November 8, 1960: Senator John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts is elected the 35th President of the United States. At 43, he is the youngest man ever elected to the office, although Theodore Roosevelt was 42 when he was first sworn in. He is also the 1st Catholic to achieve the office, and remains the only one.
He beats the Republican nominee, incumbent Vice President Richard Nixon. It is incredibly close: JFK wins 49.72 percent of the popular vote, Nixon 49.55, a margin of 118,000 votes. The Electoral Vote goes 303 to 219 for Kennedy (with 15 votes from Southern electors going elsewhere), making it look like it wasn't so close.
Kennedy won Illinois by about 4,500 votes. To this day, Republicans say JFK's friend, Mayor Richard J. Daley of Chicago, "stole" the State's vote for him.
Top 5 Reasons You Can’t Blame Richard J. Daley for Richard Nixon Losing the 1960 Presidential Election
5. The Curse of Herbert Hoover. While Americans still said, "I like Ike," in reference to the outgoing Republican, President Dwight D. Eisenhower, they viewed him as more of a nonpartisan leader. The last truly conservative, truly Republican President had been Hoover, who presided over the Crash of 1929 and the 1st 3 years of the subsequent Great Depression, and was still alive and speaking on behalf of his Party.
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Would Nixon have brought another Depression? Probably not, but who knows? When he finally won in 1968, he presided over the mild recession of 1970-71, and the nastier recession of 1973-76 began on his watch. Certainly, imagining him as President during the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962 is scary, although that has little to do with conservatism in the economic sense.
4. Richard Nixon. He ran a lousy campaign. With 2 new States making 50, he was determined to campaign in all 50 States. He kept that promise, but as a result, he was exhausted, and even got sick with the flu. When he debated JFK on television, he looked awful. Moreover, he didn't argue his own case well.
During the 1st Presidential Debate, September 26, 1960
3. John F. Kennedy. He ran a great campaign, both face-to-face and on TV. Although Presidents had been appearing on TV since FDR in 1939, and regularly since Harry Truman in 1947, JFK was the 1st candidate for President to really master the still-new medium -- and none would again until Ronald Reagan, 20 years later.
2. Dwight D. Eisenhower. He didn't come out strongly enough for Nixon. Late in the campaign, a reporter asked Ike what policies Nixon's advice had aided, and he said, "If you give me a week, I might think of one."
Ouch. Say what you want about how other Presidents treated their Vice Presidents in private, but none ever undercut them in public this badly.
We've since had 4 Presidents serve a full 2 terms:
We've since had 4 Presidents serve a full 2 terms:
* In 1988, Ronald Reagan campaigned with George H.W. Bush, and Bush won.
* In 2000, Al Gore told Bill Clinton to stay away. Had they made one joint appearance together in Florida, it would literally have made all the difference in the world.
* In 2008, John McCain told George W. Bush to stay away. This one time, it may have helped.
* And in 2016, Barack Obama campaigned with Hillary Clinton, and she won the popular vote. Her loss of the Electoral Vote had nothing to do with Obama.
But Illinois... Daley in Cook County...
1. It Didn't Matter. Winning Illinois would've changed the Electoral Vote from 303-219 Kennedy to 276-246 Kennedy, still above the threshold for a majority, which was then 269. Nor would winning Illinois have given Nixon the edge in the popular vote.
1. It Didn't Matter. Winning Illinois would've changed the Electoral Vote from 303-219 Kennedy to 276-246 Kennedy, still above the threshold for a majority, which was then 269. Nor would winning Illinois have given Nixon the edge in the popular vote.
In addition, there are stories that the real reason Nixon didn't contest the Illinois vote is that he knew that Southern Illinois had seen vote-tampering in his favor.
Indeed, only 1 State had a vote so close that, as with Florida in 2000, a legally-mandated recount kicked in. It was the newest State, Hawaii. And it did switch... from Nixon to Kennedy.
VERDICT: Not Guilty. Whatever Daley may have done, it didn't change the result of the election. Nixon lost to Kennedy fair and square.