Kennedy’s record of presidential diplomacy forms a powerful contrast to the prevailing assumptions of the present day. His first year in office witnessed numerous meetings with foreign leaders—many of them neither aligned with the United States, nor well regarded by the American electorate. He received Ghana’s Kwame Nkrumah, a frequent critic of U.S. policy in Africa. India’s Jawaharlal Nehru, often derided for his decision to remain nonaligned in the Cold War, paid Kennedy an autumnal visit. Indonesia’s Sukarno, whom the CIA had tried to undermine a few short years earlier, visited the White House twice. Most fatefully of all, Kennedy met with Soviet General Secretary Nikita Khrushchev for two tense days in Vienna.
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