1960 United States presidential election

The 1960 United States presidential election happened on November 8, 1960. This election was between Senator John F. Kennedy and Vice President Richard Nixon. Kennedy won the election like many people expected, but it was a much closer election than most people thought it would be.

1960 United States presidential election
November 8, 1960
All 537 electoral votes of the Electoral College
269 electoral votes needed to win
Turnout62.8%[1] 2.2 pp
 
Nominee John F. Kennedy Richard Nixon
Party Democratic Republican
Home state Massachusetts California
Running mate Lyndon B. Johnson Henry Cabot Lodge Jr.
Electoral vote 303 219
States carried 22 26
Popular vote 34,220,984 34,108,157
Percentage 49.72% 49.55%
Presidential election results map. Blue denotes states won by Kennedy/Johnson, red denotes those won by Nixon/Lodge, orange denotes the electoral votes for Byrd/Thurmond by Alabama and Mississippi unpledged electors, and a vote for Byrd/Goldwater by an Oklahoma faithless elector. Numbers indicate the number of electoral votes allotted to each state.
President before election

Dwight D. Eisenhower
Republican

 Elected President

John F. Kennedy
Democratic

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Incumbent President Dwight D. Eisenhower was not allowed to run again due to serving two terms.

This was the first presidential election in American history in which both candidates debated against each other on television. On television, Kennedy appeared calm while Nixon appeared nervous. More television viewers thought that Kennedy won the debate, while more radio listeners thought that Nixon won the debate.

This election was the last to not count District of Columbia as an electoral vote until the 1964 election.

Senator John F. Kennedy announced his candidacy for president on January 2, 1960.[2] Vice President Richard Nixon announced his candidacy on January 9, 1960.[3]

This was the last election where Ohio voted for the losing candidate until 2020.

Candidates

Democratic Party

Democratic candidates

Republican Party

Republican candidates

References
  1. "Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections". uselectionatlas.org. Retrieved October 21, 2012.
  2. "1960 Presidential Election Documents". Retrieved 2012-12-20.
  3. "1960 Presidential Election Documents". Retrieved 2012-12-20.


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