Leadership Experience in the Cold War
The 1960 presidential election was the first modern campaign and one that took place at the height of the Cold War. The closeness of the election outcome led scholars to ask what tipped the balance in John F. Kennedy’s favor. However, as Robert Divine pointed out some years ago, we can also ask why did he not win more convincingly given recent American defeats abroad? Although numerous foreign policy issues engaged the candidates during the 1960 campaign, this chapter focuses on the three major issues that came to life during the campaign—Cuba, the Soviets, and the tiny offshore islands of Quemoy and Matsu—and to argue that Kennedy fumbled in his handling of all three but still managed to convince enough of the US electorate that he could be trusted to lead the nation on the world stage.