The Presidential Election of 1960 (Why Kennedy Won) HONR 199 Notes Taken March 22 -25 1. The U-2 Crisis and Khrushchev’s post-crisis actions: Powers was forced to stay in the Soviet Union after he was shot down. This hurts Nixon’s chances. 2. July 27, 1960: Kennedy had already defeated Henry Cabot Lodge in last election. Nixon choose Lodge as his republican Vice president candidate, also he brought nothing to the candidacy (he was from the same state) Nixon should have picked Jerry Ford because Ford may have gotten Minnesota and Missouri. 3. The “slump” in the national economy: People remember the Great Depression, when republicans were in power. 4. The political mathematics of 1960: Democrats outnumber republicans. 5. The Roman Catholic Vote: They turned out in huge numbers to vote for Kennedy, who had the same religious beliefs. 6. Sept 22, first televised presidential debate: seen by 70 million people (1966). Norman Collins was the producer. 7. African American Vote: Wofford persuaded Kennedy’s brother-in-law to write a letter to Martin Luther King Jr.’s Wife. 8. The (Howard) Hughes loan: One week before the election, Lawrence O’Brian, Richard Nixon’s brother, received a $2,500 loan from Hughes. This makes Nixon look like he is involved in organized crime because Hughes has connections to crime. 9. The Lyndon B Johnson Effect: Robert Caro researched Lyndon B Johnson. Johnson gave speeches on the back of trains to win support for Kennedy. “He had taken the south too”. Without support of Johnson, Kennedy could have lost. Kennedy was president because of LBJ. He was an essential aspect of Kennedy’s victory.