Betting on the Africans is a well-researched examination of U.S. diplomacy toward Africa during John F. Kennedy's administration. Philip Muehlenbeck's work offers a compelling challenge to the conventional wisdom of continuity in U.S. Cold War foreign policy toward Africa. The book's meticulous analysis of the courtship of African leaders by President Kennedy provides valuable insights into personal diplomacy and U.S.-African relations during one of the more volatile periods of the Cold War. Although Muehlenbeck makes a persuasive case regarding the significance of Kennedy's leadership, the argument has its limitations.
Muehlenbeck sets out to explore Kennedy's use of personal diplomacy with African nationalist leaders. The book offers detailed accounts of Kennedy's correspondence and face-to-face meetings with various African leaders, from Julius Nyerere and Gamal Abdel Nasser to Kwame Nkrumah and Ahmed Ben Bella. Kennedy's most public and “overt” courting of African leaders was directed at moderate-left African nationalists rather than their...