1960 United States presidential election, General election, Campaign issues
A member of Kennedy's civil rights team and King's friend, Harris Wofford, and other Kennedy campaign members passed out a pamphlet to black churchgoers the Sunday before the presidential election that said, ""No Comment" Nixon versus a Candidate with a Heart, Senator Kennedy."" On election day, Kennedy won the black vote in most areas by wide margins, and this may have provided his margin of victory in states such as New Jersey, South Carolina, Illinois, and Missouri.


1960 United States presidential election, General election, Campaign issues
Researchers found that Kennedy's appeal to African American voters appears to be largely responsible for his receiving more African-American votes than Adlai Stevenson in the 1956 election. The same study conducted found that white voters were less influenced on the topic of civil rights than black voters in 1960. The Republican national chairman at the time, Thruston Ballard Morton, regarded the African-American vote as the single most crucial factor.


1960 United States presidential election, General election, Campaign issues
The issue that dominated the election was the rising Cold War tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union. In 1957, the Soviets had launched Sputnik, the first man-made satellite to orbit Earth. Soon afterwards, some American leaders warned that the nation was falling behind communist countries in science and technology. In Cuba, the revolutionary regime of Fidel Castro, became a close ally of the Soviet Union in 1960, heightening fears of communist subversion in the Western Hemisphere. Public opinion polls revealed that more than half the American people thought war with the Soviet Union was inevitable.


1960 United States presidential election, General election, Campaign issues
Kennedy took advantage of increased Cold War tension by emphasizing a perceived "missile gap" between the United States and Soviet Union. He argued that under the Republicans the Soviets had developed a major advantage in the numbers of nuclear missiles. He proposed a bipartisan congressional investigation about the possibility that the Soviet Union was ahead of the United States in developing missiles. He also noted in an October 18 speech that several senior US military officers had long criticized the Eisenhower Administration's defense spending policies.


1960 United States presidential election, General election, Campaign issues
Both candidates also argued about the economy and ways in which they could increase the economic growth and prosperity of the 1950s and make it accessible to more people (especially minorities). Some historians criticize Nixon for not taking greater advantage of Eisenhower's popularity (which was around 60–65% throughout 1960 and on election day) and for not discussing the prosperous economy of the Eisenhower presidency more often in his campaign. As the campaign moved into the final two weeks, the polls and most political pundits predicted a Kennedy victory.


1960 United States presidential election, General election, Campaign issues
However, President Eisenhower, who had largely sat out the campaign, made a vigorous campaign tour for Nixon over the last 10 days before the election. Eisenhower's support gave Nixon a badly needed boost. Nixon also criticized Kennedy for stating that Quemoy and Matsu, two small islands off the coast of Communist China that were held by Nationalist Chinese forces based in Taiwan, were outside the treaty of protection the United States had signed with the Nationalist Chinese. Nixon claimed the islands were included in the treaty and accused Kennedy of showing weakness towards Communist aggression. Aided by the Quemoy and Matsu issue, and by Eisenhower's support, Nixon began to gain momentum and by election day the polls indicated a virtual tie.


1960 United States presidential election, General election, Results
The election was held on November 8, 1960. Nixon watched the election returns from his suite at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, while Kennedy watched them at the Kennedy Compound in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts. As the early returns poured in from large Northeastern and Midwestern cities, such as Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Detroit, and Chicago, Kennedy opened a large lead in the popular and electoral votes, and appeared headed for victory. However, as later returns came in from rural and suburban areas in the Midwest, the Rocky Mountain states and the Pacific Coast states, Nixon began to steadily close the gap on Kennedy.


1960 United States presidential election, General election, Results
Before midnight, The New York Times had gone to press with the headline "Kennedy Elected President". As the election again became too close to call, Times managing editor Turner Catledge hoped that, as he recalled in his memoirs, "a certain Midwestern mayor would steal enough votes to pull Kennedy through", thus allowing the Times to avoid the embarrassment of announcing the wrong winner, as the Chicago Tribune had memorably done twelve years earlier in announcing that Thomas E. Dewey had defeated President Harry S. Truman.


1960 United States presidential election, General election, Results
Nixon made a speech at about 3 a.m., and hinted that Kennedy might have won the election. News reporters were puzzled, as it was not a formal concession speech. It was not until the afternoon of the next day that Nixon finally conceded the election, and Kennedy claimed his victory.


1960 United States presidential election, General election, Results
Of the 3,129 counties and independent cities making returns, Nixon won in 1,857 (59.35%) while Kennedy carried 1,200 (38.35%). "Unpledged" electors came first in 71 counties (2.27%) throughout Louisiana and Mississippi, and one county (0.03%) in Alaska split evenly between Kennedy and Nixon.


1960 United States presidential election, General election, Results
A sample of how close the election was can be seen in California, Nixon's home state. Kennedy seemed to have carried the state by 37,000 votes when all of the voting precincts reported, but when the absentee ballots were counted a week later, Nixon came from behind to win the state by 36,000 votes. Similarly, in Hawaii, it appeared as though Nixon had won there (it was actually called for him early Wednesday morning), but in a recount, Kennedy was able to come from behind and win the state by an extremely narrow margin of 115 votes.


1960 United States presidential election, General election, Results
In the national popular vote, Kennedy beat Nixon by less than two tenths of one percentage point (0.17%), the closest popular-vote margin of the 20th century. So close was the popular vote that a shift of 18,858 votes in Illinois and Missouri, both won by Kennedy by less than 1%, would have left both Kennedy and Nixon short of the 269 electoral votes required to win, thus forcing a contingent election in the House of Representatives.


1960 United States presidential election, General election, Results
In the Electoral College, Kennedy's victory was larger, as he took 303 electoral votes to Nixon's 219. A total of 15 electors, eight from Mississippi, six from Alabama, and one from Oklahoma all refused to vote for either Kennedy or Nixon, and instead cast their votes for Senator Harry F. Byrd of Virginia, a conservative Democrat, even though he had not been a candidate for president. Kennedy carried 12 states by three percentage points or less, while Nixon won six by similarly narrow margins.


1960 United States presidential election, General election, Results
Kennedy carried all but three states in the populous Northeast, and he also carried the large states of Michigan, Illinois, and Missouri in the Midwest. With Lyndon Johnson's help, he also carried most of the South, including the large states of North Carolina, Georgia, and Texas. Nixon carried all but three of the Western states (including California), and he ran strong in the farm belt states, where his biggest victory was in Ohio.


1960 United States presidential election, General election, Results
The New York Times, summarizing the discussion in late November, spoke of a "narrow consensus" among the experts that Kennedy had won more than he lost "as a result of his Catholicism", as Northern Catholics flocked to Kennedy because of attacks on his religion. Interviewing people who voted in both 1956 and 1960, a University of Michigan team analyzing the election returns discovered that people who voted Democratic in 1956 split 33–6 for Kennedy, while the Republican voters of 1956 split 44–17 for Nixon. That is, Nixon lost 28% (17/61) of the Eisenhower voters, while Kennedy lost only 15% of the Stevenson voters. The Democrats, in other words, did a better job of holding their 1956 supporters.


1960 United States presidential election, General election, Results
Kennedy said that he saw the challenges ahead and needed the country's support to get through them. In his victory speech, he declared, "To all Americans, I say that the next four years are going to be difficult and challenging years for us all; that a supreme national effort will be needed to move this country safely through the 1960s. I ask your help and I can assure you that every degree of my spirit that I possess will be devoted to the long-range interest of the United States and to the cause of freedom around the world."


1960 United States presidential election, General election, Results, Controversies
Some Republicans believed that Kennedy had benefited from vote fraud, especially in Texas, where his running mate Lyndon B. Johnson was senator, and Illinois, home of Mayor Richard Daley's powerful Chicago political machine. These two states were important because if Nixon had carried both, he would have earned 270 electoral votes, one more than the 269 needed to win the presidency. Republican senators such as Everett Dirksen and Barry Goldwater claimed vote fraud "played a role in the election", and that Nixon actually won the national popular vote. Republicans tried and failed to overturn the results in both Illinois and Texas at the time, as well as in nine other states. Earl Mazo, a conservative journalist and close friend of Nixon who later became Nixon's biographer, made unfounded accusations of voter fraud.


1960 United States presidential election, General election, Results, Controversies
Nixon's campaign staff urged him to pursue recounts and challenge the validity of Kennedy's victory in several states, especially Illinois, Missouri, and New Jersey, where large majorities in Catholic precincts handed Kennedy the election. Nixon gave a speech three days after the election stating that he would not contest the election. The Republican National Chairman, Senator Thruston Ballard Morton of Kentucky, visited Key Biscayne, Florida, where Nixon had taken his family for a vacation, and pushed for a recount. Morton challenged the results in 11 states, keeping challenges in the courts into mid-1961, but the only result of these challenges was the loss of Hawaii to Kennedy on a recount.


1960 United States presidential election, General election, Results, Controversies
Kennedy won Illinois by less than 9,000 votes out of 4.75 million cast, a margin of 0.2%. Nixon carried 92 of the state's 101 counties. Kennedy's victory in Illinois came from Chicago, which had favorable demographics for Kennedy, with its large populations of Catholic and African-American voters. His victory margin in the city was 318,736 and 456,312 in Cook County. A myth arose that Mayor Daley held back much of the city's vote until the late morning hours of November 9. When the Republican Chicago Tribune went to press, 79% of Cook County precincts had reported, compared with just 62% of Illinois's precincts overall. Moreover, Nixon never led in Illinois, and Kennedy's lead merely shrank as election night went on.


1960 United States presidential election, General election, Results, Controversies
In Texas, Kennedy defeated Nixon by a 51 to 49% margin, or 46,000 votes. Some Republicans argued, without evidence, that Johnson's formidable political machine had stolen enough votes in counties along the Mexican border to give Kennedy the victory. Kennedy's defenders, such as his speechwriter and special assistant Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., argued that Kennedy's margin in Texas was simply too large for vote fraud to have been a decisive factor.


1960 United States presidential election, General election, Results, Controversies
Allegations of voter fraud were made in Texas. Fannin County had only 4,895 registered voters, yet 6,138 votes were cast in that county, three-quarters for Kennedy. In an Angelina County precinct, Kennedy received 187 votes to Nixon's 24, though there were only 86 registered voters in the precinct. When Republicans demanded a statewide recount, they learned that the state Board of Elections, whose members were all Democrats, had already certified Kennedy as the winner. This analysis is flawed since registered voter figures only counted people who had paid the poll tax, and certain groups were exempt from that tax.


1960 United States presidential election, General election, Results, Controversies
Schlesinger and others have pointed out that even if Nixon had carried Illinois, the state would not have given him a victory, as Kennedy would still have won 276 electoral votes to Nixon's 246. More to the point, Illinois was the site of the most extensive challenge process, which fell short despite repeated efforts spearheaded by Cook County state's attorney, Benjamin Adamowski, a Republican, who also lost his reelection bid.


1960 United States presidential election, General election, Results, Controversies
Despite demonstrating net errors favoring both Nixon and Adamowski (some precincts, 40% in Nixon's case, showed errors favoring them, a factor suggesting error rather than fraud), the totals found fell short of reversing the results for the candidates. While a Daley-connected circuit judge, Thomas Kluczynski (later appointed a federal judge by Kennedy, at Daley's recommendation), threw out a federal lawsuit "filed to contend" the voting totals, the Republican-dominated State Board of Elections unanimously rejected the challenge to the results. Furthermore, there were signs of possible irregularities in downstate areas controlled by Republicans, which Democrats never seriously pressed, since the Republican challenges went nowhere. More than a month after the election, the Republican National Committee abandoned its Illinois voter fraud claims.


1960 United States presidential election, General election, Results, Controversies
An academic study in 1985 later analyzed the ballots of two disputed precincts in Chicago which were subject to a recount. It found that while there was a pattern of miscounting votes to the advantage of Democratic candidates, Nixon suffered less from this than Republicans in other races, and furthermore the extrapolated error would only have reduced his Illinois margin from 8,858 votes (the final official total) to just under 8,000. It concluded there was insufficient evidence that he had been cheated out of winning Illinois.


1960 United States presidential election, General election, Results, Controversies
A special prosecutor assigned to the case brought charges against 650 people, which did not result in convictions. Three Chicago election workers were convicted of voter fraud in 1962 and served short terms in jail. Mazo, Nixon's conservative reporter friend, later claimed, without evidence, that he "found names of the dead who had voted in Chicago, along with 56 people from one house." He claimed to have found cases of Republican voter fraud in southern Illinois but said that the totals "did not match the Chicago fraud he found."


1960 United States presidential election, General election, Results, Controversies
After Mazo had published four parts of an intended 12-part voter fraud series documenting his findings, which was re-published nationally, he said "Nixon requested his publisher stop the rest of the series so as to prevent a constitutional crisis." Nevertheless, the Chicago Tribune (which routinely endorsed GOP presidential candidates, including Nixon in 1960, 1968 and 1972) wrote that "the election of November 8 was characterized by such gross and palpable fraud as to justify the conclusion that [Nixon] was deprived of victory."


1960 United States presidential election, General election, Results, Popular votes
The number of popular votes Kennedy received in Alabama is difficult to determine because of the unusual situation there. Instead of having the voters choose from slates of electors, the Alabama ballot had voters choose the electors individually. In such a situation, a given candidate is traditionally assigned the popular vote of the elector who received the most votes. For instance, candidates pledged to Nixon received anywhere from 230,951 votes (for George Witcher) to 237,981 votes (for Cecil Durham); Nixon is therefore assigned 237,981 popular votes from Alabama.


1960 United States presidential election, General election, Results, Popular votes
The situation was more complicated on the Democratic side. The statewide Democratic primary had chosen 11 candidates for the Electoral College, five of whom were pledged to vote for Kennedy and six of whom were free to vote for anyone they chose. All of these candidates won in the general election, and all six unpledged electors voted against Kennedy. The number of popular votes Kennedy received is therefore difficult to calculate. Traditionally, Kennedy is assigned either 318,303 (the votes won by the most popular Kennedy elector) or 324,050 (the votes won by the most popular unpledged Democratic elector); the results table below is based on Kennedy winning 318,303.


1960 United States presidential election, General election, Results, Popular votes
The number of popular votes Kennedy and Nixon received in Georgia is also difficult to determine because voters voted for 12 separate electors. The vote totals of 458,638 for Kennedy and 274,472 for Nixon reflect the number of votes for the Kennedy and Nixon electors who received the highest number of votes. The Republican and Democratic electors receiving the highest number of votes were outliers from the other 11 electors from their party. The average vote totals for the 12 electors were 455,629 for the Democratic electors and 273,110 for the Republican electors. This shrinks Kennedy's election margin in Georgia by 1,647 votes to 182,519.


1960 United States presidential election, General election, Results, Unpledged Democratic electors
Many Southern Democrats were opposed to voting rights for African Americans living in the South. There was a call from segregationists for electoral votes to be withheld or to be cast for Virginia senator Harry F. Byrd, a segregationist Democrat, as an independent candidate.


1960 United States presidential election, General election, Results, Unpledged Democratic electors
Both before and after the convention, they attempted to put unpledged Democratic electors on their states' ballots in the hopes of influencing the race; the existence of such electors might influence which candidate would be chosen by the national convention, and in a close race such electors might be in a position to extract concessions from either the Democratic or Republican presidential candidates in return for their electoral votes.


1960 United States presidential election, General election, Results, Unpledged Democratic electors
Most of these attempts failed. Alabama put up a mixed slate of five loyal electors and six unpledged electors. Mississippi put up two distinct slates, one of loyalists and one of unpledged electors. Louisiana also put up two distinct slates, although the unpledged slate did not receive the "Democratic" label. Georgia freed its Democratic electors from pledges to vote for Kennedy. Governor Ernest Vandiver supported the unpledged electoral votes. Former governor Ellis Arnall did not support the unpledged electoral votes. Arnall called Vandiver's stand "utterly disgraceful."


1960 United States presidential election, General election, Results, Unpledged Democratic electors
In total, 14 unpledged Democratic electors won election from the voters. Because electors pledged to Kennedy had won a clear majority of the Electoral College, the unpledged electors could not influence the results. Nonetheless, they refused to vote for Kennedy. Instead, they voted for Byrd, even though he was not an announced candidate and did not seek their votes. In addition, Byrd received one electoral vote from a faithless Oklahoma elector for a total of 15 electoral votes. The faithless Oklahoma elector voted for Barry Goldwater as vice president; the other 14 voted for Strom Thurmond as vice president.


1960 United States presidential election, General election, Results, Unpledged Democratic electors
There were 537 electoral votes, up from 531 in 1956, because of the addition of two U.S. senators and one U.S. representative from each of the new states of Alaska and Hawaii. The House of Representatives was temporarily expanded from 435 members to 437 to accommodate this, and went back to 435 when reapportioned according to the 1960 census. The reapportionment took place after the 1960 election.


1960 United States presidential election, General election, Results, Unpledged Democratic electors
Source (Popular Vote): Note: Sullivan / Curtis ran only in Texas. In Washington, Constitution Party ran Curtis for president and B. N. Miller for vice president, receiving 1,401 votes. Source (Electoral Vote):


1960 United States presidential election, General election, Geography of results
Results by county, shaded according to winning candidate's percentage of the vote


1960 United States presidential election, General election, Close states
Margin of victory over 5%, but under 10% (160 electoral votes):


1960 United States presidential election in Alabama
The 1960 United States presidential election in Alabama was held on November 8, 1960 as part of that year's national presidential election. Eleven Democratic electors were elected, of whom six voted for Senator Harry F. Byrd of Virginia and five for Senator John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts.


1960 United States presidential election in Alabama
In Alabama, voters voted for electors individually instead of as a slate, as in the other 49 states. Twenty-two electors were on the ballot, 11 Republicans and 11 Democrats. Voters could vote for up to eleven candidates. As a result of a state primary, the Democratic Party had a mixed slate of electors, five being pledged to Kennedy and the remaining six being unpledged.


1960 United States presidential election in Alabama
The highest vote for a presidential elector was 324,050 votes for Frank M. Dixon, who was unpledged; the highest vote for an elector pledged to Kennedy was 318,303 for C. G. Allen, and the highest vote for a Republican elector was 237,981 for Cecil Durham, which was fewer than the vote for any Democratic elector. As a result, six unpledged electors and five electors pledged to Kennedy were elected. All six elected unpledged electors cast their vote for Byrd.


1960 United States presidential election in Alabama
Varying methods have been used to break down the vote into Kennedy and unpledged votes. One method is to take the 318,303 votes as Kennedy votes and the 324,050 votes as unpledged votes, giving a total much higher than the actual votes cast. Another is to take the 318,303 votes as Kennedy votes and the remainder (5,747 votes) as unpledged votes. A third is to split the 324,050 in the proportion of 5⁄11 to 6⁄11, following the proportion of electors, giving 147,295 votes for Kennedy and 176,755 for unpledged electors.


1960 United States presidential election in Alabama
In all cases, Republican candidate Richard Nixon of California, then Vice President of the United States, has 237,981 votes. If the last method is used, it means that Nixon won the popular vote in Alabama; it also means that he won the popular vote nationally. Congressional Quarterly calculated the popular vote in this manner at the time of the 1960 election.


1960 United States presidential election in Alaska
The 1960 United States presidential election in Alaska took place on November 8, 1960, as part of the nationwide presidential election. Voters chose three representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1960 United States presidential election in Alaska
Alaska was won by incumbent Vice-President Richard Nixon (R-California) with 50.9% of the popular vote against U.S. Senator John F. Kennedy (D-Massachusetts) with 49.1%. Kennedy ultimately won the national vote however, defeating Nixon. This was the first presidential election that Alaska participated in.


1960 United States presidential election in Alaska, Electors
With statehood, Alaska was given three votes in the Electoral College. This has continued to be the case to the present day. Alaska's electors in 1960 were:


1960 United States presidential election in Alaska, Bibliography
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1960 United States presidential election in Arizona
The 1960 United States presidential election in Arizona took place on November 8, 1960, as part of the 1960 United States presidential election. State voters chose four representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1960 United States presidential election in Arizona
Arizona was won by incumbent Vice President Richard Nixon (R–California), running with United States Ambassador to the United Nations Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., with 55.52% of the popular vote, against Senator John F. Kennedy (D–Massachusetts), running with Senator Lyndon B. Johnson, with 44.36% of the popular vote.


1960 United States presidential election in Arizona
This was the first time since achieving statehood in 1912 that Arizona backed the losing candidate in a presidential election, a sign that the state was trending Republican. It would vote Republican in every election thereafter except 1996 and 2020.


1960 United States presidential election in Arizona, Primaries, Democratic state convention
While Arizona did not hold a formal primary to select delegates to represent the state at the Democratic National Convention, it did hold a state convention in April where delegates were selected.


1960 United States presidential election in Arizona, Primaries, Democratic state convention
Since Arizona traditionally operated under the "unit role" at conventions (under which the entire delegation voted for one candidate as a unified bloc), a candidate who could secure a simple majority of their delegation's support would be able to receive the votes of all 17 delegates.


1960 United States presidential election in Arizona, Primaries, Democratic state convention
By early 1959, Kennedy's campaign saw strong potential in the state, and recognized a need to organize their efforts there. Arizona was added to the list of states which they began to prioritize as targets for Kennedy to compete in during the primaries. As the primary season unfolded, Kennedy increasingly recognized the state convention as an opportunity to secure delegates in advance of the convention. This arose as an opportunity for Kennedy due to Lyndon B. Johnson's steadfast refusal to launch an active candidacy during the primaries.


1960 United States presidential election in Arizona, Primaries, Democratic state convention
Rather thank seeking support as a declared candidate, Johnson was relying on a covert, ultimately ineffective, effort to deliver him the support of Arizona's delegation. Johnson was counting on 81 year old senator Carl Hayden and former senator Ernest McFarland to deliver him the state's delegation. Both would ultimately prove to have long since expended their political capital in the state.


1960 United States presidential election in Arizona, Primaries, Democratic state convention
Kennedy operative Ted Sorensen found, early on, that the state party chairman, Tucson mayor Don Hummel, was willing to help the Kennedy campaign. Kennedy's campaign's primary base for their Arizona operations was in Pima County, where Hummel lent his grassroots prowess to them.


1960 United States presidential election in Arizona, Primaries, Democratic state convention
The primary actor in shoring up Kennedy's support in the state, however, was congressman Stewart Udall. Both Udall and his prover, former county prosecutor Mo Udall, proved themselves to be committed supporters of Kennedy's campaign. A few days prior to the state convention, Sam Rayburn (a Johnson ally) summoned Stewart Udall to the Speaker's Platform in the House Chamber of the United States Capitol. He inquired as to whether Udall was going to be an active figure in the state convention, which Udall confirmed that he would be.


1960 United States presidential election in Arizona, Primaries, Democratic state convention
Rayburn responded sternly, "Well, I have a candidate for the nomination, my colleague from Texas. I don't want you to hurt him." Udall attempted to placate Rayburn by saying, "Mr. Speaker, I am not trying to hurt anybody. I committed myself several months ago to John Kennedy, and I am going to do everything I can to help him. I am not trying to hurt your man. As a matter of fact, if Kennedy can't get the support, your man is obviously the man who will. If I can't put Kennedy over, I'm not going against him."


1960 United States presidential election in Arizona, Primaries, Democratic state convention
After a string of hostile caucuses to select delegates, the state convention ultimately produced a delegation that favored Kennedy (with two-thirds of the delegates being Kennedy supporters).


1960 United States presidential election in Arkansas
The 1960 United States presidential election in Arkansas took place on November 8, 1960, as part of the 1960 United States presidential election. State voters chose eight representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1960 United States presidential election in Arkansas
Arkansas was won by Senator John F. Kennedy (D–Massachusetts), running with Senator Lyndon B. Johnson, with 50.19% of the popular vote against incumbent Vice President Richard Nixon (R–California), running with United States Ambassador to the United Nations Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., with 43.06% of the popular vote. National States' Rights Party candidate Orval Faubus performed best in his home state of Arkansas, earning 6.76% of the vote. Nixon was however the first-ever Republican victor in the five northeastern counties of Clay, Craighead, Fulton, Randolph and Sharp due to powerful "Bible Belt" anti-Catholicism. In 1928 this was muted by the presence of Arkansas Senator Joseph T. Robinson as Al Smith's running mate, and perhaps by perception of Hoover’s ineffectiveness at relieving the great 1927 flood. Nixon was also the first Republican victor in Marion County since Ulysses S. Grant in 1868.


1960 United States presidential election in Arkansas
As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last time Democratic candidates simultaneously won the presidential election and the state's Class 2 senate seat.


1960 United States presidential election in California
The 1960 United States presidential election in California took place on November 8, 1960 as part of the 1960 United States presidential election. State voters chose 32 representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1960 United States presidential election in California
California voted for the Republican nominee, Vice President Richard Nixon, over the Democratic nominee, Massachusetts Senator John F. Kennedy. Although California was Nixon's home state, which he represented in the House and Senate, and initial political base, his margin of victory over Kennedy turned out to be extremely narrow; in fact, it was the closest of the states that Nixon won and the fourth closest state in the election after Hawaii, Illinois and Missouri. On the morning of November 9, the NBC victory desk erroneously projected California to Kennedy.


1960 United States presidential election in California
Nixon would later win California again against Hubert Humphrey in 1968 and then against George McGovern in 1972.


1960 United States presidential election in California, Primaries, Democratic primary
Running unopposed, California governor Pat Brown won the state's Democratic primary as a favorite son.


1960 United States presidential election in California, Primaries, Democratic primary
While the primary itself was straightforward, the developments surrounding the primary were far more complex.


1960 United States presidential election in California, Primaries, Democratic primary
Kennedy had not come easily to his decision not to compete in the California primary, and had at one point tentatively filed to run in the primary.


1960 United States presidential election in California, Primaries, Democratic primary
Kennedy had begun to contemplate the state's primary at an early stage in the development of his campaign.


1960 United States presidential election in California, Primaries, Democratic primary
By early 1958 Kennedy's team had recognized the state to be a Democratic target for the midterm elections, since economic woes had weakened the Republican Party's strength in the state. This meant that the 1958 midterm election would serve to gauge the prospect of Democrats winning the state in the 1960 presidential election. In February 1958, Ted Sorensen spent $1,500 in order to commission a survey in California that would be conducted that March, coinciding with a two-day visit by Kennedy to the state. The survey showed Kennedy winning 55 to 45% in a then-hypothetical general election race against Nixon. The survey also demonstrated Kennedy to have a strong lead in California among Catholics, who constituted one-fifth of the state's populace.


1960 United States presidential election in California, Primaries, Democratic primary
Kennedy, however, remained undecided as to whether or not he would compete in the state's primary.


1960 United States presidential election in California, Primaries, Democratic primary
In November 1958, the midterm elections delivered encouraging signs for Democratic prospects of carrying the state in 1960. Pat Brown had defeated the Nixon-backed Republican candidate,  outgoing U.S. Senate Minority Leader William Knowland, in the state's gubernatorial election and Democrat Clair Engle defeated the Nixon-backed Republican candidate, outgoing governor Goodwin Knight, in the race for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Knowland.


1960 United States presidential election in California, Primaries, Democratic primary
California was one of several large state delegations to the Democratic National convention whose support the Kennedy campaign  came to believe was integral when they mapped-out his path to secure the nomination.


1960 United States presidential election in California, Primaries, Democratic primary
The Kennedy campaign was concerned that Brown might run against Kennedy as a favorite son in the primary. Brown saw himself as a potential running mate on the Democratic ticket. However, he recognized that his chances of being selected would disappear if Kennedy were the presidential nominee, as Brown and Kennedy were both Catholics and a ticket composed of two Catholics was improbable. Thus. Brown recognized that he would need for Kennedy to lose the nomination if he were to stand a chance at securing the vice-presidential nomination for himself.


1960 United States presidential election in California, Primaries, Democratic primary
California's Democratic Party landscape at the time, stood largely divided between Brown loyalists and Adlai Stevenson supporters (many of whom had hopes of nominating Stevenson a third consecutive time).


1960 United States presidential election in California, Primaries, Democratic primary
Kennedy's campaign began to consider the possibility of pursuing a compromise with Brown in which he would run as a favorite candidate committed to Kennedy. Such a compromise would have granted Brown the profile and ego boost of winning the state's primary. It would have allowed Kennedy to eschew a scenario in which he could underperform or be defeated in one of the last primaries, which would weaken the momentum he needed to have heading into the convention.


1960 United States presidential election in California, Primaries, Democratic primary
It would also have avoided the risk of dividing the state party, which was important since a divided state party would have decimated any chance Kennedy stood of carrying the state in the general election. At the same time, such a compromise would still have secured the support of California's delegation for Kennedy. Kennedy's campaign decided that, so long as their candidate still had momentum from having won primaries in other key states, there would be no problem in having Brown run as a surrogate candidate in California.


1960 United States presidential election in California, Primaries, Democratic primary
To help persuade Brown to be inclined towards such an agreement, Larry O'Brien met with Brown on behalf of the campaign and showed him polling that Louis Harris had conducted for them which showed Kennedy winning the state 60% to 40% in a two-way race against Brown and was also beating him in a three-way matchup featuring Humphrey, polling 47% against Brown's 33% and Humphrey's 20%. The campaign ultimately reached an informal agreement with Brown to have him run, pledged to Kennedy, as a favorite son.


1960 United States presidential election in California, Primaries, Democratic primary
Despite their informal agreement with Brown, Kennedy's campaign continued to possess worries about the state's primary. They were uncertain as to what degree Brown was intent on honoring their agreement. They also recognized that there was a potential that Stevenson might run in the state's primary. Another concern involved the candidacy of Hubert Humphrey. Kennedy's team believed that there was a possibility that Humphrey might file to run in the state.


1960 United States presidential election in California, Primaries, Democratic primary
While Kennedy's campaign strategy aimed to have killed Humphrey's candidacy well in advance of the California primary by dealing him critical defeats in earlier primaries, they were still somewhat concerned about a potential scenario in which Kennedy would have failed to knock Humphrey out of the race and Humphrey ran in the California primary. They were worried that, in such an instance,  Brown might prove to be a much less effective an opponent to Humphrey than Kennedy himself would be.


1960 United States presidential election in California, Primaries, Democratic primary
To precautionarily leave open the campaign's options, on the March 9 deadline to file for the primary, Kennedy filed his own slate of prospective delegates which would be, at least tentatively, registered to run against Brown's slate. Humphrey filed a slate of his own later that day. This blindsided Brown, who believed that he had secured promises from both candidates that neither of them would run against him in the California primary.


1960 United States presidential election in California, Primaries, Democratic primary
By the time of the California primary, Humphrey had already ended his campaign. Since he had only filed as a precaution for the possibility of Humphrey competing in California, Kennedy attempted to make peace. Kennedy withdrew, granting Brown the opportunity to run unopposed.


1960 United States presidential election in California, Primaries, Democratic primary
Feeling betrayed by Kennedy, Brown did not publicly endorse him, much to the chagrin of the Kennedy campaign. Brown, ultimately, held weak control over a fractious state delegation, whose ranks included a number of Stevenson loyalists, and Stevenson had left open the possibility of being drafted as a candidate at the convention. After failing to secure a public endorsement from Brown ahead of the convention, Kennedy and his team ultimately resorted to courting individual members of its delegation for their support.


1960 United States presidential election in California, Republican primary
Nixon won California's Republican primary, in which he was unopposed.


1960 United States presidential election in Colorado
The 1960 United States presidential election in Colorado took place on November 8, 1960, as part of the 1960 United States presidential election. State voters chose six representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1960 United States presidential election in Colorado
Colorado was won by incumbent Vice President Richard Nixon (R–California), running with United States Ambassador to the United Nations Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., with 54.63% of the popular vote, against Senator John F. Kennedy (D–Massachusetts), running with Senator Lyndon B. Johnson, with 44.91% of the popular vote.


1960 United States presidential election in Connecticut
The 1960 United States presidential election in Connecticut took place on November 8, 1960, as part of the 1960 United States presidential election, which was held throughout all 50 states. Voters chose eight representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1960 United States presidential election in Connecticut
Connecticut voted for the Democratic nominee, Senator John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts, over the Republican nominee, Vice President Richard Nixon of California. Kennedy ran with Senate Majority Leader Lyndon B. Johnson of Texas, while Nixon's running mate was Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. of Massachusetts.


1960 United States presidential election in Connecticut
Kennedy carried Connecticut by a comfortable margin of 7.47%, making him the first Democratic winner in the state since Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1944.


1960 United States presidential election in Connecticut
As of 2020, this was the most recent presidential election in which the town of Mansfield was carried by the Republican nominee.


1960 United States presidential election in Delaware
The 1960 United States presidential election in Delaware took place on November 8, 1960, as part of the 1960 United States presidential election. State voters chose three representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1960 United States presidential election in Delaware
Delaware was won by Senator John F. Kennedy (D–Massachusetts), running with Senator Lyndon B. Johnson, with 50.63% of the popular vote against incumbent Vice President Richard Nixon (R–California), running with United States Ambassador to the United Nations Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., with 49.00% of the popular vote.


1960 United States presidential election in Florida
The 1960 United States presidential election in Florida was held on November 8, 1960. All contemporary fifty states took part, and Florida voters selected 10 electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1960 United States presidential election in Florida, Vote
Republican candidate Richard Nixon won against John F. Kennedy by 46,776 votes and by 3.02%. As of the 2020 Presidential Election, this is the last election in which Escambia County, Clay County, Okaloosa County, and Santa Rosa County voted for a Democratic presidential candidate. This was the first time that a Democrat was elected without winning Florida. This was also the first time since 1924 that Florida didn't vote for the winner of the presidential election. It would happen only two more times, in 1992 and 2020.


1960 United States presidential election in Georgia
The 1960 United States presidential election in Georgia took place on November 8, 1960, as part of the 1960 United States presidential election. Georgia voters chose 12 representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1960 United States presidential election in Georgia
Georgia was won by Senator John F. Kennedy (D–Massachusetts), running with Senator Lyndon B. Johnson, with 62.54% of the popular vote against incumbent Vice President Richard Nixon (R–California), running with United States Ambassador to the United Nations Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., with 37.43% of the popular vote. This is the first election where any Georgia county cast more than one hundred thousand votes, namely Fulton.


1960 United States presidential election in Hawaii
The 1960 presidential election in Hawaii was held on November 8, 1960, as part of the 1960 United States presidential election. This was the first presidential election in which Hawaii participated; the state had been admitted to the Union just over a year earlier. The islands favored Democrat John F. Kennedy by the narrowest of margins: 115 votes, or 0.06%. The state voted more Republican than the national average for the last time until it did the same again by less than a percentage point in two-party vote share in 1972.


1960 United States presidential election in Hawaii
Initially it appeared Republican candidate Richard Nixon had won in the state, as he was 141 votes ahead after the first count. A court-ordered recount was still underway when Hawaii's Republican governor signed the certificate from the GOP electors giving the state's three electoral votes to Nixon. On the same day, the Democratic electors also issued a certificate awarding the votes to Kennedy. The final recount showed Kennedy had actually prevailed by 115 votes, forcing the governor to sign the second certificate from the Democratic electors.


1960 United States presidential election in Hawaii
Both certificates had arrived in Washington by the time Congress convened in January 1961, with then-Vice President Nixon charged with presiding over a joint session to certify his own election loss. Hearing no objections, Nixon ordered the Democratic certificate counted and ignored the accompanying Republican certificate, even though it also bore the governor's signature as required by federal law.


1960 United States presidential election in Hawaii
This is one of only two elections in which Hawaii's counties did not all back the same candidate (the other being 1980). Curiously, the county results in 1980 were the exact inverse– only Honolulu voted Republican, though unlike in this election it was insufficient to singlehandedly carry the state, while all three other counties voted for Jimmy Carter.


1960 United States presidential election in Hawaii, Bibliography
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1960 United States presidential election in Idaho
The 1960 United States presidential election in Idaho took place on November 8, 1960, as part of the 1960 United States presidential election. State voters chose four representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1960 United States presidential election in Idaho
Idaho was won by incumbent Vice President Richard Nixon (R–California), running with United States Ambassador to the United Nations Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., with 53.78 percent of the popular vote, against Senator John F. Kennedy (D–Massachusetts), running with Senator Lyndon B. Johnson, with 46.22 percent of the popular vote. As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last election in which Custer County and Camas County voted for a Democratic presidential candidate.


1960 United States presidential election in Idaho
Nixon won Idaho by 22,744 votes, or 7.6%, which was significantly less than fellow Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1956, who won the state by a margin of 22.4%, or 61,111 votes. 4 years later, Democrat Lyndon B. Johnson would win the state by a margin of 1.83%, or 5,363 votes, which as of the 2020 presidential election, is the last time a Democratic presidential candidate has carried the state, or even broke 40% of the total vote. Excluding Johnson's win in 1964, as of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last time a Democratic presidential candidate has come within single digits of winning the state.


1960 United States presidential election in Illinois
The 1960 United States presidential election in Illinois took place on November 8, 1960, as part of the 1960 United States presidential election. State voters chose 27 representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1960 United States presidential election in Illinois
In the nation's second-closest race following Hawaii, Illinois was won by Senator John F. Kennedy (D–Massachusetts), running with Senator Lyndon B. Johnson, with 49.98% of the popular vote against incumbent Vice President Richard Nixon (R–California), running with United States Ambassador to the United Nations Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., with 49.80% of the popular vote, a margin of victory of only 0.18%. To date, this is the last time Illinois did not vote for the same candidate as California, and the last time until 2016 when Illinois would vote Democrat, while the Republican candidate won the state of Wisconsin.


1960 United States presidential election in Illinois, Election information
The primaries and general elections coincided with those for other federal offices (Senate and House), as well as those for state offices.


1960 United States presidential election in Illinois, Election information, Turnout
Turnout in the state-run primary elections (Democratic and Republican) was 16.43% with a total of 836,458 votes cast.


1960 United States presidential election in Illinois, Election information, Turnout
Turnout during the general election was 86.51%, with 4,757,409 votes cast.


1960 United States presidential election in Illinois, Primaries
Both major parties held non-binding state-run preferential primaries on April 12.


1960 United States presidential election in Illinois, Primaries, Democratic
The 1960 Illinois Democratic presidential primary was held on April 12, 1960 in the U.S. state of Illinois as one of the Democratic Party's state primaries ahead of the 1960 presidential election.


1960 United States presidential election in Illinois, Primaries, Democratic
The popular vote was a non-binding "beauty contest". Delegates were instead elected by direct votes by congressional district on delegate candidates.


1960 United States presidential election in Illinois, Primaries, Democratic
All candidates were write-ins. Kennedy ran a write-in campaign, and no candidate actively ran against him in Illinois.


1960 United States presidential election in Illinois, Primaries, Democratic
Not all of the vote-getters had been declared candidates. Johnson, Stevenson, and Symington had all sat out the primaries.


1960 United States presidential election in Illinois, Primaries, Democratic
Chicago mayor Richard J. Daley, head of the Cook County Democratic Party, promised to deliver Kennedy the support of Cook County's delegates, so long as Kennedy won competitive primaries in other states.


1960 United States presidential election in Illinois, Primaries, Republican
The 1960 Illinois Republican presidential primary was held on April 12, 1960 in the U.S. state of Illinois as one of the Republican Party's state primaries ahead of the 1960 presidential election.


1960 United States presidential election in Illinois, Primaries, Republican
The preference vote was a "beauty contest". Delegates were instead selected by direct-vote in each congressional districts on delegate candidates.


1960 United States presidential election in Illinois, Controversy
Some, including Republican legislators and journalists, believed that Kennedy benefited from vote fraud from Mayor Richard J. Daley's powerful Chicago political machine.


1960 United States presidential election in Illinois, Controversy
Daley's machine was known for "delivering whopping Democratic tallies by fair means and foul." Republicans tried and failed to overturn the results at the time—as well as in ten other states. Some journalists also later claimed that mobster Sam Giancana and his Chicago crime syndicate "played a role" in Kennedy's victory. Nixon's campaign staff urged him to pursue recounts and challenge the validity of Kennedy's victory, but Nixon gave a speech three days after the election that he would not contest the election.


1960 United States presidential election in Illinois, Controversy
A myth arose that Daley held back much of the Chicago vote until the late morning hours of November 9. However, when the Republican Chicago Tribune went to press, 79% of Cook County precincts had reported, compared to just 62% of Illinois's precincts overall. Moreover, Nixon never led in Illinois, and Kennedy's lead merely shrank as election night went on. Earl Mazo, a reporter for the pro-Nixon New York Herald Tribune and his biographer, investigated the voting in Chicago and "claimed to have discovered sufficient evidence of vote fraud to prove that the state was stolen for Kennedy."


1960 United States presidential election in Illinois, Controversy
A special prosecutor assigned to the case brought charges against 650 people, who were acquitted by a judge who was a "Daley crony." Three Chicago election workers were convicted of voter fraud in 1962 and served short terms in jail. Mazo, the Herald-Tribune reporter, later said that he "found names of the dead who had voted in Chicago, along with 56 people from one house." He found cases of Republican voter fraud in southern Illinois but said that the totals "did not match the Chicago fraud he found."


1960 United States presidential election in Illinois, Controversy
An academic study in 1985 later analyzed the ballots of two disputed precincts in Chicago which were subject to a recount. It found that while there was a pattern of miscounting votes to the advantage of Democratic candidates, Nixon suffered less than Republicans in other races, and the extrapolated error would have reduced his Illinois margin only from 8,858 votes, the final official total, to just under 8,000. It concluded there was insufficient evidence that he had been cheated out of winning Illinois.


1960 United States presidential election in Indiana
The 1960 United States presidential election in Indiana took place on November 8, 1960, as part of the 1960 United States presidential election. State voters chose 13 representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1960 United States presidential election in Indiana
Indiana was won by incumbent Vice President Richard Nixon (R–California), running with United States Ambassador to the United Nations Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., with 55.03% of the popular vote, against Senator John F. Kennedy (D–Massachusetts), running with Senator Lyndon B. Johnson, with 44.60% of the popular vote.


1960 United States presidential election in Indiana, Primaries, Democratic primary
Larry O'Brien's first campaign trip for the Kennedy campaign was a five day trip to Indiana in April 1959. He determined that, "there was no great groundswell for Kennedy" in the state. However  he found no signs of an active Symington effort in state. O'Brien found that the field was relatively clear in the state, with only whispers of a possible favorite son candidate running to lead a unified and uncommitted delegation to the convention, with Vance Hartke being a favorite speculative individual to fill such a role.


1960 United States presidential election in Indiana, Primaries, Democratic primary
Stuart Symington ultimately made a decision to abandon plans of actively competing in primaries. This opened up Indiana to other candidates. Symington, a Missourian, would have had a distinct advantage winning the vote of winning votes in another Midwestern state with a similar electorate to his own state.


1960 United States presidential election in Iowa
The 1960 United States presidential election in Iowa took place on November 8, 1960, as part of the 1960 United States presidential election. Voters chose ten representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1960 United States presidential election in Iowa
Iowa was won by incumbent Vice President Richard Nixon (R–California), running with United States Ambassador to the United Nations Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., with 56.71% of the popular vote, against Senator John F. Kennedy (D–Massachusetts), running with Senator Lyndon B. Johnson, with 43.22% of the popular vote. As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last election in which Johnson County voted for a Republican presidential candidate.


1960 United States presidential election in Iowa, Primaries, Democratic precinct caucuses
While no statewide vote was held, a system of precinct caucuses were used to select delegates. Edward A. McDermott led a, first-of-its-kind- coordinated effort for the Kennedy campaign which sought to shape the results of Iowa's precinct caucuses in order to secure an Iowa delegation which favored Kennedy's candidacy. These precinct caucuses had been largely ignored by most political circles, providing an opportunity for Kennedy. His campaign had been targeting Iowa as a top priority state in its delegate strategy since, at latest, 1959, setting a goal to secure the support of 18 of the state's 26 delegates.


1960 United States presidential election in Iowa, Primaries, Democratic precinct caucuses
For years, Kennedy had been seeking to curry favor with Iowa's Democratic governor, Herschel Loveless, who had fiercely opposed Kennedy's effort to secure the vice-presidential nomination at the 1956 Democratic National Convention. Kennedy hoped to persuade Loveless against putting himself forward in 1960 as a favorite son (carrying the support of his state's delegation for himself in order to leave it united and unbound to any top contender).


1960 United States presidential election in Iowa, Primaries, Democratic precinct caucuses
Loveless had been neutral for a long time, and continued to remain open to a multitude of candidates as well as a prospect of running as a favorite son (perhaps leveraging that as a means of securing the vice-presidential nomination). However, Kennedy began to secure more and more grassroots support in Iowa.


1960 United States presidential election in Iowa, Primaries, Democratic precinct caucuses
McDermott heavily organized in Iowa, more than compensating for the potential disadvantage Kennedy held due to the fact that a number of possible opponents (such as Hubert Humphrey, Stuart Symington, and Adlai Stevenson II) came from states which directly neighbored Iowa. In the Spring of 1959, McDermott founded the "Iowans for Kennedy" political club and appointed Lumond F. Wilcox, a leading Medodist figure in the state, as its co-chairman in an effort to alleviate the concerns many Iowans still held about Kennedy's Catholic faith.


1960 United States presidential election in Iowa, Primaries, Democratic precinct caucuses
McDermott also recruited Iowan Democrats to run at local precinct caucuses.


1960 United States presidential election in Iowa, Primaries, Democratic precinct caucuses
By late autumn, a Des Moines Register poll of the Iowa Democratic Party's 99 county party chairmen showed that the county leaders had come to favor Kennedy 3 to 2 over Symington and 3 to 1 over either Stevenson of Humphrey.


1960 United States presidential election in Kansas
The 1960 United States presidential election in Kansas took place on November 8, 1960, as part of the 1960 United States presidential election. Voters chose eight representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1960 United States presidential election in Kansas
Kansas was won by incumbent Vice President Richard Nixon (R–California), running with United States Ambassador to the United Nations Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., with 60.45% of the popular vote, against Senator John F. Kennedy (D–Massachusetts), running with Senator Lyndon B. Johnson, with 39.10% of the popular vote.


1960 United States presidential election in Kansas
Kennedy carried only heavily Catholic Ellis County and urbanized Wyandotte County, the home of Kansas City, Kansas, which has become the Democrats' most reliable county in Kansas during presidential elections.


1960 United States presidential election in Kansas
With 60.45% of the popular vote, Kansas would prove to be Nixon's second strongest state in the 1960 election after Nebraska.


1960 United States presidential election in Kentucky
The 1960 United States presidential election in Kentucky took place on November 8, 1960, as part of the 1960 United States presidential election. Kentucky voters chose 10 representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1960 United States presidential election in Kentucky
Kentucky was won by incumbent Vice President Richard Nixon (R–California), running with United States Ambassador to the United Nations Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., with 53.59 percent of the popular vote, against Senator John F. Kennedy (D–Massachusetts), running with Senator Lyndon B. Johnson, with 46.41 percent of the popular vote. Nixon was the only Republican to win Kentucky but lose the election until John McCain did so in 2008.


1960 United States presidential election in Louisiana
The 1960 United States presidential election in Louisiana took place on November 8, 1960, as part of the 1960 United States presidential election. State voters chose ten representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1960 United States presidential election in Louisiana
Louisiana was won by Senator John F. Kennedy (D–Massachusetts), running with Senator Lyndon B. Johnson, with 50.42% of the popular vote against incumbent Vice President Richard Nixon (R–California), running with United States Ambassador to the United Nations Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., with 28.59% of the popular vote.


1960 United States presidential election in Louisiana
Louisiana has a higher Roman Catholic population than the rest of Southern United States, greatly benefiting Kennedy, the second Roman Catholic to head a major party ticket and the first elected to the presidency. This Catholic base was concentrated in the southern half of the state, while Nixon and an unpledged States’ Rights slate split the northern Protestant parishes, with Nixon winning the less fertile poor white parishes and the unpledged slate the northern Black Belt. As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last election in which Jefferson Parish and St. Tammany Parish voted for a Democratic presidential candidate.


1960 United States presidential election in Maine
The 1960 United States presidential election in Maine took place on November 8, 1960, as part of the 1960 United States presidential election, which was held throughout all 50 states. Voters chose five representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1960 United States presidential election in Maine
Maine voted for the Republican nominee, Vice President Richard Nixon of California, over the Democratic nominee, Senator John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts. Nixon's ran with Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. of Massachusetts, while Kennedy ran with Senate Majority Leader Lyndon B. Johnson of Texas.


1960 United States presidential election in Maryland
The 1960 United States presidential election in Maryland took place on November 8, 1960, as part of the 1960 United States presidential election. State voters chose nine representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1960 United States presidential election in Maryland
Maryland was won by Senator John F. Kennedy (D–Massachusetts), running with Senator Lyndon B. Johnson, with 53.61% of the popular vote against incumbent Vice President Richard Nixon (R–California), running with United States Ambassador to the United Nations Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., with 46.39% of the popular vote.


1960 United States presidential election in Massachusetts
The 1960 United States presidential election in Massachusetts took place on November 8, 1960, as part of the 1960 United States presidential election, which was held throughout all 50 states. Voters chose 16 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1960 United States presidential election in Massachusetts
Massachusetts voted overwhelmingly for the Democratic nominee, John F. Kennedy, who was serving as the state's junior U.S. senator, over the Republican nominee, Vice President Richard Nixon of California. Kennedy ran with Senate Majority Leader Lyndon B. Johnson of Texas, while Nixon's running mate was Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. of Massachusetts.


1960 United States presidential election in Massachusetts
Kennedy carried his home state of Massachusetts in a landslide, taking 60.22% of the vote to Nixon's 39.55%, a Democratic victory margin of 20.67%. This made it the third most Democratic state in the nation, after Rhode Island and Georgia.


1960 United States presidential election in Massachusetts
As Kennedy narrowly defeated Nixon nationally to win the presidency, Massachusetts weighed in for this election as about 21% more Democratic than the national average.


1960 United States presidential election in Massachusetts
Massachusetts had been a Democratic-leaning state since 1928, when the Democratic Party had nominated the first Roman Catholic nominee for president, Al Smith. While Smith lost nationally in a landslide, partially due to anti-Catholic prejudice in much of the country, he won Massachusetts due to the massive turnout and support of the many Irish Catholics in the state. In 1960, John F. Kennedy became the second Roman Catholic presidential nominee by a major party, and again his religion became an issue in some regions of the country. However, there was little doubt that Kennedy, an Irish Catholic born in Brookline, Massachusetts, would be able to carry Massachusetts in his presidential run.


1960 United States presidential election in Massachusetts
Since 1928, Massachusetts had been a swing state, having voted for Democrats Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman in the 1930s and 1940s, but voting for Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower in both 1952 and 1956. In 1956, Eisenhower had carried the state by 19 points. The 21-point margin by which Kennedy won the Bay State 4 years later thus represented a massive 40-point swing toward the Democrats between the 1956 and 1960 elections. Kennedy’s landslide victory in 1960 finally solidified the transformation of Massachusetts into a Democratic stronghold in the modern era. For the first time in American presidential history, in 1960, a Democrat broke 60% of the vote in Massachusetts, and thus Kennedy's 60.22% was the highest percentage of the vote any Democrat had ever received in the state up to that point.


1960 United States presidential election in Massachusetts
Religion was a major dividing factor in shaping the vote in 1960. Nixon's running mate, Henry Cabot Lodge, was also from Massachusetts, and had served the state as a Republican Senator, but was a Protestant, and represented traditional Protestant Yankee Republicanism in Massachusetts. Kennedy, an Irish Catholic Democrat, represented an entirely different strain of Massachusetts politics, the emerging majority coalition of urban and ethnic immigrant voters. In 1952, Kennedy had first defeated Lodge to take the latter's U.S. Senate seat, symbolizing this new Democratic coalition's rise in the state. The residual Yankee Republicanism combined with the popularity of the Republican incumbent Eisenhower allowed Nixon to take a decent 39.55% of the vote, but by 1960, the ethnic Catholic vote held a decisive majority in Massachusetts, and turnout among Catholic voters reached record highs in 1960.


1960 United States presidential election in Massachusetts
Kennedy carried 9 of the state’s 14 counties, including the most heavily populated parts of the state surrounding the large cities of Boston, Worcester, and Springfield. Nixon carried only 5 counties, 3 of them island or peninsula counties. Nixon’s most significant win was Plymouth County, which he won narrowly with 51% of the vote.


1960 United States presidential election in Massachusetts
Kennedy put in an historically strong performance in the state's capital and largest city, Boston, home to many Catholics of Irish and Italian immigrant heritage. In Suffolk County, where Boston is located, Kennedy won a landslide with 74.4% of the vote to Nixon’s 25%, the first time in history that a presidential candidate had received more than 70% of the vote in the county. Kennedy was also the first Democrat to carry Norfolk County since Martin van Buren in 1836.


1960 United States presidential election in Massachusetts
The decisive Democratic win in 1960 would foreshadow the political direction Massachusetts would take in the years to come, as it would become one of the most Democratic states in the nation in the elections that followed. In 1964 and 1968, Democratic nominees Lyndon Johnson and Hubert Humphrey (respectively) would even outperform Kennedy, and in 1972 it would be the only state in the nation to vote for Democrat George McGovern, ultimately making it the only state that Richard Nixon never won in any of his three presidential campaigns.


1960 United States presidential election in Massachusetts
The 1960 election was also the last time a candidate who declared Massachusetts as his home state won the presidency regardless of his performance in the state. The next 3 presidential nominees whose home state was Massachusetts, Michael Dukakis, John Kerry, and Mitt Romney, all lost their respective presidential bids.


1960 United States presidential election in Michigan
The 1960 United States presidential election in Michigan took place on November 8, 1960, as part of the 1960 United States presidential election. Voters chose 20 representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1960 United States presidential election in Michigan
Michigan was won by Senator John F. Kennedy (D–Massachusetts), running with Senator Lyndon B. Johnson, with 50.85% of the popular vote against incumbent Vice President Richard Nixon (R–California), running with United States Ambassador to the United Nations Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., with 48.84% of the popular vote. This was the first time a Democratic candidate won Michigan since 1944.


1960 United States presidential election in Minnesota
The 1960 United States presidential election in Minnesota took place on November 8, 1960 as part of the 1960 United States presidential election. Voters chose 11 electors, or representatives to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1960 United States presidential election in Minnesota
Minnesota was won by the Democratic Party candidate U.S. Senator John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts won the state over incumbent Vice President Richard Nixon by a margin of 22,018 votes, or 1.42%. Kennedy went on to win the election nationally, but by the closest margin since James Garfield's 0.11% victory over Winfield Scott Hancock in 1880. This was the last presidential election held in Minnesota before the elimination of the 9th congressional district in 1963. It was also the last time Mower County voted for a Republican presidential candidate until Donald Trump in 2016. This also marks the last time the Democratic presidential candidate won Minnesota without carrying heavily populated Hennepin County, the home of Minneapolis.


1960 United States presidential election in Mississippi
The 1960 United States presidential election in Mississippi took place on November 8, 1960, as part of the 1960 United States presidential election. Voters chose eight representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president. This was the last election in which Mississippi had eight electoral votes: the Great Migration caused the state to lose congressional districts for the third time in four censuses before the next election.


1960 United States presidential election in Mississippi
The election saw the only case of a state being carried by a slate of unpledged electors. The Magnolia State voted narrowly for this slate, who voted unanimously for long-time Virginia Senator and political machine director Harry Flood Byrd, over the national Democratic nominee John F. Kennedy. Republican nominee and outgoing vice-President Richard Nixon came in third, with his percentage of the vote practically unchanged from what President Dwight D. Eisenhower recorded in 1956.


1960 United States presidential election in Mississippi
Governor Ross Barnett, a segregationist, was faced with a severe dilemma upon becoming governor at the beginning of the year owing to the rigid opposition of Mississippi's limited and almost exclusively white electorate to the active Civil Rights Movement. Pressured by the "Citizens' Council" who wished to unite the South behind a white-supremacist Democratic candidate, Governor Barnett repeated James P. Coleman's strategy from 1956 and nominated two sets of Democratic Party electors for the presidential ballot. The first slate was pledged to Kennedy, while the other was not pledged to any candidate. The aim of placing unpledged electors on the ballot was to gain leverage from either major party in a close election.


1960 United States presidential election in Mississippi
Because Kennedy's record on civil rights was considered poor by the movement's supporters, Senators John C. Stennis and James Eastland supported his candidacy, although state-level politicians were not at all supportive. Outside the heavily French-settled coastal counties, which have greater cultural ties with Louisiana than with the rest of Mississippi, Kennedy's Catholic faith was also considered suspect. In these coastal counties, Kennedy improved very considerably upon what Adlai Stevenson II had achieved in 1956, but except for those counties around the cities of Natchez and Vicksburg, Kennedy showed a major decline from the Democratic result in 1956.


1960 United States presidential election in Mississippi
Since the Republican percentage of the vote essentially failed to change – Nixon lost heavily French Hancock County to Kennedy and Adams and Warren to the unpledged slate but picked up Tunica County and Lowndes County – the unpledged slate took almost all of Kennedy's lost votes and thus shaded him for the state overall.


1960 United States presidential election in Mississippi
Despite Kennedy's statewide defeat being only the second for a national Democrat in Mississippi since Reconstruction, this remains the last election when the coastal, French-influenced counties of Harrison and Jackson have voted for a Democratic presidential nominee. The following landlocked counties have also never voted Democratic since: Choctaw, Jones and Smith. Warren County would not vote Democratic again until Barack Obama won it in 2012.


1960 United States presidential election in Missouri
The 1960 United States presidential election in Missouri took place on November 8, 1960, as part of the 1960 United States presidential election. Voters chose 13 representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1960 United States presidential election in Missouri
In the nation's third-closest race, Missouri was won by Senator John F. Kennedy (D–Massachusetts), running with Senator Lyndon B. Johnson, with 50.26% of the popular vote against incumbent Vice President Richard Nixon (R–California), running with United States Ambassador to the United Nations Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., with 49.74% of the popular vote. As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last election in which Osage County voted for a Democratic Presidential candidate. It also remains the most recent election in which a Northern Democrat has carried Missouri.


1960 United States presidential election in Missouri
The only subsequent Democratic nominees to carry the state have been from the South (Lyndon B. Johnson of Texas, Jimmy Carter of Georgia, and Bill Clinton of  neighboring Arkansas)--although Northern Democrat Barack Obama of neighboring Illinois came very close to winning it in 2008, losing it by a razor-thin margin of 0.13% and fewer than 4,000 votes.


1960 United States presidential election in Missouri
A 101,000-vote margin in Kennedy's favor in St. Louis was nearly 10 times Kennedy's statewide margin.


1960 United States presidential election in Montana
The 1960 United States presidential election in Montana took place on November 8, 1960 as part of the 1960 United States presidential election. Voters chose four representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1960 United States presidential election in Montana
Montana narrowly voted for the Republican nominee, Vice President Richard Nixon, over the Democratic nominee, Massachusetts Senator John F. Kennedy. Nixon won Montana by a slim margin of 2.50%.


1960 United States presidential election in Nebraska
The 1960 United States presidential election in Nebraska took place on November 8, 1960, as part of the 1960 United States presidential election. Voters chose six representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1960 United States presidential election in Nebraska
Nebraska was won by incumbent Vice President Richard Nixon (R–California), running with United States Ambassador to the United Nations Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., with 62.07% of the popular vote, against Senator John F. Kennedy (D–Massachusetts), running with Senator Lyndon B. Johnson, with 37.93% of the popular vote.


1960 United States presidential election in Nebraska
With 62.07% of the popular vote, Nebraska would prove to be Nixon's strongest state in the 1960 election.


1960 United States presidential election in Nebraska, Primaries, Democratic primary
While an effort by Stuart Symington or Hubert Humphrey could have, on paper, been successful in Nebraska's primary, Kennedy had managed to outmaneuver them, laying early groundwork which gave him a solid lead in the state.


1960 United States presidential election in Nebraska, Primaries, Democratic primary
Kennedy managed, in early 1958, to secure Bernard Boyle's support.


1960 United States presidential election in Nebraska, Primaries, Democratic primary
By the time that others such as Humphrey, Symington, and Johnson began to inquire with Boyle about their own prospective candidacies, they learned that they had a arrived a year too late.


1960 United States presidential election in Nebraska, Primaries, Democratic primary
Kennedy went in to win the primary, unchallenged. With the exception of Kennedy, all candidates were write-ins.


1960 United States presidential election in Nebraska, Primaries, Republican primary
Nixon won the state's Republican primary. All candidates were write-ins.


1960 United States presidential election in Nevada
The 1960 United States presidential election in Nevada took place on November 8, 1960, as part of the 1960 United States presidential election. State voters chose three representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president. Nevada was the only western pacific state carried by then Senator Kennedy. All surrounding states including California, Arizona, Utah, Idaho, and Oregon voted for Nixon.


1960 United States presidential election in Nevada
Nevada was won by Senator John F. Kennedy (D–Massachusetts), running with Senator Lyndon B. Johnson, with 51.16% of the popular vote against incumbent Vice President Richard Nixon (R–California), running with United States Ambassador to the United Nations Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., with 48.84% of the popular vote.


1960 United States presidential election in Nevada
Although Nixon lost the state and the election, he would later win Nevada in both 1968 and 1972.


1960 United States presidential election in New Hampshire
The 1960 United States presidential election in New Hampshire took place on November 8, 1960, as part of the 1960 United States presidential election, which was held throughout all 50 states. Voters chose four representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1960 United States presidential election in New Hampshire
New Hampshire was won by the Republican nominees, incumbent Vice President Richard Nixon of California, and his running mate  Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. of Massachusetts. Nixon and Lodge defeated the Democratic nominees, Senator John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts and his running mate Senate Majority Leader Lyndon B. Johnson of Texas.


1960 United States presidential election in New Hampshire
Nixon took 53.42% of the vote to Kennedy's 46.58%, a margin of 6.84%.


1960 United States presidential election in New Hampshire
Kennedy swept the entire Northeastern United States, with the exception of the three Upper New England states, although Kennedy was much stronger in New Hampshire and the result was much closer than in neighboring Vermont and Maine.


1960 United States presidential election in New Hampshire
Although the statewide result was close, Nixon won seven of the state's counties while Kennedy won three.


1960 United States presidential election in New Hampshire
Since Franklin Roosevelt won them in 1932, the counties of Hillsborough County, Strafford County, and Coos County had become reliable New Deal Democratic base counties, voting for Roosevelt all four times as well as for Harry S. Truman. The counties had been won back by the GOP when Dwight Eisenhower swept the state in his nationwide landslide of 1956. However, they reverted to the Democratic Party in 1960, allowing Kennedy to take nearly 47% statewide compared to the 34% Adlai Stevenson had received in the state in 1956.


1960 United States presidential election in New Hampshire
Kennedy's most substantial victory was in heavily populated Hillsborough County, home to Manchester and Nashua, which went to Kennedy by a decisive 58–42 margin.


1960 United States presidential election in New Hampshire
Carroll County had long been the most Republican county in New Hampshire, voting over eighty percent Republican in 1952 and 1956, and in 1960 it would remains Nixon's strongest county in the region, with Nixon taking over 79% of the vote.


1960 United States presidential election in New Hampshire
As Kennedy narrowly edged out Nixon to win the 1960 election nationally, New Hampshire's results would make the state 7% more Republican than the national average.


1960 United States presidential election in New Hampshire
Nixon would later win New Hampshire again in both 1968 and 1972.


1960 United States presidential election in New Hampshire, Primaries
Both the Republican and Democratic parties held primaries on March 8.


1960 United States presidential election in New Hampshire, Primaries, Democratic primary
Kennedy had flirted with the New Hampshire primary once before. In 1956 he had briefly considered running as a New England favorite son, with the aim of unifying the state's delegation behind Adlai Stevenson II.


1960 United States presidential election in New Hampshire, Primaries, Democratic primary
At the start of 1957, Kennedy staffer Ted Sorensen reached out to Bernard L. Boutin (mayor of Laconia, and New Hampshire's representative to the Democratic National Committee) and arranged a meeting between him and Kennedy. Kennedy informed Boutin that he was very seriously exploring a presidential campaign for 1960 and managed to secure his support.


1960 United States presidential election in New Hampshire, Primaries, Democratic primary
In the following years, money from the Kennedy campaign flowed into the state and Kennedy and his allies continued to visit the state. New Hampshire and a reputation as a state which rewarded campaigning efforts. This meant that Kennedy's status as a native of a neighboring state would not, alone, give him much of an advantage.


1960 United States presidential election in New Hampshire, Primaries, Democratic primary
In 1958, Kennedy and several members of his family conducted visits to the state. His mother Rose spoke at several colleges and even attended a Concord Bar Mitzvah. His brother Ted gave a speech in rudimentary French to a French-speaking crowd in Suncook. His sisters Eunice, Jean, and Patricia also appeared in the state.


1960 United States presidential election in New Hampshire, Primaries, Democratic primary
Other potential candidates, such as Lyndon B. Johnson, Stuart Symington, and Hubert Humphrey also made exploratory visits to the state. However, Boutin had established a comprehensive support network for Kennedy in the state which proved strong enough to ward off these candidates.


1960 United States presidential election in New Hampshire, Primaries, Democratic primary
3 fringe candidates stepped forth to run in the primary. These were Lawrence Daly and country music singer Elton Britt, and ballpoint pen manufacturer Paul Fischer. Boutin managed to successfully challenge the validity of signatures on Daly and Britt's candidature petitions, quickly quashing their candidacies. Paul C. Fisher, who was running on radical tax reform, remained Kennedy's only challenger on the ballot.


1960 United States presidential election in New Hampshire, Primaries, Democratic primary
Ahead of the primary local Republicans attacked Kennedy, including Governor Wesley Powell, and the New Hampshire Union Leader ran fiercely negative coverage. Nevertheless, Kennedy won handily.


1960 United States presidential election in New Hampshire, Primaries, Republican primary
Nixon faced no opponents on the ballot, but several individuals did receive write-in votes.


1960 United States presidential election in New Jersey
The 1960 United States presidential election in New Jersey took place on November 8, 1960. All 50 states were part of the 1960 United States presidential election. Voters chose 16 electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president.


1960 United States presidential election in New Jersey
New Jersey was won by the Democratic nominees, Senator John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts and his running mate Senate Majority Leader Lyndon B. Johnson of Texas. Kennedy and Johnson defeated the Republican nominees, Vice President Richard Nixon of California and his running mate Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. of Massachusetts.


1960 United States presidential election in New Jersey
Kennedy carried New Jersey with 49.96% of the vote to Nixon’s 49.16%, a margin of 0.80%.


1960 United States presidential election in New Jersey
Kennedy managed to narrowly win the state despite winning only seven counties to Nixon’s 14. However Kennedy managed to rack up large margins decisively winning some of the most heavily populated counties in the state, while keeping the results very close in those heavily populated counties that he lost.


1960 United States presidential election in New Jersey
As the first Roman Catholic nominee, from an urban Irish immigrant background, John Kennedy appealed strongly to working-class Catholics and other urban ethnic immigrant groups, who turned out in record numbers to support him. Thus Kennedy's support base was condensed into mostly heavily populated urban areas.


1960 United States presidential election in New Jersey
In urban Hudson County, home to Bayonne, Jersey City, and Hoboken, and part of the New York City area where Kennedy did very well, Kennedy won countywide by a decisive 60–39 margin. This represented a major shift from 1956, when Republican Dwight Eisenhower had won Hudson County by 20 points.


1960 United States presidential election in New Jersey
In Mercer County, home to the state capital of Trenton, Kennedy did even better, winning 61–39.


1960 United States presidential election in New Jersey
Essex County, home to Newark, had long been Republican-leaning, voting not only for Eisenhower twice in the 1950s, but also voting GOP three times before that for Thomas E. Dewey and Wendell Willkie against Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman in the 1940s. However Kennedy won the heavily populated county by a decisive 55–42 margin, the start of a re-alignment of the county; by the end of the 1960s, Essex County would be the most Democratic county in New Jersey.


1960 United States presidential election in New Jersey
Kennedy also won heavily populated Middlesex County by a 58–41 margin. In equally heavily populated Union County, Nixon won, but only by a razor-thin 50–49 margin. In Passaic County, Kennedy won by a 51–45 margin. In Camden County, Kennedy won 55–45.


1960 United States presidential election in New Jersey
Nixon was able to keep the race close statewide by winning several fairly populated suburban counties, like Monmouth County and Morris County, along with many rural counties; overall his biggest prize was heavily populated Bergen County, which went to Nixon by a 59–41 margin. Nixon's strongest county by vote share was rural Sussex County, where he received 69% of the vote to Kennedy's 31%. Kennedy's strongest county by vote share was urban Mercer County, where he received 61% of the vote to Nixon’s 39%.


1960 United States presidential election in New Jersey
New Jersey in this era was usually a swing state with a slight Republican lean. But in 1960, excitement among the many Catholic and other ethnic immigrant communities that populated New Jersey’s cities for the historic candidacy of John F. Kennedy led to turnout in record numbers to elect the first Catholic president, thus narrowly delivering the state to Kennedy. The Great Migration also helped Kennedy, who clearly won the state’s African-American voters. As Kennedy eked out a razor-thin victory nationally to win the presidency, New Jersey voted basically how the nation voted.


1960 United States presidential election in New Jersey
But under the unique circumstances that made Kennedy popular in Northeastern states, New Jersey's results in 1960 made it about .18% more Democratic than the national average. This was also the last election until fellow Democratic candidate from Massachusetts John Kerry did so in 2004, when a Northern Democrat won New Jersey, as the next three Democratic presidential candidates to carry the state were all from the South (Lyndon B. Johnson was from Texas, Bill Clinton from Arkansas, and Al Gore from Tennessee), even though New Jersey is a northern state.


1960 United States presidential election in New Jersey, Primaries, Democratic primary
No candidates ran in the Democratic primary. Unpledged at-large delegates were elected.


1960 United States presidential election in New Jersey, Primaries, Democratic primary
Governor Robert B. Meyner wanted to lead an unpledged state delegation to the convention  to support him as a favorite son. Kennedy opted to allow him to do this, and therefore did not compete in New Jersey. Kennedy did so because he was confident that Meyner lacked national appeal, and thus, if convention voting went into multiple rounds, Kennedy would be able to secure the backing of New Jersey delegates after the first round.


1960 United States presidential election in New Jersey, Primaries, Republican primary
No candidates ran in the Republican primary. Unpledged at-large delegates were elected.


1960 United States presidential election in New Mexico
The 1960 United States presidential election in New Mexico took place on November 8, 1960. This was the first year where all 50 current states were part of the 1960 United States presidential election. State voters chose four electors to represent them in the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1960 United States presidential election in New Mexico, Background
In its early days New Mexico had been divided between largely Republican machine-run highland regions and its firmly Southern Democrat "Little Texas" region in its east. However, with a shift of these machine-run regions to the Democratic Party, the state became very largely a one-party Democratic state in the years following the New Deal, although Republicans – despite being severely faction-ridden – retained strength in many highland counties. Despite the GOP recapturing the governorship under Edwin L. Mechem in 1950 and retaining it for all but one term up to this point, the state's electorate was overwhelmingly aligned with the Democratic Party.


1960 United States presidential election in New Mexico, Background
The nomination by the Democratic Party of a Roman Catholic in Massachusetts Senator John F. Kennedy introduced major complications into likely voting behaviour. In 1928, Al Smith had lost most of his party's traditional support in the Baptist "Little Texas" region due to his Catholic faith and Tammany Hall links. However, increasing Mexican-American voting and the power of older Hispanic Catholic voting meant that there was a potential counterweight to this trend, whose power was seen in a wave of anti-Catholic pamphlets in the southeast.


1960 United States presidential election in New Mexico, Vote
New Mexico was won by Kennedy by a narrow 1 point margin. His narrow win reflected a balancing of Catholic and anti-Catholic forces. In heavily Baptist Roosevelt County, Kennedy declined 15 percent from Adlai Stevenson II's share of the vote in 1956. In contrast, in traditionally Republican Socorro County – the solitary county won by Alf Landon in 1936 – Kennedy won 57 percent of the vote and became the first Democrat to win the county since 1932. Kennedy was also the first Democrat since 1936 to carry Mora County and the first since 1940 to win Santa Fe County. Both counties would become among the most Democratic in the state from the 1970s onwards. It is believed indeed that as many as 98 percent of Hispanic voters may have supported fellow Catholic Kennedy.


1960 United States presidential election in New Mexico, Vote
In his first bid for the presidency, Republican nominee incumbent Vice President Richard Nixon was defeated in an electorally sound nationwide Democratic victory. Nixon would later win New Mexico in both 1968 and 1972.


1960 United States presidential election in New York
The 1960 United States presidential election in New York took place on November 8, 1960. All 50 states were part of the 1960 United States presidential election. Voters chose 45 electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president.


1960 United States presidential election in New York
New York was won by Democratic Senator John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts, who was running against incumbent Republican Vice President Richard Nixon. Kennedy was running with Texas Senator, and strongest opponent in the 1960 Democratic Party presidential primaries, Lyndon B. Johnson for vice president, and Nixon ran with internationally popular United States Ambassador to the United Nations Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr..


1960 United States presidential election in New York
Kennedy won New York with 52.53% of the vote to Nixon's 47.27%, a victory margin of 5.26%.


1960 United States presidential election in New York
New York weighed in for this election as 5% more Democratic than the national average.


1960 United States presidential election in New York
The presidential election of 1960 was a very partisan election for New York, with 99.8% of the electorate voting for either the Democratic or the Republican Parties. In typical form for the time, the highly populated centers of New York City, Buffalo, and Albany, voted primarily Democratic, while the suburban areas such as Nassau and Westchester and the rural counties in New York turned out for Nixon as the Republican candidate.


1960 United States presidential election in New York
Kennedy won the election in New York by a solid 5 point margin, representing a dramatic shift toward the Democratic Party in the state: just four years earlier, Dwight Eisenhower had carried New York State for the Republicans with over 60% of the vote. The results of this election in New York are typical of the nationwide trend of the urbanization of the Democratic Party, and Kennedy's dominance in heavily populated New York City was a vital component to his victory in the state.


1960 United States presidential election in New York
Kennedy took 62.62% of the overall vote in New York City, to Nixon's 37.04%, and carried four out of five boroughs. Kennedy's victory in Queens, in the midst of a virtual tie nationwide, marked a dramatic turning point for the heavily populated borough's political leanings. Prior to 1960, Queens had been a Republican borough, only voting Democratic in massive nationwide Democratic landslides; it had not previously gone Democratic since the landslide re-election of Franklin Roosevelt in 1936. Beginning in 1960, Queens became a reliably Democratic borough, and since then has gone Republican only once, in the 1972 Republican landslide.


1960 United States presidential election in New York
Nixon for his part ran on a platform of continuing the "peace and prosperity" felt throughout the United States under President Eisenhower, which gained him popularity in the developing regions of the West and Pacific States, while Kennedy attained his popularity in urban regions, in-part, due to his progressive stand on international politics. This included taking a stronger stance with the Soviet Union, which was a very important issue to many city-dwellers, fearing annihilation during the height of the post-nuclear age.


1960 United States presidential election in New York
The electors of New York were vital to Kennedy's overall victory, as he defeated Nixon 303–219 in the United States Electoral College. Had Nixon carried New York, then all other things being equal he would have won pluralities in both the popular and electoral vote. However, the Republican nominee would have still finished two votes short of an overall majority in the Electoral College, as he would have had a total of 265 of the 267 pledged electors needed to win compared to 258 for Kennedy. The 14 unpledged electors of Mississippi and Alabama would have held the balance of power in the Electoral College (unable to influence the overall result, these electors opted to cast their votes in favor of Virginia Senator Harry F. Byrd).