The American Presidential Election of 1960

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The 44th episode in a very long series about the American presidential elections from 1788 to the present. In 1960, it's JFK vs. Nixon in one of the closest Presidential elections of all time.

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The 44th Presidential election in American history took place on November 8, 1960. It was the first election in which Alaska and Hawaii could both participate. Dwight Eisenhower had a pretty good run, but he was the first President officially not allowed to seek a third term. His Vice President for eight years, Richard Nixon, now enthusiastically sought the Presidency. Several Republicans, however, supported Nelson Rockefeller, the Governor of New York and the member of the wealthy Rockefeller family. Rockefeller was the leader of the liberal/moderate wing of the Republican Party.

After he decided to drop out of the race, Nixon easily won the Republican nomination, but he was a little worried he didn’t have the Rockefeller Republicans on his side, so he met with Rockefeller to make sure they were on the same page on many issues. By doing this, Nixon sort of officially became a big government Republican, you could say. Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, was Nixon’s running mate. Lodge was a familiar name, as he was the grandson of Senator Henry Cabot Lodge and also had a bunch of other ancestors who were involved with national politics.

The Democrats knew they had to nominate someone exciting to get back to the White House. Many Democrats were interested. Most of them were new to the national scene, but most were just not that exciting. Pat Brown, the governor of California, wanted the nomination, but wasn’t that exciting. Stuart Symington, a Senator from Missouri, wanted it and was a bit more exciting. Then there was Adlai Stevenson, who had lost the last two presidential elections. Meh, not exciting. Wayne Morse, a Senator from Oregon. Better. Lyndon Johnson, the Senate Majority Leader. Even better. Hubert Humphrey, a Senator from Minnesota, yeah, kind of got people fired up. But really, there was just one man that energized the Democratic Party far more than any other. John Kennedy. And despite some harsh criticism that he was too young to be President- he was just 43 after all, the Democratic Party went with him anyway.

Even though Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson had their disagreements, Kennedy helped unite the party behind him by asking Johnson to be his running mate, and Johnson accepted.

So it was Nixon versus Kennedy. Both of them drew huge, enthusiastic crowds everywhere they went. Nixon promised to campaign in all 50 states, even Alaska and Hawaii. He probably later regretted that promise, however, after he hurt his knee on a car door and the knee got severely infected. After he recovered two weeks later, he stayed true to his pledge, but some historians say he was an idiot for doing so, as he likely just wasted valuable time visiting states he had no chance of winning anyway.

Lyndon Johnson greatly helped Kennedy by aggressively campaigning in the South. It was actually quite a smart move for Kennedy to choose him as his running mate. Still, several Americans criticized Kennedy for his youth, and just like with Al Smith in 1928, there were plenty of Protestants who didn’t want Kennedy, a Roman Catholic, as President because of his religion.

Since the economy was strong, Kennedy and Nixon often attacked each other on foreign policy. Believe it or not, this was the first time live presidential debates were held in the general election. There were four of them, and they were all on television, so it was a pretty big deal. For the first debate, most people who listened to it on the radio agreed that Nixon won. However, for those who saw it on TV, most agreed that Kennedy won. Why? Many say that Nixon looked uncomfortable and weak. He kept sweating, and was still recovering from his recent knee injury. He was tired from campaigning all day, and hadn’t worn any makeup, so his beard stubble showed up to viewers at home. Meanwhile, Kennedy looked rested, tan, and confident during the debate. It’s pretty crazy how many agree that appearing on television literally changed the outcome of this election.

However, going into election day, it was difficult to tell who would win. Everyone knew it would be close, and therefore this election became one of the most suspenseful and dramatic in American history.