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 nixo 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 kenny 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 faer, 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. whenhen 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 nixon was that he wanted to push a stronger civil rights plank and nixon was hoping to make further inroads in the democratic south, or at least to hold the inroads which dwight eisenhower had made in

1956. and what happens is nixon has to kind of backtrack on what rockefeller is doing to please the conservatives in the party. and he ends up pleasing nobody, not the whites or the emerging black vote in the south. and and the north, particularly in north. why do you say that, henry cabot lodge was a bad candidate? well, aside from being too liberal, probably for to please the conservatives in the republican party, the main thing is he was lazy. he was just absolutely lazy. would not campaign after 6:00 at night. he would take naps in the afternoon. one of nixon's advisers said, you know, we didn't mind the naps, but did he have to change into his pajamas? and also, he was terrible television. they tried to make a cut, a

television commercial with him, and they had to give it up because he was so bad in the rehearsals. so did john kennedy support come from? where did richard nixon's support come from? when we got into the general election, well, it was a pretty much traditional republican democratic split, traditional by today's standards or the standards of mid 20th century anyway, where kennedy holds the solid south, where except for a couple of on the fringe fringes, he takes the northeast. he runs wild in southern new england and in the midwest. he does well. but in the west, that's where nixon shines in terms of demographics. kennedy adds to the black vote of the democratic black vote. he certainly adds the democratic

cast like vote. there's one statistic which i've said that seen that says that in 1950, adlai stevenson only got half, 50% of the catholic vote and jfk 80%. frankly, as a catholic who was alive in 1960, i think 80% maybe understate that. and he holds the union vote. so he gets holds out to all of those things. and i think probably even the youth vote i don't think that was ever mentioned or measured in the poll. but certainly the enthusiasm of younger people and younger voters was was immense for jack kennedy. so, david, patricia, researching this, we found that both richard nixon and john kennedy spent about $10 million each in this campaign. just as a point of reference in 2020, the election. supposedly cost around $6 billion. when you get the outside money in there as well, it was money

tracked closely or was it pretty free flowing in 1960? you could you can you can see big lists of what each committee got online. some of the amounts are absolute pittance. i have i have more money. my checking account now, the day that what some of these groups spent. but you have the unions which are are supporting the democrat party like huge amount coming in for the time from the international ladies garment union. but you also have manpower. our purser and woman power going out into the polls, which are at which the unions are able to throw into the democrat ranks. there's always a question in in that race as to how much joe kennedy was spending. okay. and how much he was spending officially and how much he was spending subrosa. there are some fascinating

anecdotes about suitcases full of money being pile poured into jack kennedy's campaign. people from the rat pack are saying there's there's money under the bed. there's money in a suitcase, $1,000,000 in cash. so how much was it reported that year? who knows? well, 1960 was the first time there was ever a telephone debate. it was september 26, 1960, in chicago. here's a portion of the first debate in the election of 1860. abraham lincoln said the question was whether this nation could exist off slave or half free in the election of 1960. and with the world around us. the question is whether the world will exist. half slave or half free. whether it will move in the direction of freedom, in the direction of the road that we are taking, or whether it will

move in the direction of slavery. i think it will depend in great measure upon what we do here in the united states on the kind of society that we build, on the kind of strength that we maintain. we discussed tonight domestic issues, but i would not want that to be any implication to be given that this does not involve directly. i struggle with mr. crucial for survival. mr. khrushchev is in new york and he maintains the communist offensive throughout the world because of the productive power of the soviet union itself. the chinese communists have always a large population, but they are important and dangerous now because they are mounting a major effort within their own country to kind of country. we have here the kind of society we have, the kind of strength we build in the united states will be the defense of freedom if we do well here, if we meet our obligations, if we are moving ahead, then think freedom will be secure around the world. if we fail, then freedom fail.

therefore, i think the question before the american people is, are we doing as much as we can do? are we as strong as we should be? are we as strong as we must be if we're going to maintain our independence and if we're going to maintain and hold out the hand of friendship to those who look to us for assistance, to those who look to us for survival. i should make it very clear that i do not think we're doing enough, that i am not satisfied as an american with the progress that we are making. this is a great country, but i think it could be a greater country and this is a powerful country but i think it could be a more powerful country. i'm not satisfied to have 50% of our steel mill capacity unused. i'm not satisfied when the united states had last year the lowest rate of economic growth of, any major industrialized society in the world, because economic growth means strength and vitality. it means we're able to sustain our defenses. it means we're able to meet our

commitments abroad. i'm not satisfied when we have over $9 billion worth of food, some of it rotting, even though there is a hungry world and even 4 million americans weighed every month for a food package from the government, which averages $0.05 a day per individual. i saw cases in west virginia, here in the united states where took home part of their school lunch in order to feed their families, because i don't think we're meeting our obligation towards these americans. i'm not satisfied when the soviet union is turning out twice as many scientists and engineers as we are. i'm not satisfied when many of our teachers are inadequately paid, when our children go to school, part time shifts. i think we should have an educational system second to none. i'm not satisfied when i see men like jimmy hoffa in charge of the largest union in the united states, still free.

i'm not satisfied when we are failing to develop the natural resources of the united states to the fullest. here in the united states, which developed the tennessee valley and which built the grand coulee and the other dams in the northwest united states. at the present rate of hydro power production, and that is the hallmark of industrialized society, the soviet union by 1975 will be producing more power than we are. these are all the things, i think in this country that can make our society strong, what can mean at a standstill? smith senator kennedy, the things that senator kennedy has said many of us can agree with. there is no question but that we cannot discuss our internal affairs in the united states without recognizing that they have a tremendous bearing on our international position. there is no question but that this nation cannot stand still because we are in a deadly

competition, a competition not only with the men in the kremlin, but the men in peking. we're ahead in this competition. senator kennedy, i think, is implied. but when you're in a race, the only way to stay ahead is to move ahead. and i subscribe completely to the spirit that senator kennedy has expressed tonight, the spirit the united states should move ahead. where then do we disagree? i think we disagree on the implication of his remarks tonight and on the statements that he has made on many occasions during his campaign to the effect that the united states has been still. we heard tonight, for example, the statements made that our growth in national product last year was the lowest of any industrial nation in the world. now, last year, of course, was 1958. that happened to be a recession year. but when we look at the growth of gnp this year, a year of recovery, we find that is six

and 9/10 percent. and one of the highest in the world today. more about that later. looking then to this problem of how the united states should move ahead and where the united states is moving, i think it as well that we take the advice of a very famous campaigner. let's look at the record. is the united states standing still? is it true that this administration, as senator kennedy has charged, has been adamant administration of retreat, of defeat, of stagnation? is it true that as far as this country is concerned in the field of electric power, in all of the that he has mentioned, we have not been moving ahead. well, we have a comparison that we can make. we have the record of the truman administration of seven and a half years and the seven and a half years of the eisenhower administration. when we compare these two records in the areas that senator kennedy has discussed

tonight, i think we find that america has been moving ahead. let's take schools. we have built more schools in these last seven and a half years than we built in the previous seven and a half, for that matter, in the previous 20 years. let's take hydroelectric power. we have developed more hydro electric power in these seven and a half years than was developed in any previous administration in history. let us take hospitals. we find that more have been built in, this administration, than in the previous administration. the same is true of highways. let's put it in terms that all of us can understand. we often hear gross national product discussed and in that respect, may i say that when we compare the growth in this administration with that of the previous administration, that then there was a total growth of 11% over seven years in this administration, there has been a total growth of 19% over seven years. that shows that there's been more growth in this administration than in its

predecessor. but let's not put it there. let's put it in terms of the average family. what has happened to you? we find that your wages have gone up five times as much in the eisenhower administration as they did in the truman administration. what about the prices you pay? we find that the prices you pay went up five times as much in the truman administration as they did in the eisenhower administration. what's the net result of it? this means that the average family income went up 55% in the eisenhower years as 2% in the truman years. and we're joined here on american history tv by presidential historian ann david pietrusza. we're talking about the election of 1960. mr. patricia, the importance of those debates, very important. it really creates a great enthusiasm for jack kennedy. the first debate he pretty much wipes the floor with richard

nixon. nixon looks shifty, sweating. he's east just to accommodate eating. particularly in the first part of the day to jack kennedy. you know, i agree with him. i find it sincere, etc., etc. we have the same goals and kennedy is just hammering away at richard nixon and he's what's he doing over over again? he's saying, i'm a democrat. this is what the democratic party stands for. we've brought you this program and that program. and he's got a five or 6 million vote advantage with the democrats. and he's determined to in on that. now, in the last three debates, nixon really catches up and does very well. so much, so know after the first debate, kennedy and the democrat won the fifth debate after the fourth debate. richard nixon wants a fifth debate because he had been coming on strong on foreign policy issues.

cuba and on quemoy and matsu and the defense of taiwan. and then jack kennedy and the democrats turn that down. what about the media in general? did each candidate have their favorite media outlet supporters, etc., or was it pretty evenhanded? the newspapers generally in those days would endorse republicans. maybe not. the the big newspapers, but all around the country, in all the small towns and small city markets. you would see the republicans with the edge. one thing, which is interesting is that jack kennedy gets the new york times endorsement. now, why is that interesting? that doesn't sound interesting at all, because from 1940 through 1956, they had always endorsed republicans. jack kennedy was very close to the press. i mean, he was he was the

personality, the kid. so our reporters and journalists like arthur krock of the new york times, the alsop's, who were syndicated columnist ben bradlee of the washington post, was very close to those people. richard nixon did not enjoy good relations with the press, particularly on his on his flights, his airplane official airplane during the campaign. and so it's it's definitely a bias for jack kennedy. and richard nixon has to struggle with that. and he doesn't struggle well. did the sitting president, dwight eisenhower, play a role? eisenhower role is very awkward. he takes his time is sweet time and endorsing. he is running mate richard nixon

and then he does it in an offhanded way. at the press conference. and when they attend, the republican national convention in chicago, they do not they're not in the same motorcade eisenhower speaks at that convention. he doesn't attack lbj or jfk. he doesn't mention nixon when they ask eisenhower or who he's voting for at gettysburg, that day, he refuses to say for nixon and the most serious incident is a press conference. they ask him, well, what's richard nixon done? what decisions has he made or helped you with? as presidency? and he says, well, if you give me a week, i might think of something. and this is brought up during the debates. and this is one of the things which hurts, richard nixon a great deal. well, it was november eight, 1960, election night.

here's some newsreel coverage of election day. the whole country begins to await the results. the television networks have made elaborate preparations to broadcast the election returns as they come in from the different parts of the country and the headquarters of the major television networks are equipped with entire batteries of tabulating machine and with electronic computers to forecast the trend of the election, the basis of early returns. and. at party headquarters, people gather for what they hope will be victory. celebration, huge tally boards post the returns as they come in minute by minute, hour by hour. from the very beginning, it becomes obvious that this is going to be a close election

after some early, encouraging reports for vice president nixon. it appears that senator kennedy is moving into the lead the news is flashed on the morning bulletin sign in new york's times square. then comes the electrifying news that senator kennedy has won the state of connecticut by a larger plurality than expected. he now has eight electoral votes, 269 are needed to win the election. his supporters are jubilant. when they play senator kennedy is recorded as leading in 17 states with a total of 192 electoral votes. in following the returns, all eyes are on the map of the united states. each one of the 50 states has a certain number of electoral votes according to the size of its population. pennsylvania has 32 electoral

votes. new york, 45. other key states are california, ohio, texas and illinois. in illinois, the voting will be so close that the lead will go back and forth from one candidate to the other. but then this turns into a seesaw battle in quite a few of the states all night long. and depending on. it all night long, the figures building up. in state after state, millions of voters split their ballots, backing one presidential nominee and then voting for candidates from the opposing party for senator, governor or congressman. senator kennedy, early lead of 2 million votes dwindles perilously as the returns come in from the western states, but he holds on to his in electoral votes. the returns are checked by his press secretary, pierre

salinger. at the press headquarters of the democratic presidential candidate in hyannis port, massachusetts. all eyes are on the screen as television commentators announce that vice president nixon is about to make a statement in the east, the time is 320 in the morning in in los angeles, california, on the west coast. it is 20 minutes past midnight. vice president and mrs. nixon appear before their loyal supporters. the scene is broadcast on television screens all over america. the presidential candidate of the republican party makes his statement. i want to say that one of the great teachers of america is that we have political contests, that they are very hard fought as this one is hard fought. and once the decision is made, we unite behind the man who was

elected. i want all of you to know i love all of you. i want to. i. i want i want senator kennedy to know. and i want all of you to know that to certainly if this trend does continue and he does become our next president, he will have my wholehearted support and go. and we're talking about the election of 1960 with presidential historian david pietrusza. he has authored the book 1960, lbj versus jfk versus nixon, the epic campaign that forged three presidencies. here are the results from 1960. john kennedy. 34,000,226. 731 votes.

49.7%. he won 303 electoral votes and 22 states. richard nixon. 34,108,157 votes. 49.5% of the vote. 219 electoral votes. and he won 26 states. difference of 120,000 votes nationwide. and voter turnout is at a near record 62.8%. david patricia, when we look at the electoral map of the states, any surprises jump out at you? well. it was a surprise, aually, that richard. richard nixon pursued a 50 state strategy. this was 50 states for the first time. i'm going to go to all 50 states. and everyone said, well, that's just -- stupid because yod't go the states where you're going to get clobbered, georgia, or

where you're going to win handily in vermont. and so he does that. and towards the end of the day, he goes or he goes to alaska for three electoral votes and which at a massive democratic enrollment age at that point. but he does carry that state remarkably. and when he does. if he had if he had won in the contested states, contested by historians, texas and illinois, if he didn't win alaska, he would have won the. he would have lost that election anyway. so it's a winner of the election. is that close? anything, whether it's nixon sweating during the date or him going to alaska or jack kennedy not going to california at the end or any number of

things, or who picks who is the pick for lieutenant or lieutenant govnor, vice president in either party? all of those factors, each one of them is deciding. and i want to ask you, david, patricia, we've been saying that jack kennedy, 22 states. richard nixon, 26. that adds up to 48. alaska and hawaii. did their votes count in this now that they they certainly get count. they certainly did count. and the irony, as i said, was that alaska was considered to be a democratic state and hawaii to be a republican state at one point, they had a republican u.s. their hiram fong for a while. so the electoral map has flipped quite a bit in in my lifetime when. was the race called? was it called that night? the election is where michigan

comes in around 5:00 in the morning. that's in which to put the nail finally in richard nixon's coffin. but he knew it was pretty much over before that. he sends out his press secretary, press aide robert finch, to say that things aren't good. and if trends continue, jack kennedy will be the next president, united states. and so. but it is it is not an official concession until later in the morning. jack kennedy decides i'm not going to stay up. he decides to do what i often do on election night, which is just to go to bed because you're not going to change anything of the election was was such where the nixon family when the results came in, they were quite

distraught. pat nixon was was very embittered about the whole thing. and nixon's daughter. the others were wondering, hey, what's he going to do for a living? and where are they going to live? here's what john kennedy had to say after, knowing he was president elect to all american. 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 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 interests of the united states and to the cause

of freedom around the world. so now my wife and i prepare for a new administration and for a new baby. thank you. and that was president elect john kennedy in hyannis port on november ninth, 1960. after finding that he had been elected president, presidential historian david patricia, what was the country's reaction? i think relief. i think relief that it was as it so often is, the case in presidential actions, that it's it's over. and the country pretty much pulled together. all presidents just about all presidents get a bump in popular clarity. kennedy certainly grew at that point. nixon could have contested things based on events in illinois and texas. he decides not to do that. and and the country goes on from

there. and you know, one of the results of that is sort of ignored. but there's a shift in power, not only in the white house, but also in the congress where lyndon johnson is. no longer the majority leader. sam rayburn dies soon afterwards from texas. the speaker of the house. and what happens is, even though the religious issue had been so big during the campaign about jack kennedy being a catholic, that not only is jack kennedy a catholic president, but the new speaker of the house, john mccormack, and the new majority leader of the senate, mike mansfield, are all catholic. the whole country is taken over by papists and nobody notices. so, mr. patricia, in a sense, 1960 was a new mindset, a new

frontier. it was a new frontier. and when you see the you know, it's it's it sort of coincidental. i think so many things are happening at once in the sixties. there's jack kennedy in the white house and his push toward youth and ask moving forward and ask not what your country can do for you, but also changes in the roman catholic church with vatican two, the youth revolution with rock and roll, and the beatles and the pill and the sexual revolution. all all happening at once. and it's a question of of how much each is creating a synergy. and by jack kennedy certainly is a new frontier in terms of american politics because it's going to put create the impetus

for doing things in different ways moving forward, not in a old mannish sort of way of eisenhower and truman, but that you're going to have the best and the brightest and the youngest in charge. and sometimes that doesn't work out as well as they wanted, i.e., vietnam well, that is a brief and quick look at the election of 1960. our guest is ben david pietrusza, president, historian and author of this book 1960 lbj versus jfk versus nixon the epic campaign that forged three presidencies. mr. patricia, we appreciate