The election of 1960 marked the beginning of what would soon be known as the swinging sixties, a decade of revolutionary change, in particularly, the changes of the rights of African Americans and Women. Richard Nixon of the state of California, the incumbent Vice President to then President Dwight D Eisenhower (1953-1961), secured the Republican nomination and on the Democratic side, the candidate was inexperienced John F Kennedy, who served as Senator for the state of Massachusetts.
Both candidates faced tough challenges during this election. Richard Nixon made a pledge to visit all fifty states in the union, however, this took up too much time when visiting states like Alaska and Hawaii, in which the amount of time spent their outweighed the amount of votes Nixon was going to secure for these two states. However, Nixon was typically clumsy and bashed his knee on a car door, which later became infected, forcing him to spend two weeks in the hospital and not campaigning. However, he still visited all fifty states of the union.
Kennedy on the other hand, faced problems securing the Democratic nomination. Harry Truman, president from 1945-1953, urged Kennedy in a televised speech to consider if he was ready for the role of President. Further to this, Lyndon B Johnson, then Senate majority leader from Texas, wanted the nomination for himself. However, Kennedy secured the nomination and announced Johnson as his running mate for the Democratic ticket. This would secure Texas in the Electoral College, a state which Kennedy needed to win to secure the Presidency.
Kennedy, further faced problems after the Democratic Convention due to his religion. Kennedy was a Catholic and no President in history had been in office as a Catholic. Anti-Catholic literature was aimed at Kennedy, as America at the time, was still a Protestant country. However, Kennedy arranged to address an audience of Protestant ministers, numbering around four hundred. It is reported by one of the leading Protestant Ministers, that Kennedy was shaking before he began to speak and take questions from the Ministers. However, once on stage, all the nerves disappeared and Kennedy answered every single question, in which at times were personal. Kennedy clarified his desire for religious toleration and that he was not the Catholic candidate but the Democratic Party Candidate. Establishing this reassurance to the Protestant Ministers, that religion would not play a role should he win the White House, this allowed Kennedy to focus on the countries issues and move away from the Catholic question which he had addressed.
In the next stage of the election, comes the election debates; in which still today, is used as a reminder to Presidential Candidates of what to do and not to do in a Presidential debate. On the day of the debate, John F Kennedy relaxes at his hotel, while Nixon carries on with the full schedule of the campaign, draining his energy by the evening. Nixon, arrives at the debate studio and gets out of the car, he then bashes his knee again on the car door, entering the studio in pain. Kennedy, strolls in like a celebrity, full of energy but also more relaxed and calm than Nixon. Kennedy’s performance projects him as Presidential, he comes across as sophisticated, charismatic, cool and a candidate in which voters can label him as a President. Nixon, on the other hand is sweating under the hot studio lights, he looks uncomfortable, nervous and if you ever see a clip from the debate, notice his eyes as they dart from side to side when he looks at Kennedy speaking.
In addition, Patrick Buchanan noted that the Vice President would state that he agreed with Senator Kennedy on a lot of issues, thus making him indistinguishable in terms of policy from Kennedy, which further damaged Nixon, as not only did his debate performance set him aside in Presidential looks and style, but now his recurring agreement with Kennedy didn’t set his candidacy to be different from that of his Democratic opponent.
According to television audiences, Kennedy wins the debate but according to radio listeners, Nixon wins the debate.
Before the final Election Day vote, Nixon uses Eisenhower to his advantage, Eisenhower was a very popular president, securing more than two landslide victories in 1952 and 1956 in which he received in both, more than four hundred electoral votes. Eisenhower was also a key player in the defeat of Hitler during the Second World War. Nixon appeared with Eisenhower at every opportunity, to reinforce the message of continuity, Nixon conveyed a message of ‘what you got with Eisenhower will continue with me and you know what to expect with me.’ (These are not Nixon’s exact word but overall message to voters)
Kennedy on the other hand, focused on women voters, an add was produced in which a jingle was attached and repeated the name ‘Kennedy’, as many of the Kennedy business products were sold with a jingle , they figured why not the Democratic candidate. The political broadcast was aimed at women due to the fact it aired a lot during the day time, which in the 1960s, would have been seen by many house wives. In addition, Kennedy had huge health problems, hormonal deficiency which could have killed him as well as Addison’s disease, JFK’s father installed medicine boxes all across the United States to ensure his son would never run low or out of his required medicine. However, during the campaign, Kennedy aids ensured that when the doctors were asked by the press (who loved Kennedy and saw Nixon an awkward politician) if he was fit for office, the doctors lied, in turn, this saw the topic of Kennedy’s health never questioned again.
On the day of the election, Nixon voted in California and Kennedy voted in Massachusetts. Nixon wanted to avoid the press and so went across the border to Mexico with a friend to drink cocktails. During the early evening of the election night, the TV networks announced Kennedy had won Connecticut’s eight electoral votes and the networks suggested that Kennedy could have an Electoral College landslide. However, as more Western states closed their polls, Nixon began to win these states such as Ohio, a key battleground state. Both candidates went to bed on election night as the outcome was too close to call. Nixon conceded defeat to John Kennedy when he was told he had lost of the state of Illinois, which was crucial to his election victory. However, the following day, accusations of electoral fraud came into the light as it became apparent in Illinois, there had been more votes cast there than people living in some districts of Illinois. However, Nixon did not contest the results and Kennedy won by a popular vote margin.
‘On November 8, 1960, John F. Kennedy was elected president in one of the closest elections in U.S. history. In the popular vote, his margin over Nixon was 118,550 out of a total of nearly 69 million votes cast. His success in many urban and industrial states gave him a clear majority of 303 to 219 in the electoral vote.’ (JFK Library)
In terms of the electoral vote results:
(269 required to win)
Candidate
Electoral Vote
States Carried
Popular Vote
John F Kennedy
303
22
49.7%
Richard M Nixon
219
26
49.5%
Harry Byrd
15
2
Not available
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