State, 1955-1959, RG 59 (National Archives II, College Park, Md.); Macomber to Diggs, July 16, 1959, 511.45R3/7-1659,
60. ibid.;
61. "African Students in the United States," Africa Report, 6 (March 1961), 8-9.
62. On the Cold War and the civil rights struggle, see two essential works: Thomas Borstelmann, The Cold War and the Color Line: American Race Relations in the Global Arena (Cambridge, Mass., 2001);
63. and Mary L. Dudziak, Cold War Civil Rights: Race and the Image of American Democracy (Princeton, 2002). On the collapse of the May 1960 summit,
64. see Walter LaFeber, America, Russia, and the Cold War, 1945-1984 (New York, 1985), 206-7.
65. On renewed Soviet interest in the Third World, see Westad, Global Cold War, 66-72; on students in Moscow,
66. see Seymour Rosen, Soviet Training Programs for Africa, U.S. Office of Education bulletin no. 9 (Washington, 1963), 1-2.
67. Harry Belafonte, Jackie Robinson, and Sidney Poitier appeal letter, Nov. 2, 1959, box 3, Robinson Papers;
68. Scheinman to Joseph Satterthwaite, Nov. 18, 1959, box 1, Country Files 1951-1965, Lot and Office Files, Bureau of African Affairs, State Department Records.
69. Scheinman to Satterthwaite, Jan. 15, 1960, box 1, Country Files 1951-1965, Lot and Office Files, Bureau of African Affairs, State Department Records.
70. Jackie Robinson to Richard Nixon, May 18, 1960, box 3, Robinson Papers;
71. David Falkner, Great Time Coming: The Life of Jackie Robinson from Baseball to Birmingham (New York, 1995), 261-66.
72. David J. Garrow, Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (New York, 1986), 148-49;
73. Branch, Parting the Waters, 349-50; "The Nixon-Lodge Team Best Qualified to Lead Nation," editorial, Atlanta Daily World, Oct. 7, 1960, p. 1;
74. "Atlanta Lone Bright Spot in Dixie for gop," Pittsburgh Courier, Nov. 19, 1960, p. 11.
75. Falkner, Great Time Coming, 275-80;
76. Arnold Rampersad, Jackie Robinson: A Biography (New York, 1997), 340-48.
77. Jackie Robinson, "Introduction," in "Action Against Apartheid," by American Committee on Africa (New York, 1960),
78. Schomburg Center Clipping File, 004,657-3 (Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York, N.Y.); "Rising Tide of Color," editorial, Crisis, May 1960, 306-7.
79. Robinson to Nixon, June 9, 1960, box 649, series 320, Richard M. Nixon Pre-Presidential Papers (National Archives and Records Administration-Pacific Region, Laguna Niguel, Calif.);
80. "2 Young Men in East Africa Score Educational Bullseye," Chicago Daily News, Aug. 11, 1960, dipping, box 3, Robinson Papers.
81. Nixon to Robinson, June 23, I960, box 649, series 320, Nixon Pre-Presidential Papers.
82. Robinson to Nixon, July 11, 1960,
83. ibid. Emphasis added.
84. Andrew Goodpaster to Christian Herter, Sept. 7, 1960, box 81, Subject Series,
85. White House Central Files (Confidential File), 1953-1961 (Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library, Abilene, Kans.).
86. Goldsworthy, Tom Mboya, 166-68; "The Facts on Grant to African Airlift Students-Summary," background report prepared by Sen. Kennedy's office, [Aug. 1960], box 1044, Kennedy Pre-Presidential Papers.
87. "Remarks of Senator John F. Kennedy, Luncheon in Honor of the African Diplomatic Corps," June 24, 1960, box 1030, Kennedy Pre-Presidential Papers;
88. "Educational Exchange," box 993, ibid.
89. Mary L. Dudziak, Exporting American Dreams: Thurgood Marshall's African Journey (New York, 2008).
90. "Facts on Grant to African Airlift Students-Summary."
91. John F. Kennedy to Eugenio Pazzini, Feb. 25, 1960, box 529, Kennedy Pre-Presidential Papers; Kennedy to P. A. Mainardi, Feb. 9, 1960,
92. ibid.;
93. John Snyder to Kennedy, Jan. 8, 1960, ibid.; Kennedy to Snyder, Feb. 29, 1960,
94. ibid.
95. "Facts on Grant to African Airlift Students-Summary."
96. Macomber to J. William Fulbright, draft letter, [Aug. 19-21, 1960], box 649, series 320, Nixon Pre-Presidential Papers.
97. Macomber to Fulbright, Aug. 22, 1960, box 1044, Kennedy Pre-Presidential Papers.
98. Office of Hugh Scott, press release, [Aug. 16, 1960], box 649, series 320, Nixon Pre-Presidential Papers; "Facts on Grant to African Airlift Students-Summary";
99. Scheinman to Fulbright, Aug. 19, 1960, box 1044, Kennedy Pre-Presidential Papers.
100. Frank Montero and Scheinman to Pierre Salinger, Aug. 16, 1960, box 1044, Kennedy Pre-Presidential Papers; Charles Diggs, press release, Aug. 17, 1960,
101. ibid.
102. Statement by Sen. Hugh Scott, Congressional Record, 86 Cong., 2 sess., Aug. 17, 1960, pp. 16629-30.
103. Statement by Sen. John F. Kennedy, ibid., 16630-31.
104. Remarks by Sen. J. William Fulbright, ibid., 16632; Fulbright to Herter, Aug. 18, 1960, box 649, series 320, Nixon Pre-Presidential Papers;
105. Macomber to Fulbright, Aug. 22, 1960, box 1044, Kennedy Pre-Presidential Papers; "Facts on Grant to African Airlift Students-Summary."
106. "The African Student Hassle," editorial, Pittsburgh Courier, Sept. 3, 1960, p. 12; "Here's Where You Can Help," editorial, Chicago Defender, Aug. 18, 1960, p. 12;
107. Emmett Marshall to editor, Baltimore Afro-American, Sept. 10, 1960, p. 4.
108. Hugh Scott to editor, New York Amsterdam News, Sept. 3, 1960, p. 10.
109. Lester Granger, "Manhattan and Beyond," ibid., Sept. 17, 1960, p. 10.
110. Roy Wilkins to Dag Hammarskjold, Oct. 7, 1960, box 326, series A, General Office File, 1956-1965, Papers of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (Manuscript Division, Library of Congress).
111. On the problems raised by discrimination against African diplomats, see Renee Romano, "No Diplomatic Immunity: African Diplomats, the State Department, and Civil Rights, 1961-1964," Journal of American History, 87 (Sept. 2000), 546-79.
112. Call letter for the American Negro Leadership Conference on Africa, [Aug. 1962], box 2, series 1, part 2, Records of the National Urban League.
113. U.S. Congress, Senate, Committee on Commerce, Freedom of Communications, part I: The Speeches, Remarks, Press Conferences, and Statements of Senator John F. Kennedy August 1 through November 7, 1960, 87 Cong., 1 sess., pp. 1291-93, 1299;
114. ibid., part II: The Speeches, Remarks, Press Conferences, and Study Papers of Vice President Richard M. Nixon, August 1 through November 7, 1960, pp. 1263, 1266-67.
115. Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. reported 479 references to Africa by Kennedy in his 1960 campaign speeches; the figure may come from the entire campaign, but more likely from duplicate citations.
116. See Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., A Thousand Dap: John F. Kennedy in the White Home (Boston, 1965), 554.
117. Make Study on Scholarships for Africans," New York Amsterdam News, Sept. 13, 1960, p. 2;
118. "Kennedy for President" advertisements, Pittsburgh Courier, Oct. 1, 1960, p. 5;
119. ibid., Oct. 8, 1960, p. 4;
120. ibid., On. 29, 1960, sec. 2, pp. 4-5.
121. Remarks of Senator John F. Kennedy, Elks Auditorium, Los Angeles, Calif., November I, I960," in Committee on Commerce, Freedom of Communications, part I, 846;
122. "Remarks of Senator John F. Kennedy, Defremery Park, Oakland, Calif, November 2, 1960,"
123. ibid., 861.
124. Speech of Senator John F. Kennedy, Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles, Calif, September 9, 1960,"
125. ibid., 191.
126. "Speech by John F. Kennedy, National Council of Women, Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, New York, N.Y., October 12, 1960,"
127. ibid., 567-71, esp. 569-70.
128. "Excerpts of Remarks of Senator John F. Kennedy, Public Rally, Hotel Theresa, New York, N.Y., October 12, 1960,"
129. ibid., 580-83, esp. 582.
130. Ibid., 582-83.
131. Immediately after the election, analysts who talked of a "great shift" in black voting used downright wrong figures, as did Thruston Morton in lamenting that Nixon polled only 10-12% of the black vote, or used the rhetoric while describing hardly massive gains by Kennedy of roughly 10%, as did the oft-cited pollster Richard Scammon. Kennedy, with roughly 68% of the black vote, outdid Adlai Stevenson's 61% in 1956, yet fell short of Stevenson's 79% in 1952. "What the Two Campaign Managers Said," Pittsburgh Courier, Nov. 19, 1960, p. 6;
132. Wilson, "Negro in American Politics," 439;
133. Richard Scammon, "How the Negroes Voted," New Republic, Nov. 21, 1960, pp. 8-9. Taylor Branch cited an article in the Crisis for a "30 percent shift," yet that article states, "The Gallup report indicated that Senator Kennedy gained seven percentage points among Negroes in comparison with those of 1956."
134. See Branch, Parting the Waters, 374;
135. and Gloster Current, "Why Nixon Lost the Negro Vote," Crisis, 68 (Jan. 1961), 5.
136. "Where We Stand," editorial, New York Amsterdam News, Oct. 29, 1960, p. 1;
137. "It's Kennedy: afro's Choice for President," editorial, Baltimore Afro-American, Nov. 5, 1960, p. 1;
138. Roger Didier, "A New Leadership for New Horizons," Pittsburgh Courier, Nov. 5, 1960, p. 3;
139. "To-Morrow-Day of Decision," editorial, Chicago Defender, Nov. 7, 1960, p. 14.
140. Mboya to Nixon, July 28, 1960, box 487, series 320, Nixon Pre-Presidential Papers;
141. Nixon to Mboya, Aug. 22, 1960,
142. ibid.
143. Schlesinger, Thousand Days, 558.