1960 Democratic National Convention

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The 1960 National Convention of the Democratic Party of the United States nominated John F. Kennedy for President and Lyndon B. Johnson for Vice President. It was held in Los Angeles, California at Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena. Senator Frank Church of Idaho delivered the keynote address.

On July 13, 1960, the Democratic Party nominated Kennedy as its candidate for President. Kennedy asked Johnson to be his Vice-Presidential candidate, despite clashes between the two during the primary elections. He needed Johnson's strength in the South to win what was considered likely to be the closest election since 1916. Kennedy had held a steady lead over all of the other candidates during the primaries, having won 32.5 percent of the votes, while Johnson did not enter primaries.

Kennedy's candidacy also faced a potential challenge from former Governor Adlai Stevenson of Illinois. Thousands of people flooded into the convention on opening day carrying Stevenson signs and banners. Eleanor Roosevelt proposed a Stevenson-Kennedy ticket. Among the other candidates were Lyndon B. Johnson, U.S. Senator from Texas and Majority Leader; Stuart Symington, U.S. Senator from Missouri; Hubert H. Humphrey, U.S. Senator from Minnesota; and, Pat Brown, Governor of California.

Two Johnson supporters, including John B. Connally, brought up the question of Kennedy's health. Connally said that Kennedy had Addison's disease. JFK press secretary Pierre Salinger of California denied the story. A Kennedy physician, Dr. Janet Travell, put out a statement that the senator's adrenal glands were functioning adequately and that he was no more susceptible to infection than anyone else. It was also denied that Kennedy was on cortisone. (Geoffrey Perrett, Jack: A Life Like No Other, New York: Random House, 2002, pp. 253-254)

In the end, the Kennedy-Johnson ticket was assembled and went on to secure an electoral college victory and a narrow popular vote plurality (slightly over 110,000 nationally) in the fall over the Republican candidates Richard M. Nixon and Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr.


Preceded by
1956		 Democratic National Conventions Succeeded by
1964

[edit] See also

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United States presidential election, 1960
Democratic Party
1960 Democratic National Convention
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