ABSTRACT

As John F. Kennedy pledged in his inaugural address to support any friend and oppose any foe, he stipulated that while foes were all of one type, friends came in three varieties, each entailing a different obligation. Addressing himself first to ‘those old allies whose cultural and spiritual origins we share’ he promised unity and cooperation. To ‘our sister republics south of our border’ he offered an Alliance for Progress. His most vivid words were reserved for a third category. To ‘those new states whom we welcome to the ranks of the free . . . those peoples in the huts and villages across the globe struggling to break the bonds of mass misery’, he offered the vaguest but most quotable promises, namely to prevail in their long twilight struggle, to ameliorate poverty and to help them help themselves. Among allies and clients, there were crucial distinctions of wealth, geography and, especially, time. Kennedy’s speech located the United States at a historic juncture in the present moment (‘let the word go forth from this time and place’) from which he looked forward and backward at America’s partners, some as cultural forebears, others as inheritors of an American legacy.1