allow americans to see how this process works and by seeing how congress has acted and how congress has invested created in the past. i hope that will be able to better understand what is happening today in current investigations and that they can use that historical context to to know how things are working, what is actually happening in congress, and why it's important to them.

to all americans, i say that the next four years are going to be difficult and challenging years for us all. the election may have been a close one, but i think that there is general agreement by all of our citizens that a supreme national effort will be needed in the years ahead to move this country safely through the 1960s. i ask your help in this effort, and i can assure you that every degree of mind and spirit that i possess will be devoted to the long range interest of the united states and to the cause of freedom around the world. and that was democratic senator john kennedy. after learning he'd been elected president over the sitting vice president, republican richard nixon, it was one of the closest elections in u.s. history. and thanks for joining us for our american history tv series,

historic presidential election. during this election season, we're looking at elections from past years. this week, it's the election of 1960. our guest is david pietrusza. presidential historian and author of the book 1960, lbj versus jfk versus nixon the epic campaign that forged three president seats. thanks for joining us, mr. patricia. we appreciate it. let's start by looking at the results. in 1960, john kennedy received 34 million plus votes. 49.7%. 303 electoral votes. he won 22 states. richard nixon, 34.1 million votes, 49.5% of the vote, 219 electoral votes. and he won 26 states. there was a difference of only

120,000 votes in this election. david pietrusza that was a close. as a former mets announcer, bob murphy used to say, closer than last year's best and it was so close, it was close in state after state. it was close in the polls beforehand. you take a look at how many states jfk wins and almost all of them are by less than 52%. he only has a couple of blowout states rhode island and georgia. nixon wins by larger margins, but he does not win by as much. some say congressional quarterly said that he actually won the popular vote because of a controversies with the popular vote in mississippi. and of course, the controversy, these are in chicago, illinois and in texas, where they may have been vote fraud. but nixon does not contest that. you've written a book about this

1960, lbj versus jfk versus nixon. do you think that john kennedy won the vote in 1960? that's the thing about the mississippi is controversial. i think the vote would have gone for him anyway if it was not with these electors in terms of the illegitimate votes in chicago, where there were allegations of vote fraud dating back in the weeks before the election and not just allegations in a general sense, but very specific. and then we saw what robert caro did and came up with in one of his bios of lyndon johnson, where he had one of the perpetrators of the vote fraud, tell him specifically what was done to to cast some very suspicious votes in terms of lbj

landslide lyndon as he was known back in 1948. what were some of the issues discussed in the 1960 presidential campaign? oh, i think it was in descending order. cold war, cold war and cold war. i mean, certainly there were the mastic issues involved. but even when jfk was talking about the domestic issues or when richard nixon was talking about civil rights or jfk was it was always framed in, you know, we've got to do better because of the cold war. we've got to get our economy up and running better because we need to our marcel was more against the soviets. we've got to convince the third world nations that we are the beacon of liberty in the world. and so all of those things are add up to the cold war being the premiere issue.

and with cuba starting to flare up, castro taking office in office or power, rather, in 1959, control passes over quemoy and matsu. the defense of formosa, which for most, yes, that's what they called taiwan back then. and just the u-2 affairs, where we were spying on the soviet union. and i had to cancel a summit. so there were all sorts of things going on with the cold war and that famous missile gap, which the democrats and also nelson rockefeller on the republican side were complaining about. and which turned out to be not true. also not true was the fact or the allegation that we were falling behind economically. the soviets, now that we know what happened with the fall of of moscow's soviet regime, we know that that's a laughable allegation. so, mr. patricia, is it fair to

say that the democrats were the hawks in this election in 1960? they certainly were. america was facing the soviet challenge in eastern europe, in the third world, and they wanted to build, build, build, build, build. this is this is the time when dwight eisenhower is complaining about the military industrial complex and that's jfk and guys like stuart simon and senator from missouri and even nelson rockefeller saying we are falling behind russia in missiles, we are falling behind them. and the ability to fight russia, fire wars and we are falling behind them in space exploration, i.e. sputnik and then jfk is going to say we will go to the moon as at cetera. so and the republicans are basically saying nothing to see here. everything's fine and the

democrats are saying nothing is fine in jfk. ray's opening statement in the debate, he really has a litany of things wrong with the united states of america and tying those into how they need to be made right to win that cold war. but he is so smooth. he does it without really coming across as as someone who is too negative, too down on the united states of america. well, let's give you a snapshot of america. in 1960, dwight eisenhower was still the president. he was leaving after two terms. the population, 179 million, the population today in the states is about 330 million or so. and for the first time, there were 50 states, alaska and hawaii had joined the union. the cold war was ongoing. the space race was ongoing with the then soviet union. and there were a growing number of u.s. military advisors going

to vietnam. troops did not get there until 1965. in a general sense, david pietrusza what was life like in the us in 1960? well, compared to the great depression and world war two and even korea. life was good. but it wasn't as good as people sort of painted in that sort of leave it to beaver cliché of the 1950s. because the 1950s economically was like a yo yo. we kept having a recession in the 1950s. and that's one reason, i think where jfk is talking about let's get america moving again. what's the unemployment rate in 1968? that great? it's 6.6%. what is good is the inflation rate. inflation has really been not exist in this country for a very

long time. and it's only 1.46% in 1960. so you have good and you have bad in the economy and getting back to that unemployment rate. well, that's sort of the story today. the situation is even worse than that because you've got. 2.5 million young people, an active duty in the military and as you point out, with a population half the size of what it is today. well, the republican nominee, richard nixon, was the sitting vice president at the time. he was born in 1913. and your belinda california attended whittier college in california and duke university law school in north carolina. he served in the us navy during world war two and after 1942 to 1946 he was a member of the us house and the senate. he served a little more than six years in congress before being chosen as the vice presidential

nominee under dwight eisenhower in 1952. he went on to serve as vice president from 1953 to 1961. he was elected president in 1968, reelected in 1972, and of course, resigned in 1974 because of watergate. did he have a primary in 1960 or was he the chosen candidate for the republicans? are interested in question. basically, he has the field to himself in an awkward sort a way, because all along the way, nelson rockefeller, the first term governor of new york, is sniping at him and even sniping at the eisenhower administration from a very liberal perspective. he's not going to go anywhere in the primaries. he's going to drop out and then he's going to drop back in just before the convention. oh. but nonetheless, eisenhower or nixon, rather, draws an immense

number of votes in uncontested primaries. he draws more than nick's or eisenhower does. in 1956. so he has his popularity, enjoys his popularity with republican voters really rather the entire career. what we recognize the primaries that were run in 1968. today. well, there are very few which are contested. there's a lot of delegates which are chosen in the back rooms and state party conventions. there are very few that count for anything. for jfk on the end, there's about seven or eight, most of those are hardly worth mentioning where he beats people we've never heard of. people weren't even politicians like in new hampshire or in indiana, nebraska.

but the two that are contested for the democrats are in wisconsin and in west virginia. and who's he contesting against these contesting against minnesota senator hubert humphrey. humphrey is on the liberal side of the democratic party and he's sort of a place holder for the real contenders against jfk, who will be lyndon johnson, senate majority leader from texas, stuart symington, hawkish senator from missouri, and sort of a candidate and not a candidate, as always, is adlai stevenson, who had been the democratic nominee in 1952 and 1956, at the start of the political season. humphrey is polling one or 2%, but all the anti kennedy forces coalesce with for humphrey to go

against kennedy in wisconsin and west virginia. kennedy wins in west in wisconsin, but it's closer than he would have. like he has to go on to west virginia. that's where he faces the religious issue head on for the first time in a major sense. and he does very well there as well. this question has been sent in name withheld from charleston, the roman catholic church's position on truth versus error assumes a right to discriminate against protestants in some countries where catholics are in the majority. do you agree with the church's reported attitude that we're protestants? i am an authority. they shouldn't be permitted equal status. well, i hope we disagree, but i couldn't disagree more. i think that using the power of the state against any group forcing using the state to force a group to be of one faith or another or of a state, i think is wholly repugnant to our

experience. i wholly disagree with that. now there are some states where there is no separation between church and state. the queen of england is the head of the church of england, as well as the state. there are other states in europe where the relationship is intimate. in spain, the relationship between church and state has been intimate. i disagree with that. this country was founded on the principle of the separation of church and state. this is the view that i hold against any other view. from there on, it's almost time for the convention and not until a week before the convention. does lyndon johnson announce for the presidency? is it that remarkable when we think of this interminable campaigns season that we quote unquote, enjoy today? and speaking of which, did lbj did lyndon johnson garner support at a week before their convention? he gets a couple of hundred votes at best. he's hoping that there will be a deadlock. bobby kennedy, who was the

campaign manager for his brother jack, says rather famously, if we don't win it on the first ballot, we don't win it at all. and that's because jack kennedy doesn't quite have the hearts and minds of the democratic party at that point. and if he doesn't win on the first ballot, some of those people, some of those delegates are going to start peeling away on the second ballot. and it would not be impossible that somebody else might emerge, whether it be lyndon johnson or adlai stevenson or a dark horse who knows? but that is exactly what lyndon johnson was counting on. and and jack kennedy gets that nomination. and the when wyoming casts its ballots and there's no state that begins with z. so that was a pretty closely run thing, boys and girls. well, john kennedy was born in 1974 years after richard nixon

in brookline, massachusetts, attended harvard, active in the us navy during world war two, was in the house the same years that richard nixon was 1947 and 1953. u.s. senator. then from 53 to 60, 1960 elected the 35th president, the first catholic, first born in the 20th century, the youngest ever, 43 years old, and of course, assassin dated november 22nd, 1963. did richard nixon and john kennedy know each other well in the house and the senate? yeah, they came to the house in the same year. were they engaged in a debate in 1947 or 1948 in small town and pencil virginia over labor policy and shared a sleeper berth coming back. they knew each other, jack kennedy's father, joe kennedy, could not stand nixon opponent

for the u.s. senator in california senate in california in 1950 and donated to his campaign. but as their ambitions grew, their closeness receded and they were not as close as they once had been. when when kennedy. kennedy enjoyed very bad health early in his senate career and was given the the last rites. the catholic church a couple of times. and when nixon heard how close kennedy was to death, he burst into tears at one point. so they knew each other. they certainly did. so a week before the democratic convention in los angeles, lbj announces his bid for president. as we all know, he became the vice president and the vice presidential nominee. how did that happen? david pietrusza. awkwardly. kennedy originally offered.

well, he dangled the vice presidency in front of a trio of midwest governors. none of whom your readers or viewers would know today. but then finally, to senator symington of missouri, that seemed like a good fit. and then he offers it to linda johnson, not really sincerely. and he doesn't think johnson is going to take it. lyndon johnson is all about power. his whole life is that going to give up the power of senate majority leader to be to hold this worthless office of the vice presidency, but yet that's exactly what lyndon johnson does, because he's afraid what's going to happen if he turns it down and jfk loses and he gets blamed for the defeat or of jfk wins, and then he takes it out on lyndon johnson when he the presidency president and maybe

lyndon johnson will not be senate majority leader in 1961. so he takes that he takes the job. he takes the candidacy and instantly regret it goes on a bender. actually for about a week, but then straightens up flies. right. and is not an asset to the ticket anywhere except really in the south and in texas. but boy, is he an asset to the ticket in texas. well, here's a little bit of john kennedy's acceptance speech in 1968. in los angeles. and we stand today on the edge of a new frontier, the frontier of the 1960, the frontier of unknown opportunities and peril. the frontier of unfilled hope and unfilled threat. woodrow wilson's new freedom promised our nation a new political and economic

framework. franklin roosevelt's new deal promised security and succor to those in need, but the new frontier of which i speak was not a set of promises. it is a set of challenges. it sums up not what i intend to offer to the american people, but what i intend to ask of them. it appeals to their pride. it appeals to our pride not as secure. it holds out the promise of more sacrifice instead of more security. the new frontier is here, whether we seek it or not. beyond that frontier, our uncharted areas of science and space, unsolved problems of peace and war, unconquered province of ignorance and

prejudice. unanswered questions of poverty and surplus. it would be easier to shrink from that new frontier, to look to the mediocrity of the past, to be lowered by good intentions and high rhetoric, and those who prefer that past should not vote for me or the democratic party. but i believe that the times require imagination and courage and perseverance. i'm asking each of you to be pioneers towards that new frontier. my call is to the young in heart, regardless of age, to the story in spirit, regardless of party. to all who respond to the sensible call, be strong and courage. be not afraid.

neither being a stay for courage. not complacency is our need today. leadership, not salesmanship. and the only valid path of leadership is the ability to lead and lead vigorously. a tired nation. a tired nation, said david lloyd. george is a tory nation and the united states today cannot afford to be either tired or tolerate and then you're watching american history. tv's special series historic president elections. we're looking at the election of 1960. our guest, david pietrusza. presidential historian, author of this book, 1960, lbj versus jfk versus nixon, the epic campaign that forged three presidencies. david. patricia, john kennedy's acceptance speech. was it noteworthy?

it was because that's where he coined the phrase the new frontier. otherwise, there was sort of a rushed presentation and they couldn't even fill the hall. it was the los angeles coliseum, which was too big to hold an event in. oddly enough, richard nixon's talk is much better delivered, and he does it off the cuff. he does it without notes, and even critics like ted sorensen, that kennedy's masterful speech writer in the new republic give him an a-plus for for his his efforts in that convention. well, it was in chicago that the republican met after the democrats. here's part of richard nixon's acceptance speech 100 years ago in this city. abraham lincoln was nominated for president of the united states. the problems which will confront our next president will be even

greater than those that confronted him. the question then was freedom for the slaves and survival of the nation. the question now is freedom for all mankind and the survival of civilization. and the choice you make you, each of you, listening to me, make this november and effect the answer to that question. what should your choice be and what is it? well, let's first examine what our opponents offered in los angeles two weeks ago. they claim theirs was a no program. but you know what? it was? it was simply the same old proposition that a political party should be all things to all men and nothing more than that. and they promised. they promised everything to

everybody, with one exception. they didn't promise to pay the bill. and i say tonight that with their convention, their platform and their ticket, they campaign as the symphony of political cynicism, which is out of harmony with our times today. how we come to the key question what should our answer be? and some might say, why do as they do out promise them? because that's the only way to win. and i want to tell you my answer. i happen to believe that their program would be disastrous for america. it would wreck our economy. it would dash our peoples whole.

high hopes for a better life. and i served notice hearing now that whatever the political consequences we are not going to try to out promise our opponents in this campaign. we are not going to make promises. we cannot and should not keep. and we are not going to try to buy the people's votes with their own money. and that was vice president richard nixon in chicago giving his acceptance speech to the gop delegates. david patricia, presidential historian, you said earlier that president nixon gave a good speech, but what was noteworthy

about it? what's what's remembered about that speech? really? nothing is quite remembered about it. it was it was just very good at the time. you know, things that seem awesome politically turn out to be 48 hour stories. and that was that was the case. there. what is the story in that convention? is the acrimony leading up to it between nixon and rockefeller and the struggle to crack a republican platform for which rockefeller is is forcing it on and shoving it down nixon's throat. when he does that, they they hold a secret meeting in new york city at rockefeller's penthouse, which infuriates the conservatives and leads to barry goldwater mounting a sort of pretend candidacy at the convention. but where he challenges is the delegates grow up conservatives and will take this party back.

and that is exactly what happens in 64. but then who does richard nixon choose for the vice presidency? and then he he is trying to ameliorate and please the liberal wing of the party now. now, with, as we say, what liberal wing of the republican party. but back then it was quite substantial. and he ends up offering the vice presidency to rockefeller. he turns it down because, hey, he's nelson rockefeller. and rockefeller is or nixon is even nominated, aided and seconded by really clear cut liberals in the republican party. like senator mccarthy, jacob javits of new york, tom kiko of carl for india, and then eventually picks henry cabot lodge, former senator from new massachusetts, under ambassador who turns out to be a horrible

choice was henry cabot lodge part of the liberal wing absolute. and he had been in dwight eisenhower's campaign manager at the 1952 convention, which meant he was going up against the robert taft conservative forces. and they kind of still held it against him because that was a very and tested and nasty nomination battle. david pietrusza you had mentioned earlier that nelson rockefeller was pushing for issues in the party platform. what were what was he pushing? well, he was pushing. he was criticizing eisenhower or on foreign policy. he wanted, like kennedy and symington, a more aggressive spending military affairs. but what he was really most acrimonious or what was most difficult for