Questionable Things About JFK's Presidency

Posted by Sebrina Pilcher on Friday, May 3, 2024

Another area of Africa that drew the close attention of the Kennedy administration was the "Congo Crisis," which had actually begun during the previous administration in 1960. According to the State Department's Office of the Historian, throughout 1960, the Congolese were preparing for their official independence from Belgium to the high hopes of the Eisenhower administration. However, that June, a mutiny broke out, pitting Congolese and Belgium troops against each other, and soon the entire country was engulfed in chaos.

In the midst of infighting in the new Congolese government, a Colonel in the army, Joseph Mobutu (pictured above), initiated a coup d'etat and seized power. The new Kennedy administration immediately supported Mobutu and his bid to create a stable and pro-Western Congo, gave him huge funds, and signed bilateral military agreements. Kennedy even arranged for Mobutu to attend parachute training school at Ft. Benning, Georgia, as a testament to their relationship (via Odd Arne Westad in "The Global Cold War").

Mobutu, who renamed Congo to Zaire and started to call himself Mobuto Sese Seko, ruled the country for the next three decades until being deposed in 1997 (via Britannica). His government was incredibly unstable, and he constantly faced attempted coups and rebellions. He is also noted for his massive corruption, gaining a massive personal fortune while presiding over an endemically poor and economically stagnant country. Yet, without Kennedy's support, he might never have gained power in the 1960s.

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