JFK ARRIVES IN LOS ANGELES

SENATOR KENNEDY ARRIVES IN LOS ANGELES AS FAVORITE 

Los Angeles, California (JFK+50) Fifty-five years ago today, July 9, 1960, Senator John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts, having won all primaries he had entered, arrived here in Los Angeles for the 1960 Democratic National Convention.

Despite being the favorite, Senator Kennedy still faced strong opposition within his own party.  Other candidates included Edmund G. Brown, Sr. of California, Michael V. DiSalle of Ohio, George H. McLain of California, Wayne Morse of Oregon, George Smathers of Florida, Adlai Stevenson of Illinois and Stuart Symington of Missouri.

In addition, former President Harry S Truman had expressed reservations about a Kennedy nomination and had, in fact, asked the young Senator to step aside for a more experienced candidate.

Former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt also balked at the prospect of Senator Kennedy being the party's nominee.  She would 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."

Three of the Democratic candidates had not entered any of the primaries.  They were Lyndon Johnson, Adlai Stevenson and Stuart Symington.

LBJ's supporters, including John B. Connally of Texas, who would later be seriously wounded while riding in President Kennedy's motorcade in Dallas,brought up the issue of JFK's health saying that he had Addison's Disease.

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

The Democratic Platform included planks on civil rights, immigration, foreign aid, the economy, and labor and tax reform.

Despite the opposition, Senator John F. Kennedy was nominated on the First Ballot with 806 votes.  His closest rival, Senator Lyndon B. Johnson, received 409 votes.  JFK became the first United States 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

JFK NOMINATED FOR PRESIDENT ON FIRST BALLOT

July 13, 2013

JFK NOMINATED FOR PRESIDENT ON FIRST BALLOT 53 YEARS AGO TODAY

Los Angeles, California (JFK+50) Senator John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts was nominated on the 1st ballot at the Democratic National Convention here in Los Angeles 53 years ago today, July 13, 1960.

JFK defeated his closest rival, Senator Lyndon B. Johnson of Texas, by a 2 to 1 margin.  Other candidates trailed far behind.

The delegates of the state of Wyoming, with Ted Kennedy standing with them, gave all of their 15 votes to JFK and put him over the top.

Kennedy finished with 806 while LBJ had 409, Symington 86, and Stevenson 79.5, all others 140.5.

According to Teddy White, JFK had worked hard right up to the time for the balloting.  White wrote...

"Still running hard the candidate addressed six more caucuses that Wednesday morning before returning to his hideaway at 3:30 in the afternoon, half an hour before nominations were to begin."

John F. Kennedy became the 1st United States senator since Warren G. Harding to be nominated by either major party for President.

The 1960 Democratic Platform on which JFK would run had been adopted on July 11, 1960.  It was titled "The Rights of Man."*

*During the 1960 campaign, JFK proudly made reference to his party's  platform. 

At one point he said...

 "The Republican platform has also been adopted.   I do not know its title, but I have heard it referred to as 'The Power of Positive Thinking.'"

The Democratic platform addressed the economy by saying...

"We Democrats believe the economy can and must grow at an average of 5% annually, almost twice as fast as our annual rate since 1953."

The platform went on to predict that a Democratic president would end the high interest rate and tight money policy of the Eisenhower administration.

In addition, a strong civil rights plank had been written into the platform with the backing of the Kennedy people.  Martin Luther King, Jr. described it as...

"The most positive, dynamic and meaningful civil rights plank that has ever been adopted by either party."

On the issue of CIVIL RIGHTS, the platform stated...

"We shall...seek to create an affirmative new atmosphere in which to deal with racial divisions and inequalities.  What is now required is effective moral and political leadership by the whole Executive branch of our government to make equal opportunity a living reality for all Americans.

As the party of Jefferson, we shall provide that leadership.

The time has come to assure equal access for all Americans to all areas of community life, including voting booths, schoolrooms, jobs, housing and public facilities.

To accomplish these goals will require...the strong, active, persuasive and inventive leadership of the President of the United States."

The platform also included planks on national defense, disarmament, immigration, civil liberties, foreign aid, labor, tax reform.

It concluded with these words...

"As the Party of Hope it is our responsibility and opportunity to call forth the greatness of the American people.

In this spirit, we hereby rededicate ourselves to the continuing service of the Rights of Man everywhere in America and everywhere else on God's earth."

        On the Floor of the Convention
                     www.lib.unc.edu

SOURCES

"The Making of the President 1960," by Theodore H. White, Atheneum Publishers, New York, 1961.

www.pophistorydig.com/?tag=john-f-kennedy-1960

www.presidency.ucsb.edu/