60

1
60s
2
1960 Election
3
1960 Election

• The Republican Party nominated Richard M. Nixon
  while the Democrats nominated John F. Kennedy,
  the junior Senator from Massachusetts.
• Eventually, Kennedy was elected with a lead of
  112,827 votes, or 0.1 of the popular vote,
  giving him a victory of 303 to 219 in the
  Electoral College, the closest since 1916.
• Kennedys election was primarily due to
• an economic recession
• 17 million more registered Democrats than
  Republicans,
• the votes that Kennedy gained among Catholics
  practically matched the votes Nixon gained among
  Protestants
• Kennedy's better organization, and Kennedy's
  superior campaigning skills.
• Nixon wasted energy by campaigning in all 50
  states instead of concentrating on the swing
  states.
• Kennedy used his well-funded campaign
  organization, secured endorsements of the last of
  the big-city bosses
• Kennedy relied on Johnson to hold the South
• used television effectively. This was the first
  televised presidential race. He looked great on
  television. The debates were decided by visuals.
  Those that watched the debates thought Kennedy
  won, those that listened on radio thought Nixon
  won.

4
Kennedy and Nixon

• You cannot find any two people more different and
  at the same time so alike.
• Nixon was born poor, struggled to become famous,
  was neurotic, paranoid and a confirmed Cold
  Warrior
• Nixon was a lifelong supporter of conservative
  Republican platforms
• He was elected to Congress in 1948 in one of the
  most vicious mudslinging campaigns in California
  history
• He was picked by Eisenhower to be vice president
  after he had convicted Alger Hiss on perjury
  charges
• He was revealed to have a secret fund to finance
  his lifestyle that was maintained by rich
  industrialists. He was able to stay on the 1952
  ticket by making the Checkers Speech.

5
Kennedy and Nixon

• Kennedy was born fabulously wealthy, became
  famous by making a mistake, was shallow,
  promiscious and a confirmed Cold Warrrior.
• He was born to the Kennedy fortune, did not know
  there was a Great Depression until he read about
  it in college at Harvard in 1939
• He commanded the PT 109 in the South Pacific and
  was given a Silver Star for rescuing shipmates
  after a Japanese destroyer rammed their boat.
• He returned to Boston and was immediately elected
  in a district controlled by his father.
• As a Congressman and Senator he was usually
  referred to as furniture by journalists.

6
Kennedy Administration

• As a minority president, Kennedy made a number of
  promises to Civil Rights leaders, members of
  Congress