Lyndon B. Johnson Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ==Campaigns of 1960== {{See also|1960 United States presidential election}} In [[1960 United States presidential election|1960]], Johnson's success in the Senate rendered him a potential Democratic presidential candidate. Four years earlier, he was viewed as the [[favorite son]] candidate of the Texas delegation at the party's [[1956 Democratic National Convention|1956 convention]] in [[Chicago]], and he appeared to be well positioning to run for the 1960 nomination. [[James H. Rowe]] repeatedly urged Johnson to launch a campaign in early 1959, but Johnson thought it was better to wait, thinking that [[John F. Kennedy]]'s candidacy would create a division in the ranks that could then be exploited. Rowe finally joined the [[Hubert Humphrey|Humphrey]] campaign in frustration, another move that Johnson thought played into his own strategy.<ref>{{harvnb|Dallek|1991|pp=544–545}}</ref> ===Candidacy for president=== In July 1960, Johnson finally entered the campaign. Johnson's late entry in the race, coupled with his reluctance to leave Washington, D.C., allowed rival [[John F. Kennedy]] to secure a substantial early lead in securing support from Democratic state party officials. Johnson underestimated Kennedy's endearing charm and intelligence in comparison to his perceived crude and wheeling-dealing "Landslide Lyndon" style.<ref>{{harvnb|Dallek|1991|p=560}}</ref> Caro suggests that Johnson's hesitancy to enter the race resulted from his fear of losing.<ref>Caro 2012, Part I (passim).</ref> Johnson attempted in vain to capitalize on Kennedy's youth, poor health, and failure to take a position regarding [[McCarthyism]].<ref>{{harvnb|Dallek|1991|p=570}}</ref> He had formed a "Stop Kennedy" coalition with [[Adlai Stevenson II|Adlai Stevenson]], [[Stuart Symington]], and [[Hubert Humphrey]], but it proved a failure. Despite Johnson having the support of established Democrats and the party leadership, this did not translate into popular approval. Johnson received 409 votes on the only ballot at the Democratic convention to Kennedy's 806, and so the convention nominated Kennedy. [[Tip O'Neill]] was a representative from Kennedy's home state of [[Massachusetts]] at that time, and he recalled that Johnson approached him at the convention and said, "Tip, I know you have to support Kennedy at the start, but I'd like to have you with me on the second ballot." O'Neill replied, "Senator, there's not going to be any second ballot."<ref>{{cite book |title=Tip O'Neill and the Democratic Century: A Biography |first=John A. |last=Farrell |year=2001 |publisher=Little, Brown |isbn=978-0-316-26049-7 |url=https://archive.org/details/tiponeilldemoc00farr}}</ref> ===Vice presidential nomination=== {{main|1960 Democratic Party vice presidential candidate selection}} According to Kennedy's Special Counsel [[Myer Feldman]] and Kennedy himself, it is impossible to reconstruct the precise manner in which Johnson's vice presidential nomination ultimately took place. Kennedy realized that he could not be elected without the support of traditional [[Southern Democrats]], most of whom had backed Johnson; nevertheless, labor leaders were unanimous in their opposition to Johnson. [[AFL-CIO]] President [[George Meany]] called Johnson "the arch-foe of labor", and Illinois AFL-CIO President [[Reuben Soderstrom]] asserted Kennedy had "made chumps out of leaders of the American labor movement".<ref>{{harvnb|Caro|2012|p=406}}</ref><ref>Soderstrom, Carl; Soderstrom, Robert; Stevens, Chris; Burt, Andrew (2018). [http://www.fortygavels.com/ ''Forty Gavels: The Life of Reuben Soderstrom and the Illinois AFL-CIO''.] '''3'''. Peoria, IL: CWS Publishing. pp. 175–176. {{ISBN|978-0-9982575-3-2}}.</ref> After much discussion with party leaders and others, Kennedy offered Johnson the vice presidential nomination at the [[Millennium Biltmore Hotel|Los Angeles Biltmore Hotel]] on July 14, the morning after Kennedy was nominated, and Johnson accepted. From that point to the actual nomination that evening, several facts are in dispute, including whether convention chairman [[LeRoy Collins]]' had the two-thirds majority required to begin the convention's proceedings.<ref>{{harvnb|Dallek|1991|pp=578–582}}</ref> ===Re-election to U.S. Senate=== At the same time as his vice presidential run, Johnson also sought a third term in the U.S. Senate. According to Robert Caro: <blockquote>Johnson won an election for both the vice presidency of the United States, on the Kennedy–Johnson ticket, and for a third term as senator (he had Texas law changed to allow him to run for both offices). When he won the vice presidency, he made arrangements to resign from the Senate, as he was required to do under federal law, as soon as it convened on January 3, 1961.<ref>{{harvnb|Caro|2002|p=1035}}</ref></blockquote> Johnson was re-elected senator with 1,306,605 votes (58 percent) to Republican [[John Tower]]'s 927,653 (41.1 percent). Fellow Democrat [[William A. Blakley]] was appointed to replace Johnson, but lost a [[1961 United States Senate special election in Texas|special election]] in May 1961 to Tower. Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page