Kwame Nkrumah meets President Kennedy, 1961

Photograph

8 March 1961 · Washington, D.C.

Kwame Nkrumah 1909–1972 John F. Kennedy 1917–1963

Ghana's president and the American president at a press appearance during Nkrumah's visit to Washington.

Kwame Nkrumah and President John F. Kennedy standing beside microphones, with the seal of the President of the United States on the wall behind them. — Kwame Nkrumah with President John F. Kennedy, 8 March 1961. Abbie Rowe, John F. Kennedy Presidential Library (public domain)

Context

Ghana had been independent for four years when its president visited Washington in March 1961. The visit came as Ghana sought international backing for its Volta River hydroelectric project, and while both Cold War powers were competing for the friendship of newly independent states. Throughout these years Nkrumah argued that Africa's independence was incomplete without continental unity.