United States presidential election of 1960Article Free Pass
United States presidential election of 1960, American presidential election held on November 8, 1960, in which Democrat John F. Kennedy narrowly defeated Republican Vice Pres. Richard M. Nixon. Kennedy thus became the first Roman Catholic and the youngest person ever elected president. Kennedy was also the first president born in the 20th century.
The primary campaign
The campaign began in earnest in January 1960, when Senator Kennedy of Massachusetts and Sen. Hubert H. Humphrey of Minnesota announced their candidacies for the Democratic nomination. From January until the West Virginia primary in May, Kennedy and Humphrey crisscrossed the country in quest of delegate votes for the Democratic convention. Other Democratic candidates, avowed or unavowed, included Sen. Lyndon B. Johnson of Texas, the Democratic leader in the Senate; Sen. Stuart W. Symington of Missouri, former secretary of the air force; and Adlai E. Stevenson, former governor of Illinois, who had been the Democratic nominee in 1952 and 1956.
On the Republican side there was little doubt that their nominee would be Nixon. Gov. Nelson A. Rockefeller of New York, who had indicated late in 1959 that he might seek the Republican nomination, withdrew in late December in the face of almost total opposition by Republican Party leaders. Nixon entered some of the primaries, but only to demonstrate his vote-getting abilities. He never faced any serious opposition.
Throughout the primaries and the fall campaign, Kennedy’s religion was a dominant issue. He would become only the second Roman Catholic ever to be nominated for president by a major party (the first was Democratic Gov. Al Smith of New York, who lost to Herbert Hoover in 1928). Some Protestant ministers and prominent laymen expressed fears that a Catholic president would be under the domination of the pope and would not always be free to act in the best interests of the country, charges which Kennedy denied.
Kennedy and Humphrey were the only major Democratic contenders to enter presidential primaries in 1960. Their first significant primary was in Wisconsin in April. Both Humphrey and Kennedy campaigned energetically in that state, which borders Humphrey’s home state of Minnesota. Kennedy won easily and was especially strong in Milwaukee and other areas where there were large numbers of Catholic voters. A month later Kennedy all but eliminated Humphrey from consideration by defeating him in West Virginia, a heavily Protestant state, proving that he could win in a state with few Catholics.
Kennedy went to the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles, held July 11–15, 1960, as the front-runner for the nomination, with some 600 delegates of the 761 needed for nomination secured. Johnson, however, hoped to wrest the nomination from Kennedy. Nevertheless, Kennedy won the nomination on the first ballot, with 806 votes. Kennedy then surprised most of his supporters by picking Johnson as his vice presidential running mate. The selection was generally interpreted as a move to hold the South, where opposition to Kennedy’s religion was strong and where the traditional Democratic leanings of the voters were changing. The party platform adopted at Los Angeles promised to expand the country’s defense and foreign aid programs. It also committed the Democratic Party, controversially, to civil rights. In his acceptance speech, Kennedy said the American people needed to be prepared to sacrifice in the years ahead. There were, he said, stimulating “new frontiers” to be crossed by the United States.
Two weeks later, in Chicago, the Republicans nominated Nixon. Nixon chose as his running mate Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., a former U.S. senator from Massachusetts. Throughout the administration of Pres. Dwight D. Eisenhower (1953–61), Lodge—whose grandfather had 30 years earlier led the Senate opposition to U.S. participation in the League of Nations—was the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and as such the principal U.S. spokesman in that world organization. Leaders of both parties considered Lodge a formidable choice.
The Republican platform promised to continue and to improve upon the programs of the Eisenhower administration. Although there were some signs of dissatisfaction with the administration because of its failure to pursue aggressive action in such as areas as military programs, aid to depressed areas, and space exploration, it was generally agreed that Eisenhower’s prestige was as high as it had ever been and that the president’s support was a distinct advantage to Nixon.
What made you want to look up "United States presidential election of 1960"? Please share what surprised you most...