Hello, and welcome back to another edition of the presidential election series I’ll be going over the election of 1960 as Richard Nixon is looking to follow in his predecessor’s footsteps but his first gotta get through a fresh-faced Senator from Massachusetts who’s got money and charisma on his side… Enter JFK

Nixon’s Running for Office

After eight solid years of Dwight D. Eisenhower as President of the United States, Ike officially became the first commander and chief who was unable to run for re-election following the passing of the 22nd amendment to the Constitution. 

With Eisenhower’s time in office dwinding down, Vice President Richard Nixon decided to go after his party’s nomination for president his only real challenger in the early stages being the Governor of New York, Nelson Rockefeller who became the new leader of the ‘Eastern Establishment’ wing of the Republican Party but he soon dropped out of the race upon realizing that he couldn’t overcome the popularity of the then Vice President.

Following this, Richard Nixon was able to get the nomination becoming the first sitting Vice President to be nominated for president by one of the major parties since John C. Breckinridge back in 1860; Nixon’s running mate in this election was Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. who was the former Senator from Massachusetts and the then U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations.

JFK for President

Through a combination of his family’s wealth and connections as well as his own charm and energy Massachusetts Senator, John Fitzgerald Kennedy looked like a poised to defeat his Democratic rivals in the primaries although some would not go down without a fight.

One of these rivals was Texas Senator, Lyndon Baines Johnson who decided to make JFK’s health a major issue in the primaries as Kennedy had suffered from among other things a serious case of Addison’s Disease which was a condition that affects the adrenal glands. JFK and his aides were able to convince the American people that these allegations were false and even had doctors admit that Kennedy was healthy and he had fresh bill of health…which was a bold face lie but in 1960 many voters believed it.

By the time Kennedy won the nomination, he decided to announce his running mate was going to be none other then Lyndon B. Johnson with many historians calling this a great decision made by the Kennedy campaign as LBJ could help swing many southern states including Texas in the favor of JFK.

Despite winning the Democratic Party’s nomination for president, Kennedy had a major problem to deal with on the campaign trail and it all centers around religion.

Kennedy The Catholic

While the idea of a person’s religion being a handicap for why they shouldn’t be president sounds farfecthed today, back then it was a big deal and John F. Kennedy was a Roman Catholic which led to a resurgence of anti-Catholic sentiment in America.

Similar to the 1928 election where Hebert Hoover defeat Al Smith in a landslide due in no small part to Smith’s Catholism, many religous leaders feared that Catholics would take orders from the Pope rather than the American people…And this was the situation Kennedy found himself in 1960.

As a way to deal with this issue once and for all, JFK decides to head to Houston Texas in September of 1960 in front of a televised group of Protestants ministers in order to address the matter of religion and politics going forward as well as to quell the fears many religious people may have about a Catholic president.

In his speech Kennedy attempts to turn the conversation around by mentioning that his politics are not dictated by his religous views but simply by his views for a better America best described by JFK in quotes such as: “I do not speak for my church on public matters and the church doesn’t speak for me; I believe in an America where seperation of Church and State is absolute.” 

Kennedy sums up his point with these words: “If this election is decided on the basis that 40 million Americans lost their chance of being president on the day they were bapitized, then it is the whole nation that will be the loser-in the eyes of Catholics and non-Catholics around the world, in the eyes of history, and in the eyes of our own people.”

Upon finishing his speech, the ministers stood up and gave him a round of applause with the hope (at least in Kennedy’s mind) that the religious issue has been put to rest.

Strategies and Stumbles

Throughout the election, Kennedy’s political ads see him talking with everyday people and even celebrities who are wondering what direction the senator will take the country if elected. Kennedy promises to get America moving once more as he believes the previous adminsration has been stagant when comes to dealing with the Soviet Union especially when it comes to the Space Race and promoting his youth as a benefit rather than a hinderence in the word of poltics.

Nixon’s campaign mainly focused on the promise of continuing the same level of propersity and security in the country under President Eisenhower and even Ike himself is going out and campaigning for his vice president in the final weeks of the election.

During his election ads, Nixon touches on topics like equal rights for all Americans and that his experience in domestic and foreign policies was more than enough reason to elected him as the new president.

Considering his the VP to a popular president and the fact his got more name recongition and experience on the world stage all signs point to Nixon having all of the momentum, sadly Nixon underminding his own advantages in a number of ways throughout the race.

Perhaps the biggest example of this is Nixon’s idea to travel to each individual state to promote his policies with many experts back then and now claiming that this was the absolute dumbest idea ever as the former California Senator was using his time and energy campaigning in states that were either going to vote for the Republicans no matter what or campaigning in states that he had no chance of winning like the South.

As you can imagine, ‘Trick Dick’ was exhausted from all the traveling which provided the Kennedy team enough time to focus on the states that could swing the election in favor of the Democrats.

In addition to tiring himself out, Nixon also hurt his knee when getting out of a car and the knee got infected leading to him halting any campaign efforts for several weeks to get the treatment needed at the hospital, however he still kept his promise to campaign upon leaving the hospital, but many claimed that he still looked exhausted around this time.

On top of all of that, when it comes time for the very first televised presidential debate, Nixon made the decision to campaign rather than save his energy and his knee would still cause him tremdous pain as he entered the building where the first debate was set to take place.

The Presidential Debates

This election is often remembered for having the first televised presidential debate in American history, however this is actually the second time something like this happened as the 1956 election saw Maine Senator, Maraget Smith debate former first lady, Eleanor Roosevelt as they represented Eisenhower and Stevenson respectively.

Fast forward four more years and it would the candidates themselves debating with at least four debates being televised to around 70-66 million watching at home.

Going into the first debate, JFK came off looking calm, collected and confident which was a far cry from Nixon who was uncomfortable, sweaty, and still in pain from his knee injury plus he didn’t wear make up which caused his beard stubble to show up on screen; Nixon’s running mate was reportedly furious over Nixon’s appearance on TV and Nixon himself would later admit his disappointment over the first debate many years later.

Despite this though, the first debate was disputed due to the fact that many who watched it claimed that Kennedy won while those who listened to the debate on the radio claimed that Nixon was the winner.

The three other debates were much easier when it came to determining the winner with many pundits at the time believing that Nixon (who looked better than in the first debate) winning the second and third while the fourth was a tie, however fewer people watched the last three debates compared to the first.

Overall, the race continues to get tighter between Kennedy and Nixon with the polls constantly going back and forth in favor of either candidate, but a major event that’s taking place in Alabama could be the thing that helps decide the next president.

The Arrest of Martin Luther King Jr.

A few days before the fourth presidential debate, Civil Rights Activist and Pastor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was arrested on October 19th for entering and refusing to leave an all white establishment with other civil rights activists and was later in the night transferred to a state penitentiary in Georgia.

This news led many including his wife, Coretta to fear for MLK’s life as the police were no strangers to using police brutality on African Americans and getting little to no repercussion for it.

The campaign teams for both Nixon and Kennedy see this as an opening to help their respective candidate get the advantage as calling for Dr. King’s release from prison would not only be good PR, but it could also get many African Americans behind that candidate heading into election day.

Nixon attempts to use his connections in the White House in order to ask for Dr. King’s release but his unsuccessful; Meanwhile JFK calls Coretta King to offer his support for her husband which was a good gesture, but it also gets a number of Kennedy advisors including Robert F. Kennedy furious as the Democratic Party’s core voting base were in the South and if a candidate from their party is supporting an African American then it’s highly possible that many of those voters will instead vote for someone else or they’ll just stay home.

In a last ditch effort to salvage the situation, Robert Kennedy calls the for the release for Dr. King and unlike Richard Nixon, the Kennedy’s were successful as on October 28th 1960 Dr. King walks out a free man and gives John F. Kennedy the PR he needs to win over a good portion of the African American community.

Election of 1960: The Results and Alleged Voter Fraud

Since the last election the states of Alaska and Hawaii were now able to participate thus making the electoral votes needed to win being 269 or more. On November 8th the results came in with John F. Kennedy emerging as the victor and becoming the 35th President of the United States in one of the closest elections since 1916.

In addition to becoming the youngest man ever elected president at just the age 43 years old, Kennedy recieved 303 electoral votes to Richard Nixon’s 219, however the popular vote was much closer with JFK getting 49.7% to Nixon’s 49.6% with 112,827 votes seperating both men.

You may also notice something usual about the electoral map as a few states in the South are colored orange and there’s a reason for that.

14 electors in the states of Mississippi, Alabama and one in Oklahoma had voted for Harry Byrd, who was the segregationist Senator from Virginia after Kennedy had publicly declared his support for the Civil Right Movement but none of this made a difference as these votes didn’t play a major role in changing the outcome of this election.

Due to the race being so close members of the Republican Party accused the Kennedy campaign and the Democrats in general of voter fraud in places like Texas, Illinois, New Jersey and Missouri even going so far as to claim that dead people were coming out of their graves to go out a vote for Kennedy…less you think charges of electoral fraud and claims of dead folks voting for the Democrats is a recent phenomenon.

Despite some in the GOP and Nixon’s aides telling him to challenge the legitimacy of these votes, Nixon would make a speech just a few days later where he wouldn’t challenge the votes and concede gracefully to JFK…but of course as we all know this wouldn’t be last of Richard Nixon when it came to running for president.

If you like this kind of content, be sure to leave your thoughts down below in the comment section and be sure to follow Lace ‘Em Up on X @laceemupoffice you can follow me also on X @hakeemfullerton and I’ll see you in the next article.