1960 United States presidential election in Iowa

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1960 United States presidential election in Iowa
Flag of Iowa (xrmap collection).svg
  1956 November 8, 1960 [1] 1964  
  Richard Nixon official portrait as Vice President (cropped).tiff Jfk2 (3x4).jpg
Nominee Richard Nixon John F. Kennedy
Party Republican Democratic
Home state California Massachusetts
Running mate Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. Lyndon B. Johnson
Electoral vote100
Popular vote722,381550,565
Percentage56.71%43.22%

Iowa Presidential Election Results 1960.svg
County Results

President before election

Dwight D. Eisenhower
Republican

Elected President

John F. Kennedy
Democratic

The 1960 United States presidential election in Iowa took place on November 8, 1960, as part of the 1960 United States presidential election. Voters chose ten [2] representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

Contents

Iowa was won by incumbent Vice President Richard Nixon (RCalifornia), running with United States Ambassador to the United Nations Henry Cabot Lodge Jr., with 56.71% of the popular vote, against Senator John F. Kennedy (DMassachusetts), running with Senator Lyndon B. Johnson, with 43.22% of the popular vote. [3] [4] As of the 2020 presidential election , this is the last election in which Johnson County, home to Iowa City and the University of Iowa, voted for a Republican presidential candidate. [5]

Kennedy became the fourth American president to have ever held office without carrying Iowa in an election.

Primaries

Democratic precinct caucuses

While no statewide vote was held, a system of precinct caucuses were used to select delegates. [6] Edward A. McDermott led a, first-of-its-kind- coordinated effort for the Kennedy campaign which sought to shape the results of Iowa's precinct caucuses in order to secure an Iowa delegation which favored Kennedy's candidacy. [6] These precinct caucuses had been largely ignored by most political circles, providing an opportunity for Kennedy. [6] His campaign had been targeting Iowa as a top priority state in its delegate strategy since, at latest, 1959, setting a goal to secure the support of 18 of the state's 26 delegates. [6]

For years, Kennedy had been seeking to curry favor with Iowa's Democratic governor, Herschel Loveless, who had fiercely opposed Kennedy's effort to secure the vice-presidential nomination at the 1956 Democratic National Convention. [6] Kennedy hoped to persuade Loveless against putting himself forward in 1960 as a favorite son (carrying the support of his state's delegation for himself in order to leave it united and unbound to any top contender). [6] Loveless had been neutral for a long time, and continued to remain open to a multitude of candidates as well as a prospect of running as a favorite son (perhaps leveraging that as a means of securing the vice-presidential nomination). [6] However, Kennedy began to secure more and more grassroots support in Iowa. [6]

McDermott heavily organized in Iowa, more than compensating for the potential disadvantage Kennedy held due to the fact that a number of possible opponents (such as Hubert Humphrey, Stuart Symington, and Adlai Stevenson II) came from states which directly neighbored Iowa. [6] In the Spring of 1959, McDermott founded the "Iowans for Kennedy" political club and appointed Lumond F. Wilcox, a leading Medodist figure in the state, as its co-chairman in an effort to alleviate the concerns many Iowans still held about Kennedy's Catholic faith. [6]

McDermott also recruited Iowan Democrats to run at local precinct caucuses. [6]

By late autumn, a Des Moines Register poll of the Iowa Democratic Party's 99 county party chairmen showed that the county leaders had come to favor Kennedy 3 to 2 over Symington and 3 to 1 over either Stevenson of Humphrey. [6]

Results

1960 United States presidential election in Iowa
PartyCandidateVotes%
Republican Richard Nixon 722,381 56.71%
Democratic John F. Kennedy 550,56543.22%
No Party Listed Farrell Dobbs 6340.05%
Socialist Labor Eric Hass 2300.02%
Total votes1,273,810 100%

Results by county

County [7] Richard Nixon
Republican
John F. Kennedy
Democratic
Farrell Dobbs
No Party Listed
Eric Hass
Socialist Labor
MarginTotal votes cast
# %# %# %# %# %
Adair 3,38360.09%2,24539.88%10.02%10.02%1,13820.21%5,630
Adams 2,18557.08%1,64342.92%00.00%00.00%54214.16%3,828
Allamakee 4,97062.78%2,93337.05%70.09%60.08%2,03725.73%7,916
Appanoose 5,04059.43%3,42240.35%150.18%30.04%1,61819.08%8,480
Audubon 2,93553.05%2,59546.91%20.04%00.00%3406.14%5,532
Benton 5,97256.33%4,62043.58%60.06%30.03%1,35212.75%10,601
Black Hawk 28,43554.11%24,07845.82%260.05%120.02%4,3578.29%52,551
Boone 6,76153.97%5,75945.97%60.05%10.01%1,0028.00%12,527
Bremer 6,50466.76%3,23433.20%40.04%00.00%3,27033.56%9,742
Buchanan 5,17954.90%4,25145.07%30.03%00.00%9289.83%9,433
Buena Vista 6,35163.54%3,63736.38%50.05%30.03%2,71427.16%9,996
Butler 5,34570.18%2,26829.78%10.01%20.03%3,07740.40%7,616
Calhoun 4,48558.90%3,12341.01%40.05%30.04%1,36217.89%7,615
Carroll 4,64839.66%7,06460.27%60.05%30.03%-2,416-20.61%11,721
Cass 6,29067.24%3,05932.70%50.05%00.00%3,23134.54%9,354
Cedar 5,21761.92%3,20338.02%50.06%00.00%2,01423.90%8,425
Cerro Gordo 12,83056.05%10,04443.88%150.07%00.00%2,78612.17%22,889
Cherokee 4,79159.10%3,30940.82%50.06%10.01%1,48218.28%8,106
Chickasaw 3,82248.45%4,06351.50%40.05%00.00%-241-3.05%7,889
Clarke 2,63157.82%1,90641.89%120.26%10.02%72515.93%4,550
Clay 5,16560.03%3,43739.95%20.02%00.00%1,72820.08%8,604
Clayton 6,44158.25%4,61241.71%40.04%00.00%1,82916.54%11,057
Clinton 13,79756.71%10,50843.19%110.05%140.06%3,28913.52%24,330
Crawford 4,79156.25%3,72043.67%30.04%40.05%1,07112.58%8,518
Dallas 6,56653.93%5,59745.97%110.09%20.02%9697.96%12,176
Davis 2,64153.36%2,30346.53%40.08%10.02%3386.83%4,949
Decatur 3,03955.69%2,41144.18%70.13%00.00%62811.51%5,457
Delaware 5,01557.62%3,68842.38%00.00%00.00%1,32715.24%8,703
Des Moines 10,67851.86%9,87247.94%360.17%50.02%8063.92%20,591
Dickinson 3,57556.99%2,69642.98%20.03%00.00%87914.01%6,273
Dubuque 12,74036.64%22,00763.30%100.03%90.03%-9,267-26.66%34,766
Emmet 4,28462.51%2,56337.40%30.04%30.04%1,72125.11%6,853
Fayette 8,33061.20%5,25638.62%210.15%40.03%3,07422.58%13,611
Floyd 5,77459.24%3,97040.73%10.01%10.01%1,80418.51%9,746
Franklin 4,51464.52%2,47635.39%30.04%30.04%2,03829.13%6,996
Fremont 3,02756.73%2,30743.23%20.04%00.00%72013.50%5,336
Greene 4,06358.43%2,87941.40%70.10%50.07%1,18417.03%6,954
Grundy 4,98969.62%2,17430.34%30.04%00.00%2,81539.28%7,166
Guthrie 4,04658.22%2,89641.68%60.09%10.01%1,15016.54%6,949
Hamilton 5,26557.39%3,90542.57%40.04%00.00%1,36014.82%9,174
Hancock 4,17960.24%2,75739.74%10.01%00.00%1,42220.50%6,937
Hardin 6,43862.32%3,88837.64%20.02%20.02%2,55024.68%10,330
Harrison 4,94057.70%3,61342.20%80.09%10.01%1,32715.50%8,562
Henry 5,53166.03%2,83933.89%70.08%00.00%2,69232.14%8,377
Howard 3,37849.79%3,40650.21%00.00%00.00%-28-0.42%6,784
Humboldt 3,53756.66%2,70643.34%00.00%00.00%83113.32%6,243
Ida 3,29062.77%1,94937.19%20.04%00.00%1,34125.58%5,241
Iowa 4,94463.47%2,82836.30%120.15%60.08%2,11627.17%7,790
Jackson 5,08453.89%4,34546.06%40.04%10.01%7397.83%9,434
Jasper 9,33256.27%7,24243.67%80.05%30.02%2,09012.60%16,585
Jefferson 4,94264.00%2,78036.00%00.00%00.00%2,16228.00%7,722
Johnson 10,92750.80%10,56349.11%150.07%30.01%3641.69%21,508
Jones 5,54158.52%3,92441.44%30.03%10.01%1,61717.08%9,469
Keokuk 4,69757.88%3,40842.00%100.12%00.00%1,28915.88%8,115
Kossuth 6,27851.95%5,80648.05%00.00%00.00%4723.90%12,084
Lee 10,76552.00%9,93648.00%00.00%00.00%8294.00%20,701
Linn 34,20055.30%27,61444.65%170.03%80.01%6,58610.65%61,839
Louisa 3,03660.67%1,96639.29%20.04%00.00%1,07021.38%5,004
Lucas 3,51259.88%2,34439.97%90.15%00.00%1,16819.91%5,865
Lyon 4,91773.65%1,75226.24%40.06%30.04%3,16547.41%6,676
Madison 3,80458.26%2,72241.69%20.03%10.02%1,08216.57%6,529
Mahaska 7,12965.40%3,74634.36%180.17%80.07%3,38331.04%10,901
Marion 7,44461.99%4,54737.87%150.12%20.02%2,89724.12%12,008
Marshall 10,26560.23%6,76139.67%130.08%30.02%3,50420.56%17,042
Mills 3,43665.37%1,82034.63%00.00%00.00%1,61630.74%5,256
Mitchell 3,91557.59%2,87342.26%90.13%10.01%1,04215.33%6,798
Monona 3,86354.64%3,20745.36%00.00%00.00%6569.28%7,070
Monroe 2,92254.20%2,45945.61%80.15%20.04%4638.59%5,391
Montgomery 4,97465.19%2,65534.80%10.01%00.00%2,31930.39%7,630
Muscatine 8,55558.21%6,13541.74%30.02%50.03%2,42016.47%14,698
O'Brien 6,50968.66%2,96731.30%40.04%00.00%3,54237.36%9,480
Osceola 2,96562.00%1,81437.93%30.06%00.00%1,15124.07%4,782
Page 7,08969.69%3,07530.23%60.06%20.02%4,01439.46%10,172
Palo Alto 3,55148.99%3,69550.97%10.01%20.03%-144-1.98%7,249
Plymouth 6,43257.93%4,67142.07%00.00%00.00%1,76115.86%11,103
Pocahontas 3,44550.23%3,40849.69%50.07%10.01%370.54%6,859
Polk 64,07753.74%55,09146.20%370.03%290.02%8,9867.54%119,234
Pottawattamie 19,22357.79%14,02542.17%80.02%50.02%5,19815.62%33,261
Poweshiek 5,23258.76%3,67141.23%10.01%00.00%1,56117.53%8,904
Ringgold 2,53858.74%1,78141.22%10.02%10.02%75717.52%4,321
Sac 4,85061.36%3,05438.64%00.00%00.00%1,79622.72%7,904
Scott 27,61754.50%23,00445.40%340.07%160.03%4,6139.10%50,671
Shelby 4,21055.08%3,42744.83%50.07%20.03%78310.25%7,644
Sioux 10,28479.51%2,64320.43%50.04%20.02%7,64159.08%12,934
Story 13,70865.26%7,28134.66%100.05%50.02%6,42730.60%21,004
Tama 5,53552.78%4,95047.21%10.01%00.00%5855.57%10,486
Taylor 3,45261.85%2,12638.09%30.05%00.00%1,32623.76%5,581
Union 4,41761.85%2,72038.08%30.04%20.03%1,69723.77%7,142
Van Buren 3,12963.94%1,76035.96%30.06%20.04%1,36927.98%4,894
Wapello 11,03649.79%11,11650.15%80.04%70.03%-80-0.36%22,167
Warren 6,01359.25%4,13640.75%00.00%00.00%1,87718.50%10,149
Washington 5,86164.48%3,22235.45%50.06%10.01%2,63929.03%9,089
Wayne 3,40159.51%2,30740.37%50.09%20.03%1,09419.14%5,715
Webster 10,74150.11%10,68049.83%120.06%20.01%610.28%21,435
Winnebago 4,08262.33%2,46337.61%40.06%00.00%1,61924.72%6,549
Winneshiek 5,73754.48%4,78645.45%50.05%20.02%9519.03%10,530
Woodbury 26,83255.05%21,90644.94%40.01%20.00%4,92610.11%48,744
Worth 2,74054.28%2,30345.62%50.10%00.00%4378.66%5,048
Wright 5,38656.34%4,15943.50%150.16%00.00%1,22712.84%9,560
Totals722,38156.71%550,56543.22%6340.05%2300.02%171,81613.49%1,273,810

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

See also

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References

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  2. "1960 Election for the Forty-Fourth Term (1961-65)" . Retrieved June 6, 2017.
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  4. "The American Presidency Project – Election of 1960" . Retrieved June 6, 2017.
  5. Sullivan, Robert David; ‘How the Red and Blue Map Evolved Over the Past Century’; America Magazine in The National Catholic Review; June 29, 2016
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