1960's Government and Politics | Kennedy, John F. 1917-1963

PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, 1961-1963

Seeking the Nomination.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy was a promising young U.S. Senator from Massachusetts when his nominating speech for Adlai Stevenson at the 1956 Democratic National Convention caught the attention of party leaders and nearly won him the vice-presidential nomination. As soon as the 1956 election was over, he put together an impressively efficient and knowledgeable campaign staff and began running for the 1960 Democratic presidential nomination. Overcoming doubts about his youth and the prevalent belief that, as a Roman Catholic, he could not be elected president of the United States, he won his party's nomination and faced Richard M. Nixon in the November 1960 election.

Campaigning for Change.

Kennedy campaigned on the need for change, charging the Eisenhower administration with inaction on foreign policy matters such as growing Soviet influence in...