1960 United States presidential election

===Campaign promises===
[[File:Dwight David Eisenhower, photo portrait by Bachrach, 1952.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Dwight D. Eisenhower]], the incumbent president in 1960, whose term expired on January 20, 1961]]
During the campaign, Kennedy charged that under Eisenhower and the Republicans, the nation had fallen behind the [[Soviet Union]] in the [[Cold War]], both militarily and economically, and that, as president, he would "get America moving again". The Eisenhower administration had established NASA in 1958, but Kennedy believed that the Republican Party had ignored the need to catch up to the Soviet Union in the [[Space Race]]. He promised that the new Democratic administration would fully appreciate the importance of space accomplishments for the national security and international prestige of the United States. Nixon responded that, if elected, he would continue the "peace and prosperity" that Eisenhower had brought the nation in the 1950s. Nixon also argued that, with the nation engaged in the Cold War with the Soviets, Kennedy was too young and inexperienced to be trusted with the presidency. Had Nixon been elected, at 48 years, 11 days, he would have been [[List of presidents of the United States by age|the fourth-youngest]] president at the date of inauguration. Kennedy, by contrast, was 43 years, 236 days, on the date of his inauguration; the second-youngest man to begin a Presidency. (At 42 [[Theodore Roosevelt]], who [[First inauguration of Theodore Roosevelt|assumed the Presidency]] upon the [[Assassination of William McKinley|assassination of United States President William McKinley]] 60 years previously, was (and remains) the youngest.)

During Kennedy's campaign, he relied on his youth and promised to bring about change. Kennedy had a slogan emphasizing his youth, reading, "who's seasoned through and through/but not so dog-gone seasoned that he won't try something new." He was also endorsed by celebrities such as [[Frank Sinatra]], [[Henry Fonda]], and [[Harry Belafonte]]. Nixon asserted that his experience in politics made him more qualified to hold the office of president. He wanted voters to know that he had the abilities to take on communist threats.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Lee|first=Byung Joon|date=September 2016|title=Attacking the Airwaves: How Television Changed the American Presidential Campaign|journal=The New England Journal of History|volume=73|pages=1–27}}</ref>