1960 United States presidential election

===Democratic Party===
{{main|1960 Democratic Party presidential primaries}}

{{John F. Kennedy series}}
{{Lyndon B. Johnson series}}
{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:90%; text-align:center;"
|-
| style="background:#f1f1f1;" colspan="30"|[[File:Democratic Disc.svg|65px|center|link=Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party (United States)]]<big>'''1960 Democratic Party ticket '''</big>
|-
! style="width:3em; font-size:135%; background:{{party color|Democratic Party (United States)}}; width:200px;"|{{colored link|white|John F. Kennedy}}
! style="width:3em; font-size:135%; background:{{party color|Democratic Party (United States)}};"|{{colored link|white|Lyndon B. Johnson}}
|- style="color:#000; font-size:100%; background:#c8ebff;"
| style="width:3em; width:200px;"|'''''for President'''''
| style="width:3em; width:200px;"|'''''for Vice President'''''
|-
|-
| [[File:John F. Kennedy, White House photo portrait, looking up.jpg|center|219x219px]]
| [[File:Vice President LBJ.jpg|center|219x219px]]
|-
| [[United States Senate|U.S. Senator]] from [[Massachusetts]]<br /><small>(1953–1960)</small>
| [[United States Senate|U.S. Senator]] from [[Texas]]<br /><small>(1949–1961)</small>
|-
| colspan=2 |[[John F. Kennedy 1960 presidential campaign|'''Campaign''']]
|-
| colspan=2 |[[File:Kennedy Johnson 1960 campaign logo.svg|200x200px]]
|-
|}

====Democratic candidates====
<gallery perrow="6">
File:John F. Kennedy - NARA - 518134.jpg|Senator '''[[John F. Kennedy]]''' from [[Massachusetts]]
File:Senator Lyndon Johnson.jpg| [[Senate Majority Leader]] '''[[Lyndon B. Johnson]]''' from [[Texas]]
File:Stuart Symington.jpg|Senator '''[[Stuart Symington]]''' from [[Missouri]]
File:Hubert Humphrey crop.jpg|Senator '''[[Hubert Humphrey]]''' from [[Minnesota]]
File:Wayne Morse.jpg|Senator '''[[Wayne Morse]]''' from [[Oregon]]
File:George smathers.jpg|Senator '''[[George Smathers]]''' from [[Florida]]
File:AdlaiEStevenson1900-1965.jpg|Former [[Governor of Illinois|Governor]] '''[[Adlai Stevenson II|Adlai Stevenson]]''' of [[Illinois]]
</gallery>

The major candidates for the 1960 Democratic presidential nomination were [[United States Senate|United States Senator]] [[John F. Kennedy]] from Massachusetts, Governor [[Pat Brown]] of California, Senator [[Stuart Symington]] from Missouri, Senator [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] from Texas, former nominee [[Adlai Stevenson II|Adlai Stevenson]], Senator [[Wayne Morse]] from Oregon, and Senator [[Hubert Humphrey]] from Minnesota. Several other candidates sought support in their home state or region as "[[favorite son]]" candidates, without any realistic chance of winning the nomination. Symington, Stevenson, and Johnson all declined to campaign in the presidential primaries. While this reduced their potential delegate count going into the Democratic National Convention, each of these three candidates hoped that the other leading contenders would stumble in the primaries, thus causing the convention's delegates to choose him as a "compromise" candidate acceptable to all factions of the party.

Kennedy was initially dogged by suggestions from some [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]] elders (such as former United States President [[Harry S. Truman]], who was supporting Symington) that he was too youthful and inexperienced to be president; these critics suggested that he should agree to be the [[running mate]] for another Democrat. Realizing that this was a strategy touted by his opponents to keep the public from taking him seriously, Kennedy stated frankly, "I'm not running for vice president; I'm running for president."<ref>[[Jeff Zeleny|Zeleny, Jeff]]; Bosman, Julie (March 11, 2008). [https://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/11/us/politics/11clinton.html "Obama Rejects Idea of Back Seat on Ticket"]. ''The New York Times''.</ref>

[[File:1960 Dem Primaries.svg|thumb|400px|1960 Democratic primaries results<br>
{{legend|#81B5FF|John F. Kennedy}}
{{legend|#D40000|Lyndon B. Johnson}}
{{legend|#FFA500|Hubert H. Humphrey}}
{{legend|#916F6F|Various{{efn|[[Favorite son]]s received the support of Missouri ([[Stuart Symington]]), Florida ([[George Smathers]]), New Jersey ([[Robert Meyner]]), Mississippi ([[Carroll Gartin]]), and Hawaii.}}}}]]
The next step was the primaries. Kennedy's [[Catholic Church|Roman Catholic]] religion was an issue. Kennedy first challenged Minnesota Senator Hubert Humphrey in the Wisconsin primary, and defeated him. Kennedy's sisters, brothers, and wife Jacqueline combed the state, looking for votes, leading Humphrey to complain that he "felt like an independent merchant competing against a chain store."<ref>Humphrey, Hubert H. (1992). Kennedy also defeated Morse in the Maryland and Oregon primaries. ''The Education of a Public Man'', p. 152. University of Minnesota Press. {{ISBN|0-8166-1897-6}}.</ref> However, some political experts argued that Kennedy's margin of victory had come almost entirely from Catholic areas, and, thus, Humphrey decided to continue the contest in the heavily Protestant state of West Virginia. The first televised debate of 1960 was held in West Virginia. Kennedy outperformed Humphrey and, in the days following, Kennedy made substantial gains over Humphrey in the polls.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Reston |first=James |date=May 5, 1960 |title=Sen. Kennedy More Effective in TV Debate |pages=2 |work=[[The Los Angeles Times]] |agency=New York Times News Service |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/381119120/?terms=%22made%20a%20more%20vivid%20and%20effective%20presentation%20of%20his%20case%22&match=1 |access-date=May 13, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Lawrence |first=W. H. |date=May 6, 1960 |title=West Virginia Poll Finds Kennedy Gain |pages=1 |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1960/05/06/archives/west-virginia-poll-finds-kennedy-gain-kennedy-gaining-a-poll.html |access-date=May 13, 2022}}</ref> Humphrey's campaign was low on funds, and could not compete for advertising and other "get-out-the-vote" drives with Kennedy's well-financed and well-organized campaign, which was not above using dirty tricks to win; prior to the Wisconsin primary, Catholic neighborhoods in [[Milwaukee]] were flooded with anti-Catholic pamphlets postmarked from Minnesota. It was assumed Humphrey's campaign had sent them, and it may have helped tilt voters in the Badger State away from him (it later came out that [[Robert F. Kennedy]] had deployed an assistant to mail the pamphlets). In the end, Kennedy defeated Humphrey with over 60% of the vote, and Humphrey ended his presidential campaign. West Virginia showed that Kennedy, a Catholic, could win in a heavily Protestant state. Although Kennedy had only competed in nine presidential primaries,<ref name="N&O">{{cite news |title=Another Race To the Finish |url=http://www.newsobserver.com/news/q/story/1278451.html |url-status=dead |newspaper=[[The News & Observer]] |date=November 2, 2008 |access-date=November 24, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090115040630/http://www.newsobserver.com/news/q/story/1278451.html |archive-date=January 15, 2009}}</ref> Kennedy's rivals, Johnson and Symington, failed to campaign in any primaries. Even though Stevenson had twice been the Democratic Party's presidential candidate, and retained a loyal following of liberals, his two landslide defeats to [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] United States President [[Dwight Eisenhower|Dwight D. Eisenhower]] led most party leaders and delegates to search for a "fresh face" who could win a national election. Following the primaries, Kennedy traveled around the nation, speaking to state delegations and their leaders. As the Democratic Convention opened, Kennedy was far in the lead, but was still seen as being just short of the delegate total he needed to win.

====Democratic convention====
The [[1960 Democratic National Convention]] was held in Los Angeles, California. In the week before the convention opened, Kennedy received two new challengers, when Lyndon B. Johnson, the powerful Senate Majority Leader, and Adlai Stevenson, the party's nominee in 1952 and 1956, officially announced their candidacies. However, neither Johnson nor Stevenson was a match for the talented and highly efficient Kennedy campaign team led by Robert Kennedy. Johnson challenged Kennedy to a televised debate before a joint meeting of the Texas and Massachusetts delegations, which Kennedy accepted. Most observers believed that Kennedy won the debate, and Johnson was unable to expand his delegate support beyond the South. Stevenson's failure to launch his candidacy publicly until the week of the convention meant that many liberal delegates who might have supported him were already pledged to Kennedy, and Stevenson – despite the energetic support of former First Lady [[Eleanor Roosevelt]] – could not break their allegiance. Kennedy won the nomination on the first ballot.

Then, in a move that surprised many, Kennedy asked Johnson to be his running mate. He realized that he could not be elected without the support of traditional [[Southern Democrats]], most of whom had backed Johnson. He offered Johnson the vice presidential nomination at the [[Millennium Biltmore Hotel|Los Angeles Biltmore Hotel]] at 10:15&nbsp;a.m. on July 14, 1960, the morning after being nominated for president.<ref name="Caro 2012, pp. 121–135. JFK offers vice presidency to LBJ">[[Robert Caro|Caro, Robert A.]] (2012). ''[[The Passage of Power]]'', pp. 121–135. Alfred A. Knopf, New York. {{ISBN|978-0-679-40507-8}}</ref> [[Robert F. Kennedy]], who hated Johnson for his attacks on the Kennedy family, and who favored labor leader [[Walter Reuther]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://time.com/3491219/behind-the-picture-jfk-and-rfk-los-angeles-july-1960/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141114201919/http://time.com/3491219/behind-the-picture-jfk-and-rfk-los-angeles-july-1960/|url-status=dead|archive-date=November 14, 2014|title=Head to Head: JFK and RFK, Los Angeles, July 1960|last=Cosgrave|first=Ben|date=May 24, 2014|website=Time Magazine|access-date=March 19, 2018}}</ref> later said that his brother offered the position to Johnson as a courtesy and did not predict him to accept it. When he did accept, Robert Kennedy tried to change Johnson's mind, and failed.<ref>[[Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr.]], ''Robert Kennedy and His Times'' (1978), pp. 206–211.</ref>

Biographers [[Robert Caro]] and [[W. Marvin Watson]] offer a different perspective: they write that the Kennedy campaign was desperate to win what was forecast to be a very close race against Nixon and Lodge. Johnson was needed on the ticket to help carry votes from Texas and the Southern United States. Caro's research showed that on July 14, Kennedy started the process, while Johnson was still asleep. At 6:30&nbsp;a.m., Kennedy asked his brother to prepare an estimate of upcoming electoral votes, "including Texas".<ref name="Caro 2012, pp. 121–135. JFK offers vice presidency to LBJ"/> Robert Kennedy called [[Pierre Salinger]] and [[Kenneth O'Donnell]] to assist him. Realizing the ramifications of counting Texas votes as their own, Salinger asked him whether he was considering a Kennedy–Johnson ticket, and Robert replied, "Yes".<ref name="Caro 2012, pp. 121–135. JFK offers vice presidency to LBJ"/> Between 9 and 10&nbsp;am, John Kennedy called Pennsylvania governor [[David L. Lawrence]], a Johnson backer, to request that Lawrence nominate Johnson for vice president if Johnson were to accept the role, and then went to Johnson's suite to discuss a mutual ticket at 10:15&nbsp;am. John Kennedy then returned to his suite to announce the Kennedy–Johnson ticket to his closest supporters and Northern political bosses. He accepted the congratulations of Ohio Governor [[Michael DiSalle]], Connecticut Governor [[Abraham A. Ribicoff]], New York City mayor [[Robert F. Wagner Jr.]], and Chicago mayor [[Richard J. Daley]]. Lawrence said that "Johnson has the strength where you need it most"; he then left to begin writing the nomination speech.<ref name="Caro 2012, pp. 121–135. JFK offers vice presidency to LBJ"/> O'Donnell remembers being angry at what he considered a betrayal by John Kennedy, who had previously cast Johnson as anti-labor and anti-liberal. Afterward, Robert Kennedy visited with labor leaders who were extremely unhappy with the choice of Johnson, and, after seeing the depth of labor opposition to Johnson, he ran messages between the hotel suites of his brother and Johnson, apparently trying to undermine the proposed ticket without John Kennedy's authorization and to get Johnson to agree to be the Democratic Party chairman, rather than vice president. Johnson refused to accept a change in plans, unless it came directly from John Kennedy. Despite his brother's interference, John Kennedy was firm that Johnson was who he wanted as running mate, and met with staffers such as [[Larry O'Brien]], his national campaign manager, to say Johnson was to be vice president. O'Brien recalled later that John Kennedy's words were wholly unexpected, but that, after a brief consideration of the electoral vote situation, he thought "it was a stroke of genius".<ref name="Caro 2012, pp. 121–135. JFK offers vice presidency to LBJ"/>