JFK+50: Volume 6, No. 2028
ELEANOR ROOSEVELT ENDORSES KENNEDY-JOHNSON TICKETHyde Park, New York (JFK+50) Fifty-six years ago today, August 2, 1960, former First Lady and wife of one of the most popular presidents in United States history Eleanor Roosevelt gave her endorsement to the KENNEDY-JOHNSON Democratic ticket.
Mrs. Roosevelt had been reluctant to give her support to the young Massachusetts senator believing that he lacked true liberal credentials. Before his election in November 1960, JFK's relationship with Mrs. Roosevelt was far from good.
In an interview with ABC-TV in 1958, the former First Lady said that JFK's father "intended to buy the presidency for his son." Senator Kennedy was not pleased. He wrote Mrs. Roosevelt and told her she was "misinformed." With continued urging, he managed to get her to agree to recognize the candidate's position was that the rumor was untrue.
Eleanor's first choice in 1960 was Adlai Stevenson of Illinois. Senator Kennedy visited with Mrs. Roosevelt in August and she agreed to campaign for him but only if he would "involve Stevenson in the campaign in foreign policy issues," and when he became POTUS would establish a commission on the status of women.
When John F. Kennedy was sworn in as the 35th President of the United States on January 20, 1961, Eleanor was there. She even rode in the inaugural parade. When JFK signed the Executive Order creating the Peace Corps, Eleanor was a special guest. In 1962, JFK nominated the former First Lady for a Nobel Prize.
SOURCES
"A Changed relationship? Eleanor Roosevelt and President John F. Kennedy," www.historyisnowmagazine.com/
"Eleanor vs John F. Kennedy--The Back Story," by Elizabeth Deane, www.wgbh.org/
Eleanor Roosevelt & JFK
Discuss the Peace Corps (1961)
FDR Library Photo
