1. Ted Sorensen, interview with author, 19 October 2005, via telephone. The Kennedy administration felt that while the battle lines were already clearly drawn in Europe (and to a lesser extent Asia) Africa was a region of the world that was still wide open in the superpower competition for influence.

2. State Department Paper, “Africa: Guidelines for Policy and Operations,” March 1962. National Security Files, Box 2: “Africa,” Folder “General, 3/62–4/62,” John F. Kennedy Presidential Library, Boston, MA (hereafter referred to as JFKL).

3. Decolonization had increased the Sino–Soviet rivalry. Peking was challenging Moscow's leadership in the international Communist movement and criticized the Kremlin's seemingly unenthusiastic support for Third World nationalism. Part of Khrushchev's rationale for making this speech was in response to this criticism. See Aleksandr Fursenko and Timothy Naftali, Khrushchev's Cold War: The Inside Story of an American Adversary (New York, 2006), p. 305.

4. For a translation and State Department reaction to Khrushchev's speech see “Report on Moscow Conference of Representatives of Communist and Workers Parities,” State Department translation of speech given by Soviet leader Nikita S. Khrushchev on 6 January 1961 in Moscow. General Records of the Department of State. Box 65 “Records of Secretary of State Dean Rusk, Miscellaneous Subject Files, 1961–1968,” Folder “DR––Personal Papers,” Record Group 59, National Archives II, College Park, MD (hereafter referred to as NARA).

5. Robert Dallek in An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy, 1917–1963 (Boston, 2003), p. 350.

6. Robert McNamara quoted by Peter W. Rodman, More Precious than Peace: The Cold War and the Struggle for the Third World (New York, 1994), p. 95.

7. Miloud Barkaoui, “Kennedy and the Cold War Imbroglio: The Case of Algeria's Independence,” Arab Studies Quarterly, 21 (Spring 1999), p. 34.

8. Renee Romano, “No Diplomatic Immunity: African Diplomats, the State Department, and Civil Rights, 1961–1964.” Journal of American History, 87 (September 2000), pp. 546–80.

9. For other accounts of the use of personal diplomacy in international relations see: Klaus Larres, Churchill's Cold War: The Politics of Personal Diplomacy (New Haven, CT, 2002), E. Victor Niemeyer, Personal Diplomacy: Lyndon B. Johnson and Mexico, 1963–1968 (Austin, TX, 1986), and Philip E. Muehlenbeck, “Betting on the Dark Horses: John F. Kennedy's Courting of African Nationalist Leaders” (PhD Dissertation, George Washington University, 2007).

10. Thomas Borstelmann, “‘Hedging Our Bets and Buying Time’: John Kennedy and Racial Revolutions in the American South and South Africa,” Diplomatic History, 24 (Summer 2000), p. 438.

11. Kennedy quoted in G. Mennen Williams, Africa for the Africans (Grand Rapids, MI, 1969), p. 161.

12. Kennedy quoted by Lawrence C. Hager, “Kennedy Administration Policy Toward Africa, 1960–1963: Progressive Change and Conservative Opposition” (Master's Thesis, University of Massachusetts at Boston, 1993), p. 63.

13. President John F. Kennedy's Remarks at a Reception Marking African Freedom Day, 15 April 1961. See John Woolley and Gerhard Peters, The American Presidency Project [online] (Santa Barbara, CA, University of California, Santa Barbara); available on the World Wide Web: http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu.

14. Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., A Thousand Days: John F. Kennedy in the White House (Boston, 1965), p. 558.

15. “Visits to the US by Foreign Heads of State and Government, The United States State Department's Office of the Historian,” http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ho/c1792.htm (Analysis by author using data found on aforementioned site). Data was computed by adding number of visits from African Heads of State during President's term, minus brief meetings at the United Nations General Assembly. The number of visits was then divided by the number of months each President served in office to reach a composite average of the number of African heads of state each President received per month. The results were as follows: Kennedy 0.800 per month, Carter 0.583, George H.W. Bush 0.563, George W. Bush 0.500 (through first term only), Reagan 0.427, Ford 0.345, Nixon 0.343, Clinton 0.292, Johnson 0.230, Eisenhower 0.083.

16. David Newsom, interview with author, 26 October 2005, via telephone.

17. See Memorandum from Secretary of State Christian Herter to President Eisenhower, 13 August 1960. Dwight D. Eisenhower Papers as President of the United States, 1953–61, International Series, Box #27, Folder “Guinea,” Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library, Abilene, KS (hereafter referred to as DDEL).

18. Touré was only slightly pro-Western for a short period of time. After Kennedy's death he swung back towards the East, largely because of neglect from the West.

19. Telegram American Consulate General in Dakar to the State Department, 7 March 1951. See Ebere Nwaubani, The United States and Decolonization in West Africa, 1950–1960 (Rochester, NY, 2001), p. 221.

20. Touré quoted by Thomas Patrick Melady in Melday, Profiles of African Leaders (New York, 1961), p. 88.

21. De Gaulle quoted in Melday, Profiles, p. 88.

22. Paris even considered using force (a naval blockade was discussed) to prevent a shipment of Czech arms from reaching Conakry. See “Discusions between UK, US, and France on Guinea, 1959.” FO [Foreign Office Archives, Kew] 371/138836.

23. Charles de Gaulle had threatened to withdraw France from NATO if Washington aided Guinea.

24. Letter from the President of Guinea Sékou Touré to President Dwight D. Eisenhower in Nwaubani, United States and Decolonization in West Africa, p. 213.

25. John H. Morrow, First American Ambassador to Guinea (New Brunswick, NJ, 1968), p. 23.

26. Ibid., pp. 82, 198.

27. Satterthwaite quoted by Nwaubani, United States and Decolonization in West Africa, p. 211.

28. Touré quoted in Ibid., p. 229.

29. Morrow, First American Ambassador to Guinea, p. 74.

30. Ibid, pp. 79–80.

31. Ibid, pp. 93–5.

32. “Memorandum of Conversation Between Guinean President Sékou Touré and President Dwight Eisenhower, 27 October 1959, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1958–1960 [hereafter FRUS], Volume XIV, Africa (Washington DC, 1992), 698–702. Also see, “U.S. Economic Assistance Program in Guinea,” 4 October 1962. FRUS, 1961–1963, Volume XXI, Africa (Washington DC, 1996).

33. In an embarrassing gaffe, representatives in New York had mistakenly put the Ghanaian flag on Manhattan's lampposts for Touré's parade route down Broadway.

34. West Africa, 31 October 1959.

35. In 1957 Kennedy gave a controversial and well publicized speech on the floor of the Senate denouncing the French war in Algeria, as well as the Eisenhower administration's uncritical support of French colonialism.

36. Morrow, First American Ambassador to Guinea, pp. 106–108.

37. To read more about Harold Morrow's appointment as Ambassador to Guinea see, Ibid, pp. 3–32.

38. Ibid., p. 108.

39. Memorandum for President Dwight D. Eisenhower, 27 October 1959. Reproduced in Declassified Documents Reference System (Farmington Hills, MI, 2003).

40. Morrow, First American Ambassador to Guinea, pp. 24–25, 100.

41. Toure quoted in Ibid., pp. 99–100.

42. Telegram from President Sékou Touré of Guinea to President Dwight D. Eisenhower, 8 August 1960. DwightD. Eisenhower Papers as President of the United States, 1953–1961, International Series, Box #27, Folder “Guinea,” DDEL.

43. See 436th Meeting of the National Security Council, 10 March 1960. Dwight D. Eisenhower Papers as President of the United States, 1953–1961, NSC Series, Box #12, Folder 436th Meeting of NSC, March 10, 1960, DDEL.

44. Schlesinger, A Thousand Days, p. 568.

45. In fact it had been through the Soviet Embassy in Conakry that Lumumba first made contact with Soviet officials. See Fursenko and Naftali, Khrushchev's Cold War, p. 297.

46. Telegram from President Sékou Touré of Guinea to President Dwight D. Eisenhower, 20 November 1960. Dwight D. Eisenhower Papers as President of the United States, 1953–1961, International Series, Box #27, Folder “Guinea,” DDEL.

47. Letter from President Dwight D. Eisenhower to President Sékou Touré of Guinea, 25 November 1960. See “The American Presidency Project.”

48. Morrow, First American Ambassador to Guinea, p. 216.

49. Additionally, in August 1960 Touré had allowed the Soviets to use Conakry as a staging ground and refueling stop in their airlift of weapons and ammunition to the Congolese. See Fursenko and Naftali, Khrushchev's Cold War, p. 312.

50. Touré quoted by Schlesinger, Thousand Days, p. 568.

51. Ibid., 568. Touré also sent an angry telegram to Kennedy accusing the US of having had a hand in Lumumba's murder.

52. William Attwood, Twilight Struggle: Tales of the Cold War (New York, 1987), p. 226.

53. William Attwood, Oral history interview, Foreign Affairs Oral History Collection, Georgetown University Library, Washington, D.C. (hereafter referred to as Georgetown), p. 13.

54. Attwood, Twilight Struggle, p. 226.

55. Ibid., 227–8 and William Attwood, The Reds and the Blacks: A Personal Adventure (New York,1967), pp. 34–5.

56. Attwood, The Reds and the Blacks, p. 23.

57. Ibid., p. 35.

58. Telegram from Ambassador William Attwood to Bali, 12 May 1961, cited in Thomas J. Noer, “New Frontiers and Old Priorities in Africa,” in Thomas G. Paterson, ed., Kennedy's Quest for Victory: American Foreign Policy, 1961–1963 (New York, 1989), p. 279.

59. Schlesinger, Thousand Days, p. 9.

60. Memorandum of Conversation between President John F. Kennedy and Dr. Hastings K. Banda, President of Nyasaland, 2 May 1961. See FRUS, 1961–1963, Volume XXI, Africa, pp. 508–9.

61. Memorandum of Conversation between President John F. Kennedy and President Charles de Gaulle of France. President's Office Files, Box 116a “Countries: France,” Folder “JFK Visit to de Gaulle, 5/31–6/2/61,” JFKL.

62. Paper authored by Ambassador William Attwood, “Suggested Approach to Touré” 18 May 1961. National Security Files, Box 102 “Countries: Guinea,” Folder “Guinea, 1/61–5/61,” JFKL.

63. Memorandum of Conversation between President John F. Kennedy and Guinean Ambassador Dr. Seydou Conte, 26 May 1961. General Records of the Department of State, Classified Records of Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, G. Mennen Williams, 1961–1966, Lot 68D8. Box 3, Folder “1961 Memorandums of Conversations,” Record Group 59, NARA.

64. Attwood, Twilight Struggle, p. 228.

65. Attwood, The Reds and the Blacks, p. 44.

66. Ibid., p. 45.

67. Ibid., p. 43.

68. Memorandum from Director of Peace Corps to President John Kennedy and Secretary of State Dean Rusk. 20 June 1961. National Security Files, Box 102 “Countries: Guinea,” Folder “Guinea, General, 6/61–8/61,” JFKL. Also see Memorandum from Secretary of State Dean Rusk to President John F. Kennedy, 1 July 1961 in FRUS, 1961–1963, Volume XXI, Africa, 397–8. For US response to Shriver's trip see Memorandum from President John F. Kennedy to Secretary of State Dean Rusk, 5 July 1961 in Edward Claflin, ed., JFK Wants to Know: Memos from the President's Office, 1961–1963 (New York, 1991), pp. 71–72.

69. Vince Farley, “Welcoming but Wary, Africa Awaits President Clinton's Visit,” Editorial wrote for CNN.com (March 1998): see http://edition.cnn.com/SPECIALS/1998/africa/farley/#8 and Farley, interview with author, 10 December 2003, via telephone.

70. Farley, interview with author.

71. Farley, “Welcoming but Wary.”

72. Farley, interview with author.

73. Memorandum from Secretary of State Dean Rusk to President John F. Kennedy, 1 July 1961. In FRUS, 1961–1963, Volume XXI, Africa, pp. 397–8.

74. Telegram from the Department of State to American Embassy in Conakry, Guinea, 24 June 1961. Ibid., pp. 394–6.

75. Memorandum from President John F. Kennedy to Secretary of State Dean Rusk, 5 July 1961. See Ibid., p. 399.

76. Memorandum from Secretary of State Dean Rusk to President John F. Kennedy, 15 July 1961. Ibid., pp. 399–400.

77. Attwood, The Reds and the Blacks, 63 and Attwood, Twilight Struggle, p. 231.

78. Touré quoted in “West Africa,” 30 December 1961. Touré also accused the French ambassador of complicity in the plot for having allowed Guinean opposition elements to use the French diplomatic post in Conakry to communicate with “Guinean anti-party groups in Paris and Moscow.”

79. Memorandum of Conversation between President John F. Kennedy and Guinean Delegation led by Moussa Diakite, Minister-Governor of the Bank of the Republic of Guinea, 10 May 1962. National Security Files, Box 102 “Countries: Guinea,” Folder “Guinea, General, 4/62–6/62,” JFKL.

80. Research Memorandum from Bureau of Intelligence and Research Director Roger Hilsmen to the Acting Secretary of State, 5 October 1962. General Records of the Department of State Bureau of African Affairs, Box 2: “Office of West African Affairs, Country Files 1951–1963, Guinea,” Folder “History and Background,” Record Group 59, NARA.

81. Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: John F. Kennedy, 1962 (Washington, DC, 1963), pp. 752–3.

82. New York Times, 11 October 1962, p. 1.

83. Memorandum of Conversation between President John F. Kennedy and Guinean President Sékou Touré, 10 October 1962. General Records of the Department of State Bureau of African Affairs, Box 2: “Office of West African Affairs, Country Files, 1951–1963, Guinea,” Folder “U.S. Guinean Relations 16.1(6),” Record Group 59, NARA; and Attwood, The Reds and the Blacks, p. 106.

84. Attwood, Twilight Struggle, pp. 324–5.

85. Touré quoted by Attwood in The Reds and the Blacks, 107. For description of luncheon conversation between Jacqueline Kennedy and President Touré see Noer, “New Frontiers and Old Priorities in Africa,” p. 279.

86. Attwood, The Reds and the Blacks, p. 107.

87. Memorandum from Acting Chief of Protocol William J. Tonesk to President John F. Kennedy, 31 January 1963. General Records of the Department of State Bureau of African Affairs. Box “Office of West African Affairs, Country Files, 1951–1963, Guinea,” Folder “Political Affairs: Prominent Persons ––Sékou Touré,” Record Group 59, NARA.

88. Schlesinger, A Thousand Days, p. 569.

89. Letter from President John F. Kennedy to Guinean President Sékou Touré, 4 February 1963. General Records of the Department of State Bureau of African Affairs. Box “Office of West African Affairs, Country Files, 1951–1963, Guinea,” Folder “Political Affairs: Prominent Persons––Sékou Touré,” Record Group 59, NARA.

90. See the nearly 100 documents pertaining to the dilemma of Soviet civil aviation in Africa in General Records of the Department of State, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, George C. McGhee, Box 3 “Subject Files 1961–1963” and Box 1 “Subject Files 1961–1963,” Record Group 59, NARA.

91. James Wine, Georgetown, p. 18.

92. Robert Legvold, Soviet Policy in West Africa (Cambridge, MA, 1970), 157. Also see Attwood, The Reds and the Blacks, p. 104.

93. Roger Hilsman, the State Department's Assistant Secretary of State for Research and Intelligence, believed that at the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis the Soviets had not yet transported nuclear warheads to Cuba, but that Moscow had planned an airlift to transport the warheads to the island during the crisis. See Roger Hilsman, Oral history interview, Oral History Collection, Columbia University, New York, NY.

94. Attwood, The Reds and the Blacks, p. 109.

95. Chester Bowles Report on Africa Trip, 13 November 1962. President's Office Files, Box 21 “Staff Memoranda,” Folder “Chester Bowles Report on Africa Trip, 11/13/1962,” JFKL.

96. Letter from William Trimble, Director of West Coast and Malian Affairs (State Department) to G. Mennen Williams, Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, 17 November 1962, William Trimble Papers, MC #27, Box 5, Folder 5 “Africa Desk, Sep.–Dec. 1962,” Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ.

97. Dr. Saidou Conte and Diallo Telli often delivered letters from Touré to Kennedy, while Sargent Shriver, William Attwood, G. Mennen Williams, and Chester Bowles delivered letters from Kennedy to Touré.

98. See Letter from United States Ambassador to Guinea William Attwood to Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs G. Mennen Williams, 21 December 1962. General Records of the Department of State Bureau of African Affairs, Box “Office of West African Affairs, Country Files, 1951–1963, Guinea,” Folder “Shriver Visit,” Record Group 59, NARA; Letter from William Attwood to Alan Logan, Officer in Charge of Guinea Affairs, Bureau of African Affairs, 14 January 1963. General Records of the Department of State Bureau of African Affairs, Box “Office of West African Affairs, Country Files, 1951–1963, Guinea,” Folder “Communications and Records, Correspondence with Chief of Mission,” Record Group 59, NARA; and Letter from William Attwood to J. Wayne Fredericks, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, 13 February 1963. General Records of the Department of State Bureau of African Affairs, Box “Office of West African Affairs, Country Files, 1951–1963, Guinea,” Folder “Trade Promotion and Assistance, 1963 Sargent Shriver Visit to Open Fair,” Record Group 59, NARA.

99. Touré quoted by Attwood, The Reds and the Blacks, p. 126.

100. Apparently jealous of the close relationship forming between the United States and Guinea, France had repeatedly tried to drive a wedge between the two countries. French Foreign Office officials even privately admitted that they would prefer a Soviet Guinea over an “Americanized” Guinea (Attwood, The Reds and the Blacks, 130). Additionally, since he had received neither lycée nor university training in France, Touré unlike either Senghor or Houphouët-Boigny had been little influenced by French traditions or culture and, therefore, felt little affinity for Paris.

101. Fodeba Keita quoted in Attwood, The Reds and the Blacks, p. 129.

102. Memorandum of Conversation between Guinean Representative Diallo Telli and President John F. Kennedy, 19 July 1963. National Security Files, Box 102: “Countries: Guinea,” Folder “Guinea, General, 6/63–7/63,” JFKL and Attwood, The Reds and the Blacks, p. 129.

103. Letter from the President of Guinea Sékou Touré to President John F. Kennedy, 29 May 1963. General Records of the Department of State Bureau of African Affairs, Box “Office of West African Affairs, Country Files, 1951–1963, Guinea,” Folder “Communication and Records: Correspondence between Presidents,” Record Group 59, NARA.

104. Ibid. Also for a memorandum of the discussion between Diallo and Kennedy see Memorandum of Conversation between Guinean Representative Diallo Telli and President John F. Kennedy, 19 July 1963. National Security Files, Box 102: “Countries: Guinea,” Folder “Guinea, General, 6/63–7/63,” JFKL.

105. Touré quoted by Attwood, The Reds and the Blacks, p. 129.

106. Memorandum of Conversation between Vladimir Dubinin, First Secretary of the USSR Embassy in Guinea, and Donald E. Herdeck, Acting Deputy Chief of US Mission in Guinea, 17 October 1963. General Records of the Department of State Bureau of African Affairs, Box 2 “Office of West African Affairs: Country Files, 1951–1963,” Folder “Political Affairs and Relations: Soviet Bloc–Guinean Relations,” Record Group 59, NARA.

107. State Department Report on Bilateral Talks with France, 5 June 1963. General Records of the Department of State, Under Secretary of State of Political Affairs, George C. McGhee, Box 1: “Subject Files, 1961–1963,” Folder “Sino–Soviet Efforts in Africa,” Record Group 59, NARA.

108. Memorandum of Conversation between President John F. Kennedy and the Guinean Representative at the United Nations and Special Envoy of President Sékou Touré, Diallo Telli, 19 July 1963. National Security Files, Box 102: “Countries: Guinea,” Folder “Guinea, General, 6/63–7/63,” JFKL.

109. Schlesinger, A Thousand Days, p. 1029.

110. Telegram from Guinean Ambassador to the United States, Karim Bangoura, to Secretary of State Dean Rusk, 23 November 1963. General Records of the Department of State Bureau of African Affairs, Box 2: “Office of West African Affairs, Country Files 1951–1963, Guinea,” Folder “Communications & Records: General Correspondence,” Record Group 59, NARA.

111. See Schlesinger, A Thousand Days, p. 1029.

112. Attwood, The Reds and the Blacks, p. 107.

113. Morrow, First American Ambassador to Guinea, p. 280.

114. Attwood, Twilight Struggle, p. 232.

115. Ibid., p. 239.

116. Secret State Department Report of “U.S. Activities Aimed at Offsetting or Precluding Sino–Soviet Efforts in Guinea,” March 1963. General Records of the Department of State, Under Secretary of State of Political Affairs, George C. McGhee, Box 1: “Subject Files, 1961–1963,” Folder “Sino–Soviet Bloc Efforts in Africa,” Record Group 59, NARA.

117. Attwood, Twilight Struggle, p. 232. Ambassador Attwood's wife, Sim, along with the wife of Gene Abrams (country director at the US embassy) volunteered at a local Guinean hospital and were active in various other events around the city. When Mrs. Attwood learned that the Guinean hospital where she worked was without an incubator, she and her husband sent a letter to their hometown newspaper and their fellow townsmen raised $3,000 and sent an incubator (see William Attwood, Georgetown, p. 23). The Guineans were appreciative of Mrs. Attwood's efforts and noted the contrast between her and the wives of Eastern European diplomats who rarely left their compounds.

118. Kennedy also used personal diplomacy to court other African leaders such as Gamal Abdel Nasser (Egypt), Kwame Nkrumah (Ghana), Julius Nyerere (Tanganyika), and Ben Bella (Algeria) among others. See Muehlenbeck, “Betting on the Dark Horses.”