Presidential Election of 1960

The Kennedy Campaign

From the beginning, John F Kennedy's strategy was clear. It was to court the press and to win enough primaries to persuade skeptical party leaders who had reservations about Kennedy's youth, religion, and experience. Kennedy argued that he was the same age as George Washington when he commanded the Continental Army and Christopher Columbus when he discovered the New World. He ran in the Wisconsin and West Virginia primaries; his direct competition was Hubert Humphrey. In Wisconsin, which neighbored Humphrey's state of Minnesota, Kennedy won, receiving 56 percent of the vote. However, many pundits did not consider Kennedy's victory decisive because Humphrey had performed well in Protestant areas while Kennedy performed best in Catholic areas of the state.

Kennedy then moved his campaign to West Virginia. Initially, Kennedy led in the polls in West Virginia. However, that was before the residents of the predominantly Protestant state learned that Kennedy was a Catholic. Kennedy sought to allay concerns about his religion by assuring voters that he would follow the Constitution and not the Pope. He insisted that he believed strongly in the separation of church and state. Kennedy frequently told audiences that no one asked his brother his religion when he volunteered for his last bomber mission in World War II, and that no one asked Kennedy his religion when he commanded PT-109 in World War II. Franklin Roosevelt, Jr., the son of President Franklin Roosevelt, aided him in his campaign. President Roosevelt was revered in the state of West Virginia and the support of one of his sons clearly helped Kennedy. Kennedy won the West Virginia primary, receiving 61 percent of the vote. The victory gave him momentum going into the Democratic convention in Los Angeles.

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