JFK ARRIVES IN L.A. AS FAVORITE
Los Angeles, California (JFK+50) On July 9, 1960, Senator John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts, having won all primaries entered, arrived here in Los Angeles for the 1960 Democratic National Convention.
Senator Kennedy was the favorite to win the presidential nomination but still faced strong opposition within his own party. Also, former President Harry S Truman had expressed reservations about a Kennedy nomination and had asked JFK to step aside for a more experienced candidate.
On top of that, former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt also balked at the prospect of Senator Kennedy being the party's nominee. She was scheduled to give a seconding speech for Adlai Stevenson and in her memoirs expressed misgivings about the primary system in place in 1960. She wrote...
"the candidates spend their time running down their rivals in the same party (and) furnish a large amount of ammunition to the opposition party."
Future Watergate Committee chairman Senator Sam Ervin of North Carolina, a delegate at the 1960 Democratic Convention, expressed the distaste of a prospective Kennedy nomination by holding up a July 13th late edition of the Los Angeles Herald which read...
SENATOR KENNEDY SLIPPING AS NOMINATION NEARS, SOUTH ANGRY AT CIVIL RIGHTS
SOURCES
"The Democratic Convention of 1960," The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt, the Eleanor Roosevelt papers.
"1960 Democratic National Convention," www.wikiwand.com/
"1960 Democratic Convention (Sam Ervin)," www.dc.lib.unc.edu/
Senator Kennedy Arrives in Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California (JFK+50) On July 9, 1960, Senator John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts, having won all primaries entered, arrived here in Los Angeles for the 1960 Democratic National Convention.
Senator Kennedy was the favorite to win the presidential nomination but still faced strong opposition within his own party. Also, former President Harry S Truman had expressed reservations about a Kennedy nomination and had asked JFK to step aside for a more experienced candidate.
On top of that, former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt also balked at the prospect of Senator Kennedy being the party's nominee. She was scheduled to give a seconding speech for Adlai Stevenson and in her memoirs expressed misgivings about the primary system in place in 1960. She wrote...
"the candidates spend their time running down their rivals in the same party (and) furnish a large amount of ammunition to the opposition party."
Future Watergate Committee chairman Senator Sam Ervin of North Carolina, a delegate at the 1960 Democratic Convention, expressed the distaste of a prospective Kennedy nomination by holding up a July 13th late edition of the Los Angeles Herald which read...
SENATOR KENNEDY SLIPPING AS NOMINATION NEARS, SOUTH ANGRY AT CIVIL RIGHTS
Despite the opposition, JFK was nominated on the 1st Ballot with 806 votes. LBJ received 409 votes. JFK became the first senator since Warren G. Harding in 1920 to win either party's nomination.
SOURCES
"The Democratic Convention of 1960," The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt, the Eleanor Roosevelt papers.
"1960 Democratic National Convention," www.wikiwand.com/
"1960 Democratic Convention (Sam Ervin)," www.dc.lib.unc.edu/
Senator Kennedy Arrives in Los Angeles
July 9, 1960
JFK Library Photo
