1960 United States Presidential Election (Nixon's America)

The 1960 United States presidential election was the 44th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 8, 1960. In a closely contested election, incumbent Vice-President Richard Nixon defeated the Democratic Party nominee, United States Senator John F. Kennedy. This was the first election in which fifty states participated, and the last in which the District of Columbia did not, marking the first participation of Alaska and Hawaii. This made it the only presidential election where the threshold for victory was 269 electoral votes. It was also the first election in which an incumbent president was ineligible to run for a third term because of the term limits established by the 22nd Amendment.

Nixon faced little opposition in the Republican race to succeed popular incumbent Dwight D. Eisenhower. Kennedy, a junior U.S. senator from Massachusetts, established himself as the Democratic front-runner with his strong performance in the 1960 Democratic primaries, including a key victory in West Virginia over Senator Hubert Humphrey. He defeated Senate Majority Leader Lyndon B. Johnson on the first presidential ballot of the 1960 Democratic National Convention, and asked Johnson to serve as his running mate. The issue of the Cold War dominated the election, as tensions were high between the United States and the Soviet Union.

Nixon won a 296 to 226 Electoral College victory, and he won the national popular vote by 1,018,720, a margin of 1.48 percent. Fourteen unpledged electors from Mississippi and Alabama cast their vote for Senator Harry F. Byrd, as did a faithless elector from Oklahoma. The 1960 presidential election was the closest election since 1916, and this closeness can be explained by a number of factors. Kennedy benefited from the economic recession of 1957–1958, which hurt the standing of the incumbent Republican Party, and he had the advantage of 17 million more registered Democrats than Republicans. Furthermore, the new votes that Kennedy gained among Roman Catholics almost neutralized the new votes Nixon gained among Protestants. Nixon's advantages came from Eisenhower's popularity, as well as the economic prosperity of the past eight years. Kennedy's campaigning skills decisively outmatched Nixon's, who exhausted time and resources campaigning in all fifty states, while Kennedy focused on campaigning in populous swing states. Kennedy emphasized his youth, while Nixon focused heavily on his experience. Kennedy relied on Johnson to hold the South, and used television effectively. Despite his momentum, Kennedy lost the popular vote and the election, albeit by a narrow margin. This election saw a realignment in among white voters in Southern states, which some in the Democratic Party blamed for Kennedy's loss. Following the election, Southern Democrats blamed the party bosses for the defeat and began a campaign for a Southern candidate for 1964.

Results
Close States

Margin of victory less than 1%: 1.  Delaware, 0.13% (256 votes)  2.  Texas, 0.25% (5,778 votes)  3.  Minnesota, 0.34% (5,242 votes)  4.  Michigan, 0.35% (11,613 votes)  5.  Nevada, 0.65% (697 votes)  6.  Pennsylvania, 0.66% (33,043 votes)  7.  South Carolina, 0.81% (3,132 votes)  8.  New Jersey, 0.85% (23,571 votes)  9.  New Mexico, 0.92% (2,862 votes)  Margin of victory over 1%, but under 5%: 1.  Missouri, 1.15% (22,246 votes)  2.  Illinois, 1.48% (70,410 votes)  3.  Hawaii, 1.61% (2,974 votes)  4.  California, 2.21% (143,795 votes)  5.  North Carolina, 2.56% (35,035 votes)  6.  Alaska, 3.54% (2,151 votes)  7.  New York, 3.60% (262,479 votes)  8.  West Virginia, 3.80% (31,836 votes)  9.  Washington, 4.04% (50,160 votes)  10.  Montana, 4.15% (11,520 votes)  11.  Florida, 4.68% (72,267 votes)  Margin of victory over 5%, but under 10%: 1.  Wisconsin, 5.38% (93,025 votes)  2.  Arkansas, 5.46% (23,397 votes)  3.  Maryland, 5.56% (58,677 votes)  4.  Connecticut, 5.80% (70,927 votes)  5.  Oregon, 6.89% (53,495 votes)  6.  Virginia, 7.11% (54,850 votes)  7.  Ohio, 8.22% (342,105 votes)  8.  New Hampshire, 8.50% (25,140 votes)  9.  Tennessee, 8.74% (91,927 votes)  10.  Kentucky, 8.84% (99,402 votes)  11.  Idaho, 9.21% (27,671 votes)