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From March 8 to June 7, 1960, voters and members of the Democratic Party elected delegates to the 1960 Democratic National Convention through a series of caucuses, conventions, and primaries, partly for the purpose of nominating a candidate for President of the United States in the 1960 election. The presidential primaries were inconclusive, as several of the leading contenders did not enter them, but U.S. Senator John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts emerged as the strongest candidate and won the nomination over Lyndon B. Johnson at the convention, held from July 11 to 15 at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena.
Recalling the experience of 1928 Democratic nominee Al Smith (who was Catholic), many wondered if anti-Catholic prejudice would affect Kennedy's chances of winning the nomination and the election in November. [1] To prove his vote-getting ability, Kennedy challenged U.S. senator Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota, a liberal, in the Wisconsin primary. Although Kennedy defeated Humphrey in Wisconsin, his reliance on heavily Catholic areas left many party bosses unconvinced. Kennedy thus faced Humphrey in the heavily Protestant state of West Virginia. Humphrey's campaign was low on money and could not compete with the well-organized, well-financed Kennedy team. Kennedy's siblings combed the state looking for votes, leading Humphrey to complain that he "felt like an independent merchant running against a chain store." [2] On primary day, Kennedy crushed Humphrey with over 60% of the vote, and Humphrey withdrew from the race.
Although Kennedy won the popular contests by comfortable margin, his main opponent, Senate Majority Leader Lyndon B. Johnson, did not participate (except as a write-in candidate). Johnson had a very strong base in the party establishment and gained the support of many delegates chosen through caucus and convention selection processes. [3] In the months leading up to the Democratic Convention, Kennedy traveled around the nation persuading delegates from various states to support him. However, as the Convention opened, Kennedy was still a few dozen votes short of victory.[ citation needed ]
Several major candidates served as Democratic Party nominees, with John F. Kennedy serving as the nominee for 1960, Johnson in 1964, and Humphrey in 1968.
After controlling the White House for five consecutive terms from 1933 through 1953, the Democratic Party had been defeated in two consecutive elections. Both times, popular World War II general Dwight D. Eisenhower defeated Adlai Stevenson II. [4]
At the 1956 Democratic National Convention, Stevenson surprisingly left the choice of his vice-presidential running mate to the delegates. [5] Following his nomination in Chicago, Stevenson made a brief appearance before the convention. He told the delegates he had decided "to depart from the precedents of the past" and that "the selection of the Vice Presidential nominee should be made through the free processes of this convention." [6] With one day's notice, the candidates scrambled to assemble campaigns for delegate support. The leaders were Estes Kefauver, who had run two populist campaigns for the presidency but lost the nomination each time to Stevenson, and John F. Kennedy, a relatively unknown United States Senator from Massachusetts but a scion of the powerful Kennedy family. Kennedy surprised observers by surging into the lead on the second ballot and falling only 39 votes short of the nomination, but on the third ballot, several favorite son candidates threw their delegations' support to Kefauver, and he prevailed. Kennedy gave a gracious concession speech, raising his national profile within the party. [7]
In the 1958 elections, the Republican Party suffered heavy losses due to a nationwide economic recession, the launch of Sputnik by the Soviet Union, and the galvanized opposition of organized labor following the passage of strengthened labor restrictions. Kennedy was re-elected in a historic landslide; the gain of ten Senate seats also buttressed the political power of Senate Majority Leader Lyndon B. Johnson, who had won the regional support of some Southern delegations in 1956. [8]
"Democrats won seats in the Senate in California, Connecticut, Indiana, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, Ohio, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming." Democrats conceded no seats they had obtained in previous years. [8]
The following political leaders were candidates for the 1960 Democratic presidential nomination:
Candidate | Most recent office | Home state | Campaign Withdrawal date | Popular vote | Contests won | Running mate | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
John F. Kennedy | United States Senator from Massachusetts (1953–1960) | Massachusetts | (Campaign) Secured nomination:July 15, 1960 | 1,847,259 (31.4%) | 10 | Lyndon B. Johnson |
These candidates participated in multiple state primaries or were included in multiple major national polls.
Candidate | Most recent office | Home state | Campaign Withdrawal date | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Lyndon B. Johnson | United States Senator from Texas (1949–1961) | Texas | Announced: July 1960 (Campaign) | ||
Hubert Humphrey | United States Senator from Minnesota (1949–1964, 1971–1978) | Minnesota | Announced: December 30, 1959 Withdrew: May 10, 1960 (Campaign) | ||
Adlai Stevenson II | Governor of Illinois (1949–1953) | Illinois | (Campaign) | ||
Stuart Symington | U.S. Senator from Missouri (1953–1976) | Missouri | (Campaign) | ||
Robert B. Meyner [9] | Governor of New Jersey (1954–1962) | New Jersey | (Campaign) | ||
Wayne Morse | United States Senator from Oregon (1945–1969) | Oregon | (Campaign) |
The following candidates ran only in their home state's primary or caucus for the purpose of controlling its delegate slate at the convention and did not appear to be considered national candidates by the media.
The following persons were listed in two or more major national polls or were the subject of media speculation surrounding their potential candidacy, but declined to actively seek the nomination.
Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. Updates on reimplementing the Graph extension, which will be known as the Chart extension, can be found on Phabricator and on MediaWiki.org. |
Poll source | Publication | Pat Brown | Hubert Humphrey | Estes Kefauver | John F. Kennedy | Lyndon Johnson | Adlai Stevenson | Stuart Symington | Other | Undecided |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Gallup [10] | Aug. 11, 1957 | – | 5% | 29% | 23% | 8% | – | 5% | 14% [b] | 16% |
Gallup [11] | Nov. 16, 1957 | – | 3% | 26% | 19% | 11% | – | 5% | 15% [c] | 21% |
Gallup [12] | June 11, 1958 | – | 3% | 16% | 19% | 12% | 23% | 4% | 8% [d] | 15% |
Gallup [13] | Nov. 30, 1958 | – | 1% | 11% | 23% | 6% | 29% | 5% | 11% [e] | 14% |
Gallup [14] | Jan. 25, 1959 | – | 4% | 10% | 25% | 7% | 29% | 4% | 12% [f] | 9% |
Gallup [15] | April 5, 1959 | – | – | 12% | 28% | 9% | 27% | 5% | 11% [g] | 9% |
Gallup [16] | May 18, 1959 | – | 5% | 10% | 25% | 13% | 26% | 7% | 6% [h] | 8% |
Gallup [17] | June 10, 1959 | – | 6% | – | 26% | 12% | 29% | 4% | 6% [i] | 8% |
Gallup [18] | July 9, 1959 | – | 4% | 11% | 29% | 14% | 25% | 6% | 4% [j] | 7% |
Gallup [19] | Aug. 14, 1959 | 2% | 5% | 9% | 26% | 12% | 26% | 7% | 6% [k] | 7% |
Gallup [20] | Sep. 27, 1959 | 1% | 5% | 9% | 30% | 10% | 26% | 6% | 8% | 5% |
Gallup [21] | Nov. 18, 1959 | 3% | 4% | 10% | 27% | 11% | 26% | 6% | 5% [l] | 8% |
Gallup [22] | Dec. 18, 1959 | 3% | 4% | 10% | 24% | 14% | 26% | 5% | 4% [m] | 10% |
Gallup [23] | Jan. 29, 1960 | 2% | 5% | 6% | 32% | 12% | 28% | 6% | 3% [n] | 6% |
Gallup [24] | Feb. 26, 1960 | – | 6% | 6% | 35% | 13% | 23% | 5% | 5% [o] | 7% |
Gallup [25] | March 27, 1960 | 3% | 5% | – | 34% | 15% | 23% | 6% | 6% | 8% |
Gallup [26] | April 20, 1960 | 3% | 7% | – | 39% | 11% | 21% | 6% | 5% | 8% |
Gallup [27] | May 27, 1960 | – | 7% | – | 41% | 11% | 21% | 7% | 9% | 4% |
Kennedy v. Kefauver
Poll source | Date(s) | Estes Kefauver | John F. Kennedy | Undecided |
---|---|---|---|---|
Gallup [28] | Feb. 7, 1958 | 35% | 56% | 9% |
Kennedy v. Johnson
Poll source | Date(s) | Lyndon Johnson | John F. Kennedy | Undecided |
---|---|---|---|---|
Gallup [29] | Feb. 28, 1960 | 32% | 58% | 10% |
Kennedy v. Stevenson
Poll source | Date(s) | John F. Kennedy | Adlai Stevenson | Undecided |
---|---|---|---|---|
Gallup [30] | Dec. 3, 1958 | 42% | 42% | 16% |
Gallup [31] | Feb. 6, 1959 | 44% | 45% | 1% |
Gallup [32] | June 12, 1959 | 45% | 44% | 11% |
Gallup [29] | Feb. 28, 1960 | 50% | 43% | 7% |
Look magazine [33] | June 21, 1960 | 59% | 20% | 21% |
Johnson v. Symington
Poll source | Date(s) | Lyndon Johnson | Stuart Symington | Undecided |
---|---|---|---|---|
Gallup [29] | February 28, 1960 | 47% | 28% | 25% |
Poll source | Date(s) | Sample size [a] | Hubert Humphrey | John F. Kennedy | Other | Undecided |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
The Fayette Tribune [34] | May 6, 1960 | 181 A in Fayette County | 24% | 38% | – | 39% |
Poll source | Date(s) | Sample size [a] | Hubert Humphrey | John F. Kennedy | Lyndon Johnson | Adlai Stevenson | Stuart Symington | Other | Undecided |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sen. William Proxmire [35] | Aug 5, 1959 | 1,311 A | 17% | 43% | 4% | 29% | 7% | – | – |
Date | Contest | Pledged delegates | John F. Kennedy | Lyndon Johnson | Pat Brown | Hubert Humphrey | George Smathers | Michael DiSalle | George H. McLain | Unpledged | Others |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
March 8 | New Hampshire primary | 11 | 11 43,372 | – | – | – | – | – | – | 7,527 | |
April 5 | Wisconsin primary | 31 | 23 476,024 | – | – | 8 366,753 | – | – | – | ||
April 12 | Illinois preference primary | 0 | 34,332 | – | – | 4,283 | – | – | – | 14,552 | |
Illinois delegate primary | 69 | [ data missing ] | |||||||||
April 19 | New Jersey primary | 0 | – | – | – | – | – | – | 217,608 | ||
April 26 | Massachusetts primary | 41 | 41 91,607 | – | – | 794 | – | – | – | 6,762 | |
Pennsylvania primary | 83 | 183,073 | – | – | 13,860 | – | – | – | 59,880 | ||
May 3 | Indiana primary | 34 | 353,832 | – | – | – | – | – | – | 82,937 | |
Ohio primary | 64 | – | – | – | – | – | 315,312 | – | |||
Washington D.C. primary | 9 | – | – | – | 8,239 | – | – | – | 6,127 | ||
May 8 | Texas caucuses [36] | 61 | – | 61 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
May 10 | Nebraska primary | 16 | 80,408 | – | – | 3,202 | – | – | – | 7,082 | |
West Virginia primary | 25 | 236,510 | – | – | 152,187 | – | – | – | |||
May 17 | Maryland primary | 24 | 201,769 | – | – | – | – | – | 24,350 | 49,420 | |
May 20 | Oregon primary | 17 | 146,663 | – | – | 16,319 | – | – | – | ||
May 24 | Florida primary | 29 | – | – | – | – | 322,235 | – | – | ||
June 7 | California primary | 81 | – | – | 1,354,031 | – | – | – | 646,387 | – | |
South Dakota primary | 11 | – | – | – | 24,773 | – | – | – | |||
TOTALS | 1,847,259 | 1,354,031 | 590,410 | 322,235 | 315,312 | 646,387 | 241,958 | 369,072 |
From the outset of the campaign, Kennedy's religion played a major role. Happy Chandler, the governor of Kentucky and a major power broker in the party, emphatically stated that Kennedy could not win Kentucky due to his Catholicism. [37]
Kennedy faced trivial opposition in the neighboring state of New Hampshire and won overwhelmingly. [38] While campaigning in Madison, Wisconsin, Kennedy expressed enthusiasm about the New Hampshire results: "I'm very happy about it; we did better than I thought we would." [39]
The first sharply contested popular primary was in Wisconsin, where Kennedy faced Humphrey on April 5.
Kennedy had begun building campaign operations in the state as early as June 1959, when he hired Jerry Bruno, the organizer behind William Proxmire's election to the Senate, and laid the groundwork for a campaign headquarters in Milwaukee. [40] Kennedy formally announced his intention to run in Wisconsin on January 21, intending to show popular support for his campaign. [41] The wealthy Kennedy was far better funded than Humphrey, a man of relatively modest means. [42] Kennedy was also supported by his wealthy and glamorous extended family and friends; in his memoirs, Humphrey later lamented that "Muriel and I and our 'plain folks' entourage were no match for the glamour of Jackie Kennedy and the other Kennedy women, for Peter Lawford ... and Frank Sinatra singing their commercial 'High Hopes'. Jack Kennedy brought family and Hollywood to Wisconsin. The people loved it and the press ate it up." [43] Humphrey nevertheless believed that by beating Kennedy in Wisconsin, he could blunt the latter's momentum and overtake him in later primaries.
In Wisconsin, Kennedy won with the support of Catholic voters, including some Republican Catholics who voted in the Democratic primary. [44] [45] Days before the primary, Kennedy said it had been the "toughest, closest, most meaningful". [46] However, some observers found his margin of victory unexpectedly narrow and attributed it solely to Catholic support, while Protestants had backed Humphrey, leaving questions about Kennedy's ability to carry the convention or the election in the fall. [47] Humphrey remained in the race, setting up a second popular showdown in the more heavily Protestant state of West Virginia.
The Wisconsin race was covered in the documentary film Primary .
In West Virginia, Kennedy sought to show that he could win the support of Protestant voters and to remove Humphrey from the race, securing the party's liberal wing and setting up a showdown with Johnson for the nomination. Humphrey had high expectations, given that the state's population was rural, working class, ninety-five percent Protestant, and its delegates had backed him against Kennedy in the vice presidential contest four years prior. [48]
Kennedy met the religious issue head-on, hoping to redefine the race as one of "tolerance against intolerance," rather than Catholic against Protestant. His father also brought Franklin Delano Roosevelt Jr. to campaign in the state; [49] Roosevelt then raised the issue of Humphrey's failure to serve in World War II. Though Humphrey had tried and failed to serve due to physical disability, [50] Roosevelt attacked his lack of service record, publicly telling audiences, "I don't know where [Humphrey] was in World War Two," and distributing flyers that accused him of draft dodging. [51] After the primary was over, Roosevelt apologized to Humphrey and retracted the claims, [48] which he later called his greatest political regret. [52]
Kennedy continued to outspend Humphrey heavily in West Virginia; though he publicly claimed expenditures of $100,000, later estimates placed his family's overall spending at $1.5 million, dwarfing Humphrey's $23,000. [53] Humphrey traveled the state in a rented bus, while the Kennedys used a family-owned airplane. [54] Humphrey later wrote of the West Virginia campaign, "as a professional politician I was able to accept and indeed respect the efficacy of the Kennedy campaign. But underneath the beautiful exterior, there was an element of ruthlessness and toughness that I had trouble either accepting or forgetting." [55]
On May 4, 1960, Humphrey and Kennedy took part in a televised one-on-one debate at WCHS-TV in Charleston, West Virginia, ahead of the state's primary. [56]
Kennedy defeated Humphrey soundly in West Virginia, and Humphrey announced his withdrawal from the race that night.
Presidential tally: [57]
Kennedy announced Lyndon B. Johnson as his choice of running-mate on the afternoon following his nomination. [58] Johnson was nominated by acclamation that evening. [59]
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Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 5, 1968. Republican nominee, former vice president Richard Nixon, defeated both the Democratic nominee, incumbent vice president Hubert Humphrey, and the American Independent Party nominee, former Alabama governor George Wallace.
Orval Eugene Faubus was an American politician who served as the 36th Governor of Arkansas from 1955 to 1967, as a member of the Democratic Party. In 1957, he refused to comply with a decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in the 1954 case Brown v. Board of Education, and ordered the Arkansas National Guard to prevent black students from attending Little Rock Central High School. This event became known as the Little Rock Crisis. He was elected to six two-year terms as governor.
The 1960 Democratic National Convention was held in Los Angeles, California, on July 11–15, 1960. It nominated Senator John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts for president and Senate Majority Leader Lyndon B. Johnson of Texas for vice president.
The 1956 Democratic National Convention nominated former Governor Adlai Stevenson of Illinois for president and Senator Estes Kefauver of Tennessee for vice president. It was held in the International Amphitheatre on the South Side of Chicago from August 13 to August 17, 1956. Unsuccessful candidates for the presidential nomination included Governor W. Averell Harriman of New York, Senator Lyndon B. Johnson of Texas, and Senator Stuart Symington of Missouri.
The Robert F. Kennedy presidential campaign began on March 16, 1968, when Kennedy, a United States Senator from New York, mounted an unlikely challenge to incumbent Democratic United States President Lyndon B. Johnson. Following an upset in the New Hampshire primary, Johnson announced on March 31 that he would not seek re-election to a second full term. Kennedy still faced two rival candidates for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination: the leading challenger United States Senator Eugene McCarthy and Vice President Hubert Humphrey. Humphrey had entered the race after Johnson's withdrawal, but Kennedy and McCarthy remained the main challengers to the policies of the Johnson administration. During the spring of 1968, Kennedy led a leading campaign in presidential primary elections throughout the United States. Kennedy's campaign was especially active in Indiana, Nebraska, Oregon, South Dakota, California, and Washington, D.C. After declaring victory in the California primary on June 4, 1968, Kennedy was assassinated at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. He died on June 6, 1968 at Good Samaritan Hospital. Had Kennedy been elected president, he would have been the first brother of a former U.S. president to win the presidency himself.
From January 27 to June 8, 1976, voters of the Democratic Party chose its nominee for president in the 1976 United States presidential election. Former Georgia governor Jimmy Carter was selected as the nominee through a series of primary elections and caucuses culminating in the 1976 Democratic National Convention held from July 12 to July 15, 1976, in New York City.
Eugene McCarthy, a U.S. senator from Minnesota, announced his candidacy in the 1968 Democratic party primaries against incumbent President Lyndon B. Johnson in November 1967, on a platform of ending American involvement in the Vietnam War. McCarthy's campaign was popular with young people and hippies who felt disillusioned from the government.
From March 11 to June 3, 1952, voters and members of the Democratic Party elected delegates to the 1952 Democratic National Convention, partly for the purpose of choosing a nominee for president in the 1952 United States presidential election. Incumbent President Harry S. Truman withdrew his candidacy for re-election after losing the New Hampshire primary to Senator Estes Kefauver of Tennessee. Kefauver proceeded to win a majority of the popular vote, but failed to secure a majority of delegates, most of whom were selected through other means.
Electoral history of John F. Kennedy, who served as the 35th president of the United States (1961–1963) and as a United States senator (1953–1960) and United States representative (1947–1953) from Massachusetts.
Hubert Horatio Humphrey served as the 38th vice president of the United States (1965–1969), as a United States senator from Minnesota, and as the 35th mayor of Minneapolis, Minnesota (1945–1948).
Electoral history of Lyndon B. Johnson, who served as the 36th president of the United States (1963–1969), the 37th vice president (1961–1963); and as a United States senator (1949–1961) and United States representative (1937–1949) from Texas.
This is the electoral history of Adlai Stevenson II, who served as Governor of Illinois (1949–1953) and 5th United States Ambassador to the United Nations (1961–1965), and was twice the Democratic Party's nominee for President of the United States, losing both the 1952 and 1956 presidential general elections to Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower.
The 1968 presidential campaign of Hubert Humphrey began when Hubert Humphrey, the 38th and incumbent Vice President of the United States, decided to seek the Democratic Party nomination for President of the United States on April 27, 1968, after incumbent President Lyndon B. Johnson withdrew his bid for reelection to a second full term on March 31, 1968, and endorsed him as his successor. Johnson withdrew after an unexpectedly strong challenge from anti-Vietnam War presidential candidate, Senator Eugene McCarthy of Minnesota, in the early Democratic primaries. McCarthy, along with Senator Robert F. Kennedy of New York, became Humphrey's main opponents for the nomination. Their "new politics" contrasted with Humphrey's "old politics" as the increasingly unpopular Vietnam War intensified.
The 1960 presidential campaign of John F. Kennedy, then junior United States senator from Massachusetts, was formally launched on January 2, 1960, as Senator Kennedy announced his intention to seek the Democratic Party nomination for the presidency of the United States in the 1960 presidential election.
The selection of the Democratic Party's vice presidential candidate for the 1956 United States presidential election occurred at the party's national convention on August 16, 1956. Former presidential candidate and Tennessee's Senator Estes Kefauver defeated Massachusetts' Senator John F. Kennedy.
The 1964 presidential campaign of Lyndon B. Johnson was a successful campaign for Johnson and his running mate Hubert Humphrey for their election as president and vice president of the United States. They defeated Republican presidential nominee Barry Goldwater and vice presidential nominee William Miller. Johnson, a Democrat and former vice president under John F. Kennedy was inaugurated as president upon Kennedy's assassination. In 1964, Johnson did not look optimistically upon the prospect of being elected president in his own right. Despite Johnson's uncertainty about running, he was seen as the most likely candidate to get the nomination. He entered the primaries starting with New Hampshire and won the state by almost 29,000 votes. Johnson's main opponent in the primaries was Alabama Governor George Wallace, who had announced his intention to seek the presidency even before Kennedy's assassination.