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| From the Award-Winning Author of 1920: The Year of the Six Presidents |
1960 Election Chronology
November 25, 1956 – JFK decides to run.
December 1956 – JFK hires first black staffer.
June 13, 1957 – Nixon and Martin Luther King confer in Accra,
Ghana.
July 2 1957 – JFK’s Algeria speech.
August 3, 1957 – Death of Jackie’s father, “Black Jack” Bouvier.
November 27, 1957 – Caroline Kennedy born.
July 11, 1958 - Leonard Kater photographs JFK leaving Pamela
Turnure’s apartment at 1 P.M.
December 2, 1957 – JFK appears on cover of Time for first
time, courtesy of a $75,000 Joe Kennedy payment.
October 24, 1958 – Frank Sinatra publicly endorses JFK for
president.
November 7, 1958 – Len Hall urges Nixon to decide.
December 19, 1958 – Lou Harris hired as Kennedy pollster for
1960—for a $100,000 guarantee.
January 1, 1959 – Fidel Castro seizes power in Cuba.
January 7, 1959 – Eisenhower recognizes the new Castro regime.
January 1959 – JFK approaches William Proxmire aide Jerry
Bruno about running his Wisconsin campaign.
February 27, 1959 – Alabama Governor Patterson breakfasts at
the JFK home.
April 1, 1959 – First formal JFK campaign strategy meeting, at his
Palm Beach home.
April 19, 1959 – Castro meets with Richard Nixon in Washington.
May 1959 – Florence Kater writes to 50 editors, etc. regarding
JFK’s affair with her tenant, Pamela Turnure.
June 1959 – Jerry Bruno quits Proxmire’s office, returns to
Wisconsin, working full-time for Kennedy.
June 1959 – Alabama Governor John Patterson endorses JFK.
July 14, 1959 – Minnesota’s Senator Eugene McCarthy and
Governor Orville Freeman announce Hubert Humphrey’s
candidacy for the presidency.
July 22, 1959 – Gallup poll reveals a Stevenson-Kennedy ticket
would beat a Nixon-Rockefeller slate by 53-42% with 5%
undecided.
September 1, 1959 – Pierre Salinger joins JFK campaign staff.
September 10, 1957 – RFK resigns from the McClellan
Committee.
September 1959 – Joe Kennedy calls former Notre Dame
University President Father John Cavanaugh regarding Harris
Wofford joining the Kennedy campaign.
October 1959 – Sam Rayburn announces creation of a Johnson for
President Committee.
October 28, 1959 – Meeting at RFK’s Hyannis Port home to
discuss campaign.
November 14, 1959 – JFK writes in TV Guide re: role of
television in politics.
December 22, 1959 – Wayne Morse enters Oregon primary.
December 26, 1959 – New York Governor Nelson A.
Rockefeller withdraws from the race.
December 30, 1959 – Minnesota Senator Hubert H. Humphrey
formally announces his candidacy for the Democratic presidential
nomination.
January 2, 1960 – John F. Kennedy announces his candidacy for
the Democratic presidential nomination.
January 4 – National steel strike ends.
January 5 – Ohio Governor Michael V. DiSalle endorses JFK.
January 9 – Mark Hatfield announces Nixon will enter Oregon
primary; John Bricker announces Nixon will enter Ohio primary.
January 9 – Richard M. Nixon announces his candidacy for the
presidency.
January 11 – Wayne Morse announces his presidential candidacy.
January 13 – At a press conference Ike declines to endorse Nixon.
January 14 – JFK addresses the National Press Club.
January 16 – Stevenson calls on Soviet Embassy in Washington.
January 18 – Morse denies he is a stalking horse for Stevenson.
January 19 – Nixon completes filing for New Hampshire primary.
January 19 – Clennon King announces for Presidency in Miami
Beach.
January 19 – Nixon and Joseph P. Kennedy meet by accident on
Manhattan’s East 50th Street and engage in brief conversation.
January 19 – California Governor Edmund G. “Pat” Brown
announces for the presidency.
January 21 – Kennedy (with Jackie), in Milwaukee, announces
plans to enter Wisconsin and Nebraska primaries.
January 23 – Democrat National Committee hosts a "presidential
campaign kick-off dinner” in Washington.
January 25 – JFK addresses the National Press Club.
January 27 – Rockefeller addresses “Dinner with Ike” in DC,
avoids mentioning Nixon.
January 29 – Rockefeller formally withdraws from Illinois primary.
January 30 – New Hampshire Secretary of State removes TV
cowboy singer Elton Britt and Lar Daly of Chicago from his state’s
Democratic primary ballot; leaves JFK and Chicago pen
manufacturer Paul Fisher.
January 31 – Reports circulate that Ike will issue no endorsement
until the summer.
February – Harper & Brothers publishes Robert F. Kennedy’s
The Enemy Within.
February 1, 1960 – Sit-in movement launched at a Greensboro,
North Carolina Woolworth’s lunch counter.
February 3 – At a press conference Ike again refuses to endorse
Nixon, says he will wait until the July convention.
February 7 – At Palm Springs Sands Hotel, Frank Sinatra
introduces Judith Campbell (Exner) to JFK.
February 7 – Martin Luther King preaches first sermon at Atlanta’
s Ebenezer Baptist Church.
February 8 – Judith Campbell (Exner) joins JFK for lunch.
February 9 – Stevenson leaves on two-month of South and
Central America.
February 12 – In New York, Kentucky Senator Thruston Morton
(RNC National Chairman) suggests a Nixon-Rockefeller ticket.
February 13 – LBJ’s name booed at convention of California
Democratic Council.
February 17 – Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. arrested for perjury.
February 27 – Stevenson elected to Mettawa, Illinois village board.
February 27 – Daughter Kara born to Ted and Joan Kennedy.
February 29 – M. L. King arraigned in Montgomery.
February 29 – Greenback Party announces nomination of Ms.
Whitney Harp Slocomb of Los Angeles and Edward K. Meador of
Boston.
March 7 – JFK and Judith Campbell (Exner) consummate their
affair at New York’s Plaza Hotel.
March 8 – Kennedy and Nixon win New Hampshire primary.
March 10 – National States Rights Party Convention, held in
Miamisburg, Ohio, nominates Orval Faubus and John G.
Crommelin.
March 12 – Eisenhower indirectly endorses Nixon at Gridiron
Club Dinner.
March 15 – In Albany, Rockefeller says he will support the
nominee but still refuses to endorse Nixon.
March 16 – Eisenhower formally endorses Nixon at news
conference.
March 17 - Eisenhower approves “A Program of Covert Action
Against the Castro Regime”
March 17 - Secretary of Agriculture Ezra Taft Benson says he
supports Nixon only because he has no other choice.
March 23 – J. Edgar Hoover receives a memo detailing the JFK-
Judith Campbell meeting in Las Vegas.
March 24 – Senator Stuart Symington announces his presidential
candidacy.
March – Barry Goldwater publishes The Conscience of a
Conservative.
March – New Bedford Standard-Times proposes Goldwater for
the national ticket.
March 25 – Sinatra charges Maltz critics are hitting “below the
belt” at JFK.
March 26 – Goldwater addresses the South Carolina Republican
State Committee.
March 27 – On NBC’s Meet the Press Thomas E. Dewey
announces that a Nixon-Rockefeller ticket would be “tremendous.”
March 31 – Gore Vidal’s “The Best Man” opens on Broadway.
April 5 – Kennedy defeats Humphrey in Wisconsin primary.
April 5 – Nixon, unopposed, wins Wisconsin primary.
April 6 – JFK brings Exner to his Georgetown home.
April 7 – In Jamestown, New York, Rockefeller refuses to rule out
a run, rules out second-place.
April 8 – Bobby Baker informs JFK of Hollywood blackmail threat.
April 11– David Garth opens Stevenson for President Committee
in New York City.
April 11 – Stevenson press conference in NYC.
April 11 – JFK has memo on blackmail plot sealed and given to
Evelyn Lincoln.
April 12 – Kennedy (64.57%) defeats Stevenson (15.1%),
Symington (10.80%), Humphrey (8.06%), and Johnson (0.83%) in
Illinois primary.
April 12 – JFK meets with Sam Giancana at the Fontainebleau.
April 13 – Denver Post advocates drafting Rockefeller.
April 14 – Rockefeller announces he make four out-of-state trips in
the coming weeks including campaigning in a Pennsylvania
Congressional special election and the North Dakota special United
States Senate election, to the University of Chicago and to the
Philadelphia World Affairs Council.
April 18 – At Cornell, in Ithaca, NY Harry Truman says
Communists are behind recent Southern sit-ins.
April 19 – JFK, Stevenson, Nixon, and Rockefeller participate in
Dore Schary’s NBC “Startime” episode on citizenship.
April 19 – New Jersey primary.
April 20 – Rockefeller campaigns in Pennsylvania special
congressional election.
April 22 – Congress passes first civil rights bill in 85 years.
April 22 – Rockefeller addresses World Affairs Council in
Philadelphia.
April 23 – Jackie Robinson pickets a Cleveland chain store.
April 26 – Kennedy (71.29%) defeats Stevenson (11.55%) in the
Pennsylvania Democratic primary; Nixon outpolls Humphrey,
Symington, and Johnson.
April 26 – Nixon receives 98.15% of the vote in the Pennsylvania
Republican primary.
April 26 – Maine primary.
April 26- Kennedy takes 92.38% of the vote in the Massachusetts
primary.
April 26 – Nixon (85.96%) defeats Rockefeller (6.58%) in the
Massachusetts primary.
April 27 – Franklin D. Roosevelt, Jr. in West Virginia questions
Humphrey’s draft status in World War II
May 1 – Nixon leaks that Rockefeller is his personal choice for
vice-president; Rockefeller publicly expresses disinterest.
May 3 – Kennedy defeats two nonentities in the Indiana primary.
May 3 – Nixon wins Indiana primary.
May 3 – Kennedy and Nixon win the Ohio primary.
May 3 – Humphrey defeats Morse in District of Columbia primary
(57.35%-42.65%).
May 3 – Nixon and Senator George Smathers (both unopposed)
win the Florida primary.
May 4 – Florence Kater confronts JFK in Maryland regarding his
affair with Pamela Turnure.
May 4 – Humphrey and JFK debate in West Virginia.
May 4 – Martin Luther King arrested for driving with expired
plates and an Alabama license.
May 5 – The USSR announces it has shot down a US spy plane.
May 6 – President Eisenhower signs the Civil Rights Act of 1960.
May 6 – FDR calls Humphrey a “draft dodger.”
May 7 – LBJ re-nominated for the United States Senate.
May 7 – LBJ visits West Virginia.
May 7-9 – Socialist Labor Party Convention at New York’s
Henry Hudson Hotel—nominate Eric Hass and Georgia Cozzini on
May 9.
May 8 – Jacob Javits says there is a 50-50 chance of a
Rockefeller vice-presidential candidacy.
May 8 – In Charleston (WV) radio address JFK says violating
oath to support the Constitution would “a crime against God”
May 9 – The Food and Drug Administration approves sales of the
first birth control pill—first country to do so.
May 10 – Kennedy defeats Humphrey in West Virginia primary.
May 10 – Unopposed favorite son, Governor Cecil Underwood,
wins West Virginia Republican primary.
May 10 – Kennedy (unopposed) and Nixon (a write-in) win
Nebraska advisory primary.
May 11 – John D. Rockefeller, Jr., Nelson Rockefeller’s father,
dies at Tucson.
May 11 – Clennon King qualifies for ballot position in Alabama.
May 12, 1960 – Youth for Goldwater announced, with a goal of
securing him the: vice-presidential nomination.
May 13 – Sinatra-John Wayne incident at Moulin Rouge.
May 13 – Harry Truman endorses Stuart Symington.
May 15 - Simulmatics Report No. 1, “Negro Voters in Northern
Cities,” issued.
May 16 – Khrushchev demands an apology from Eisenhower re:
the U-2.
May 17 – Paris Summit collapses.
May 17 – JFK defeats Morse in Maryland primary.
May 17 – L'Osservatore Romano editorial on the Church
instructing politicians.
May 19 – Southern Baptist Convention rejects a motion on
separation of Church and state.
May 19 – Stevenson, at Democratic fund-raiser in Chicago, blasts
Ike re: U-2.
May 20 – Kennedy (50.97%) defeats Wayne Morse (31.95%),
Hubert Humphrey (5.68%), Stuart Symington (4.35%), and
Lyndon Johnson (3.87%), and Adlai Stevenson (2.76%) in Oregon
primary.
May 20 – Nixon (93.06%) defeats Rockefeller (4.1%) in the
Oregon primary.
May 23 – Rockefeller calls for an open debate within the GOP.
May 24 – States Rights advocate Farris Bryant wins runoff for
Florida governorship.
May 25 – Rockefeller declares he will accept a draft.
May 25 – Harold Stassen says Nixon would carry only five states
if nominated—advocates Rockefeller, Lodge, or Anderson.
May 26 – UN Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge accuses Soviets
of hiding a microphone inside a wood carving of the Great Seal of
the United States that they presented to the U.S. embassy in
Moscow.
May 28 – M. L. King acquitted by an all-white jury
May 29 – JFK confers with Stevenson at his Libertyville, Illinois
home.
May 29 – Edward R. Murrow’s "Small World" goes off CBS.
May 30 – Rockefeller and Emmet John Hughes confer at
Pocantico Hills.
May 31 – All 19 Scripps-Howard newspapers, including the New
York World-Telegram & Sun, endorse LBJ.
June 2 – Sam Rayburn announces Citizens Committee for Johnson.
June 4 – CBS uses videotape (instead of film) for the first time for
a documentary—on a local Westchester County election.
June 4 – New Mexico State Democratic Convention splits
between LBJ and JFK.
June 6 – Sammy Davis, Jr. announces engagement to May Britt.
June 7 – Pat Brown wins California primary.
June 7 – Hubert Humphrey (unopposed) wins South Dakota
primary.
June 7 – Richard Nixon wins New York primary.
June 7 – Adam Clayton Powell threatens to support a Republican
in 1960.
June 8 – Rockefeller breakfasts with Eisenhower.
June 8 – Rockefeller issues 2,000-word “call for plain talk”
—$3.5 billion increase in defense spending.
June 9 (11?) – Rockefeller phones Eisenhower—asks if he should
reconsider.
June 9 – JFK tells Joe Rauh re: his VP: “It will be Hubert or
another Midwestern liberal.”
June 10 – Eleanor Roosevelt endorses Adlai Stevenson.
June 11 – Rockefeller phones Ike to see if he should enter the race.
June 11 – St. Louis Post-Dispatch endorses Stevenson as the
ablest and best-fitted candidate.”
June 12 – Truman repeats his charges of Communist involvement
in civil rights movement.
June 15 – JFK on the "Jack Paar Show" with Peggy Cass and Ann
Bancroft.
June 16 – Eisenhower cancels planned three-week trip to Japan.
June 23 – JFK and Martin Luther King confer in New York City.
June 25 – Adam Clayton Powell claimed that "certain Negro
leaders [King] are captives of behind the scenes [Communist]
interests."
June 26 – At the 52nd annual Governors Conference, Rockefeller
refuses to sign a pledge supporting Nixon.
June 27 – William M. Brinton of Citizens for Rockefeller flies from
San Francisco to New York to persuade Rockefeller to institute a
Draft Rockefeller movement.
June (late) – JFK dangles VP nod before Humphrey.
June 27 – Kennedy addresses the Montana legislature.
June 27 – Montana state convention.
June 28 – Draft Rockefeller movement OKed—but without official
authorization.
June 29 – Brinton phones San Francisco to order setting up of
Draft Rockefeller office there.
Wednesday, June 29 – Truman announces he will not attend
Democratic Convention.
Wednesday, June 29 – Jackie Robinson meets with JFK.
Thursday, June 30 – Congo attains independence from Belgium.
Thursday, June 30 – New York Post endorses a Stevenson-
Kennedy ticket.
July – Paperback edition of Robert F. Kennedy’s The Enemy
Within published.
Friday, July 1 – JFK and Symington confer at JFK’s Georgetown
home.
Friday, July 1 – JFK writes to Jackie Robinson.
Friday, July 1 – Kennedy (31.43%) defeats Pat Brown (23.04%),
George H. McLain (11%), Hubert Humphrey (10.05%), George
Smathers (5.48%), and Mike DiSalle (5.37%) in California primary.
Friday, July 1 – Adam Clayton Powell endorses Symington, but
effusively praises LBJ, slams JFK.
Friday, July 1 – Bishops James Davis and James McManus urge
Puerto Rican Catholics to support the new Christian Action Party.
Saturday, July 2 – Truman charges Democratic Convention is
rigged for Kennedy.
Sunday, July 2 – LBJ supports Truman’s charges.
Monday, July 4 – In New York, JFK rebuts Truman’s charges.
Monday, July 4 – India Edwards and John Connally question
JFK’s health,
Tuesday, July 5 – Bobby Kennedy denies JFK has Addison’s
disease.
Tuesday, July 5 – Johnson announces presidential candidacy.
Early July – Americans for Goldwater opens headquarters in
Chicago.
Thursday, July 7 – Pennsylvania Governor David Lawrence calls
Stevenson “the best qualified man in either party to be President.”
Thursday, July 7 – Lar Daly appears on the "Jack Paar Show."
Friday, July 8 – Lar Daly telegraphs the FCC, demanding 22
more minutes of Jack Paar air time.
Friday, July 8 – Draft Rockefeller ads run in 29 newspapers in 21
states.
Friday, July 8 – LBJ arrives in Los Angeles.
Friday, July 8 – Senator George Smathers and Governor Robert
Meyner arrive in Los Angeles.
Saturday, July 9 – JFK arrives in Los Angeles.
Saturday, July 9 – Symington arrives in Los Angeles.
Saturday, July 9 – Stevenson arrives in Los Angeles.
Sunday, July 10 – Eisenhower phones Gabriel Hague—suggests
Nixon-Rockefeller ticket, with Nixon agreeing to serve only one
term.
Sunday, July 10 – Mayor Richard J. Daley arrives in Los Angeles.
Sunday, July 10 – JFK appears on Meet the Press.
Sunday, July 10 – JFK and Symington address the NAACP at
Los Angeles’ Shrine Auditorium.
Sunday, July 10 – Illinois delegation meets at Hotel Hayward,
swings 59 ½ votes to JFK.
Sunday, July 10 – Brown “personally” endorses JFK.
Sunday, July 10 – Eleanor Roosevelt arrives in Los Angeles.
Monday, July 11 – Democratic National Convention opens in Los
Angeles.
Monday, July 11 – Sammy Davis, Jr. booed singing the National
Anthem at convention.
Monday, July 11 – Eleanor Roosevelt suggests JFK take the vice-
presidency.
Monday, July 11 – Pat Brown gives up favorite son bid.
Monday, July 11 – Pennsylvania swings to Kennedy.
Monday, July 11 – Phil Graham and Joe Alsop suggest LBJ as a
running mate to JFK.
Monday, July 11 – Katanga declares independence from the
Republic of the Congo.
Monday, July 11 – JFK receives Judith Campbell at his
convention hideaway.
Tuesday, July 12 – JFK and LBJ debate before the Texas and
Massachusetts delegations.
Tuesday, July 12 – California delegation splits—30 1/3 for JFK;
31 ½ for Stevenson.
Tuesday, July 12 – Sargent Shriver approaches H. L. Hunt
regarding a JFK-LBJ ticket.
Tuesday, July 12 – Tip O’Neill (working for Sam Rayburn)
approaches JFK about a JFK-LBJ ticket.
Tuesday, July 12 – Democratic platform adopted.
Tuesday, July 12 – Johnson, Kennedy, Symington, and
Stephenson placed in nomination.
Wednesday, July 13 – Democrats nominate Kennedy on first
ballot.
Wednesday, July 13 (afternoon) – JFK phones Clark Clifford to
offer Symington the second spot.
Thursday, July 14 – Joe Alsop predicts JFK will offer LBJ the
second slot, but LBJ will refuse it.
Thursday, July 14 – Democrats nominate Johnson for vice-
president.
Friday, July 15 – Kennedy accepts Democratic nomination at the
Los Angeles Coliseum.
Saturday, July 16 – Henry M. “Scoop” Jackson unanimously
elected Democratic National Chairman.
July 18 – Brinton moves Draft Rockefeller headquarters from his
San Francisco law office to Chicago’s Conrad Hilton Hotel.
July 20 – Salinger announces formation of “Citizens for Kennedy”
under Whizzer White.
July 22 – Rockefeller Press Secretary Robert L. McManus says
the platform was "still seriously lacking in strength and specifics.”
July 22 – Cuba nationalizes all U.S.-owned sugar factories.
July 22-23 – Nixon Rockefeller meeting at Rockefeller’s Fifth
Avenue apartment. The “Compact of Fifth Avenue” issued.
July 23 – Secretary of Agriculture Ezra Taft Benson announces
Rockefeller would have the “best chance” of defeating JFK.
July 23 – CIA Director Allen Dulles briefs JFK at Hyannis Port.
Sunday, July 24 – Nixon’s mother, brothers, and daughters arrive
in Chicago.
Monday, July 25 – Nixon arrives in Chicago – 11:15 AM.
Monday, July 25 – The Republican National Convention opens.
Monday, July 25 – Herbert Hoover and Barry Goldwater address
Republican Convention.
Monday, July 25 – Walter Judd delivers keynote address.
Monday, July 25 – Nixon confers with Herbert Hoover (evening)
Tuesday, July 26 – One million persons cheer Eisenhower
motorcade in Chicago.
Tuesday, July 26 – Eisenhower addresses Republican Convention.
Wednesday, July 27- Thomas E. Dewey addresses the
Republican National Convention.
Wednesday, July 27 – Republicans nominate Richard Nixon—
nominated by Mark O. Hatfield. GOP nominates Henry Cabot
Lodge for Vice President.
Wednesday, July 27 – NBC’s Robert W. Sarnoff extends offer
of presidential debate.
Wednesday, July 27 – Republicans nominate Henry Cabot Lodge
for vice-president—nominated by Walter Judd, seconded by
George Christopher.
Thursday, July 28 – Richard Nixon’s acceptance speech.
Friday, July 29 – Stevenson and JFK confer in Hyannis Port.
Friday, July 29 – LBJ and JFK confer in Hyannis Port.
Saturday, July 30 – In Dallas, the Constitution Party votes to
request equal time in any broadcast debates.
August 2 – JFK announces formation of his campaign’s civil rights
section.
August 3 – Nixon begins campaign in Hawaii.
August 6 – Cuba nationalizes foreign-own property.
August 8 – Special session of Congress convenes.
August 9 – First meeting (at Waldorf-Astoria) to hammer out
debate format.
August 10 – Oceans 11 opens at New York’s Capitol Theater.
August 10 – Constitution Party of Texas names Charles Sullivan as
its presidential candidate.
August 12 – Sara Delano Roosevelt, FDR’s grand-daughter dies,
falling off a horse in the Adirondacks.
August 13 – First telephone call via satellite (Echo-1)
August 14 – Communist Party USA publishes resolution in The
Worker seemingly favoring the Democratic ticket.
August 14 – JFK meets with Eleanor Roosevelt at Hyde Park.
August 17 – Francis Gary Powers sentenced to 10 years in prison.
August 17 – Nixon injures left knee in Greensboro, NC.
August 17 – Bishop Bill Rogers of Fulton, MO calls for 30 million
write-in votes for Bishop Homer A. Tomlinson of the Church of
God.
August 18 – Billy Graham host 18 Protestant leaders in Montreux,
Switzerland to discuss the JFK nomination.
August 19 – Socialist Workers Party nominates Farrell Dobbs and
Myra Tanner Weiss.
August 19 – George Smathers named the Assistant Democratic
National Chairman and campaign manager for the Democratic
ticket in the Southern States, plus Texas and Oklahoma.
August 20 – JFK confers with Harry Truman at Independence,
Missouri.
August 21 – After bowling at Camp David, Nixon first feels knee
discomfort.
August 22 – NBC’s Robert Sarnoff raises possibility of
commercial sponsorship for debates.
August 24 – Ike responds “If you give me a week, I might think of
one. I don’t remember.”
August 24 – House of Representatives approves Senate Joint
Resolution 207 suspending the equal time rule (Section 315).
August 24 – JFK meets with representatives of the Baptist
Committee on Public Affairs (BJCPA), C. Emmanuel Carlson, and
W. Barry Garrett.
August 25 – Nixon appears on the "Jack Paar Show."
August 25 - Simulmatics Report No. 2, “Kennedy Before Labor
Day” issued.
August 26 – 150,000 hear Nixon speak in Atlanta.
August 26 – Executive Board of AFL-CIO endorses Kennedy.
August 29 – “Dick Nixon Sports Committee” announced.
August 29 – Nixon informed by physicians his knee is seriously
infected.
August 29 – Nixon enters Walter Reed Hospital.
August 31 – JFK and Nixon agree on three, possibly four, TV
debates.
September 1 – Rockefeller visits Nixon at Walter Read.
September 2 – Brendan Behan endorses JFK.
September 2 – Nixon endorses the Equal Rights Amendment.
September 2 – LBJ and Everett Dirksen visit Nixon in Walter
Reed Hospital.
September 3 – JFK campaigns in Alaska.
September 4 – Kennedy “crowd” phenomenon begins in Detroit.
September 5 – Death of former Louisiana Governor Earl Long.
September 7 – Nixon able to walk normally.
September 7 – Dr. Norman Vincent Peale issues statement
regarding a Catholic president.
September 8 – LBJ opens campaign in Boston.
September 9 – Nixon released from hospital.
September 9 – E. Frederick Morrow joins Nixon campaign.
September 12 – Nixon resumes campaign in Baltimore,
Indianapolis, Dallas, and San Francisco.
September 12 – Kennedy addresses the issue of his Roman
Catholic faith, before a Protestant group in Houston.
September 12 – CBS airs Walter Cronkite filmed interview of
Nixon, “Mr. Nixon: A Profile.”
September 13 – Nixon campaigns in San Francisco, Vancouver,
Portland, and Boise—addresses Booker T. Washington Political
Club, engine on plane gives out.
September 13 – New York’s Liberal Party endorses Kennedy.
September 14 – Nixon catches cold flying from Grand Forks to
Peoria.
September 14 – JFK campaigning in NYC; first visit to Max “Dr.
Feelgood” Jacobson.
September 15 – At Bradley University in Peoria, Nixon
participates in first live televised press conference.
September 15 – Nixon speech in St. Louis; Nixon running a 103
degree fever.
September 17 – Cuba nationalizes U.S. banks.
September 17 – JFK forgets wedding anniversary.
September 18 – The Americans for Democratic Action (ADA)
endorses Kennedy.
September 19 – CBS airs Walter Cronkite filmed interview with
JFK, “Mr. Kennedy: A Profile.”
September 19 – The CIA's Allen Dulles again briefs JFK.
September 20 – Charles Collingwood interviews JFK on CBS.
September 20 – Texas Democratic state convention in Dallas.
September 20 – Nixon press conference in Scranton, PA.
September 21 – Nixon’s last public press conference (Springfield,
MO)
September 23 – Florida KKK Grand Dragon Bill Hendrix
endorses Orval Faubus.
September 22 – Lodge suffers broken index finger in Indiana.
September 22 – Former Secretary of State James F. Byrnes
endorses Nixon.
September 23 – Martin Luther King receives $25 fine for traffic
violations—plus twelve months probation, provided King “shall not
violate any Federal or State penal statutes or municipal ordinances.”
September 23 – Rival Florida KKK Grand Dragon W. L. Griffin
endorses Richard Nixon.
September 24 – Former Texas Governor Allan Shivers endorses
Nixon.
September 24 – JFK arrives in Chicago (from Salt Lake City) for
first debate.
September 25 – JFK makes brief trip to Cleveland, returns to
Chicago.
September 25 – Nixon arrives in Chicago (from Washington) for
first debate.
September 26 – Nixon (morning) and JFK (afternoon) address the
United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners.
September 26 – First Kennedy-Nixon Debate in Chicago,
Howard K. Smith moderator
September 26 – Castro addresses United Nations for 4 ½ hours.
September 26 - Beverly Hills Nixon for President Club, Celebrities
Committee for Nixon-Lodge, Entertainment Industry for Nixon
Lodge, and Women’s Motorcade for Nixon-Lodge open joint
headquarters in Beverly Hills.
September 27 – Ike and British PM Harold Macmillan confer at
the Waldorf-Astoria.
September 28 – Sunrise at Campobello premieres at New York’
s Palace Theater.
September 28 – Elvira Carlson Doud, Ike’s mother-in-law, dies in
Denver.
September 28 – May Britt’s marriage to actor Eddie Gregson
formally dissolves.
September 29 – U.S. advises American dependents to leave Cuba.
September 30 – Chet Huntley and David Brinkley interview JFK
at Hyannis Port.
October 1 – JFK’s last day of rest, spent in Hyannis.
October 1 – Frank McGee’s “The Campaign and the Candidates”
airs Chet Huntley’s question to JFK re: Quemoy and Matsu.
October 1 – In Los Angeles, Henry Cabot lodge botches attempt
to tape TV show.
October 3 – Macmillan publishes Arthur Schlesinger’s Kennedy or
Nixon: Does It Make Any Difference? (51 pages, $1.95)
October 3 – Substitute foreign policy panel discussion featuring
Henry Cabot lodge airs on CBS.
October 4 – Nixon and Jackie Robinson booed at Newark rally.
October 5 – Nixon appears at Rockefeller Center rally.
October 7 – Second Kennedy-Nixon debate—in Washington, DC.
October 9 – Nixon confides American Cuba policy to the Chicago
Tribune's Willard Edwards (Billings. MT)
October 11-12 – National Conference on Constitutional Rights
held in New York City under chairmanship of Hubert Humphrey.
October 11 – Harry Truman says any Democrat who votes for
Nixon can “go to hell.”
October 12 – Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev disrupts a U.N.
General Assembly session by pounding his shoe on his desk.
October 12 – In East Harlem, Henry Cabot Lodge pledges Nixon
will appoint a black to the Cabinet.
October 13 – All 19 Scripps-Howard newspapers, including the
New York World-Telegram & Sun, endorse LBJ.
October 13 – American Anthony Zarba executed in Cuba.
October 13 – Third Kennedy-Nixon debate—Nixon in Los
Angeles; JFK in New York.
October 14 – Kennedy at University of Michigan (Ann Arbor) first
publicly proposes idea of Peace Corps.
October 14 – Khrushchev leaves the United States.
October 16 – Two more Americans executed in Cuba.
October 16 – Original date set for Sammy Davis-May Britt
wedding.
October 18 – LBJ writes John Connally, worried about losing
Texas.
October 19 – Martin Luther King arrested at Atlanta department
store sit-in.
October 19 – Joe Kennedy phones Arthur Krock to refute reports
that a JFK administration would be inflationary and favoring “total
racial integration.”
October 19 – Nixon, JFK, and Rockefeller appear at Alfred E.
Smith Dinner.
October 19 – Archibald Cox writes to Richard Goodwin re: Nixon
and Cuba; Goodwin begins to draft Kennedy white paper on Cuba.
October 20 – US recalls its ambassador to Cuba; imposes
embargo on that nation.
October 20 – Al Smith’s daughter endorses Nixon.
October 20 – JFK issues position paper on Cuba, urging direct
intervention, blasting Ike.
October 21 – Nixon requests Ike’s help. (Manchester, p. 1081)
October 21 – Fourth Kennedy-Nixon debate—in New York.
October 22 – Lady Bird Johnson’s father dies.
October 22 – John V. Lindsey and William Vanden Huevel debate
on local NYC TV and radio.
October 23 – Nixon challenges JFK to a fifth debate, solely on
Cuba.
October 24 – Jackie Robinson predicts the next president—
whether JFK or Nixon—will have a Negro in the cabinet.
October 25 – DeKalb County Judge J. Oscar Mitchell sentences
King to four months at hard labor for parole violation.
October 25 – Cuba nationalizes all remaining US businesses.
October 27 – Justice Department says Pearson charges regarding
Nixon loan are baseless.
October 27 – Plot to derail Nixon campaign train discovered near
Fort Wayne, Indiana.
October 27 – Hecklers toss eggs at Nixon at Muskegon rally
October 28 – Ike’s 30-minute TV address from Philadelphia
reaches highest audience of the campaign of any paid program.
October 29-November 1 – The Freedom Crusade Committee
distributes 2 million copies of “The Case of Martin Luther King” to
black voters.
October 30 – Donald Nixon confirms loan from Howard Hughes.
October 30 – The Chicago Tribune endorses Nixon.
October 30 – Eric Hass, Socialist Labor Party candidate, refuses
to participate in a CBS-TV debate with the Vegetarian and Beat
party candidates.
October 31 – Nixon meets with Ike in White House to discuss
increasing Ike’s increased role in campaign.
October 31 – Free World Press publishes Victor Lasky’s John F.
Kennedy: What’s Behind the Image?
Wednesday November 2 – Henry Fonda interviews Jackie and
Caroline Kennedy on paid TV ad.
Wednesday, November 2 – Nixon addresses rally at NYC’s
Coliseum.
Friday, November 4 – Marilyn Monroe’s last film, The Misfits,
premiers.
Friday, November 4 – The FCC rejects Lar Daly’s request for 22
additional minutes on the "Jack Paar Show."
Friday, November 4 – LBJ and Lady Bird mobbed by
Republicans at Dallas hotel.
Friday, November 4 – A crowd of a million-and-a-half persons
greets JFK in Chicago. Police arrest two persons for carrying
loaded weapons.
Friday, November 4 – Nixon floats idea of ex-presidents tour of
Eastern Europe past Ike; Ike responds negatively.
Friday, November 4 – In Syracuse, John Roosevelt raises issue of
JFK’s Addison’s Disease.
Saturday, November 5 – Nixon addresses rally at LA’s Pan
Pacific Auditoreum.
Saturday, November 5 – Norma Jean Rojas fatally stabs her
husband in an argument over whether to watch JFK on TV. She
preferred Lawrence Welk.
Sunday, November 6 – Nixon runs 32-page ad supplements in
Sunday newspapers.
Sunday, November 6 – Nixon proposes Truman-Hoover East
European goodwill tour.
Sunday, November 6 – Truman rejects Eisenhower-Nixon plan
for Eastern European tour.
Sunday, November 6 – Nixon visits Alaska, completes 50-state
campaign pledge.
Sunday, November 6 – Nixon pre-empts CBS’s "GE Theater" for
a 30-minute appeal to voters.
Sunday, November 6 – The Associated Press calls Nixon’s
psychotherapist Dr. Arnold Hutschnecker, inquiring if Nixon is in
“good health.”
Sunday, November 6 – Gallup Poll announces 49% for Kennedy,
48% for Nixon and 3% undecided.
Monday, November 7 – Postal authorities in San Diego discover
a bomb mailed to Nixon.
Monday, November 7 – Roper Poll calls it 49%-47% for Nixon
Monday, November 7 – Four-hour (2-6 P.M.) Nixon telethon on
ABC-TV-with Ginger Rogers, Lloyd Nolan, and Robert Young.
Monday, November – JFK appears on ABC-TV from 6:00-6:30
P.M.
Monday, November 7 – Thomas E. Dewey rebuts JFK on ABC-
TV from 6:00-6:45 P.M.
Monday, November 7 – In Detroit, Tricia and Julie Nixon make
only appearance on campaign trail.
Monday, November 7 – Nixon, in Chicago, does last national TV.
Tuesday, November 8 – Dixville Notch, NH votes 9-0 for Nixon-
Lodge.
Tuesday, November 8 – Kennedy elected president.
November 13 – Sammy Davis and May Britt marry.
November 17 – Hawaii audit gives state’s three electoral votes to
Nixon by 117 popular votes.
December 16 - Kennedy pulls ahead of Nixon in Hawaii by 21
votes.
December 27 - Judge Ronald Jamieson declared that Kennedy
had won Hawaii by 115 votes.
1960 Epilog
1960 Presidential Campaign Buttons
November 25, 1956 – JFK decides to run.
December 1956 – JFK hires first black staffer.
June 13, 1957 – Nixon and Martin Luther King confer in Accra,
Ghana.
July 2 1957 – JFK’s Algeria speech.
August 3, 1957 – Death of Jackie’s father, “Black Jack” Bouvier.
November 27, 1957 – Caroline Kennedy born.
July 11, 1958 - Leonard Kater photographs JFK leaving Pamela
Turnure’s apartment at 1 P.M.
December 2, 1957 – JFK appears on cover of Time for first
time, courtesy of a $75,000 Joe Kennedy payment.
October 24, 1958 – Frank Sinatra publicly endorses JFK for
president.
November 7, 1958 – Len Hall urges Nixon to decide.
December 19, 1958 – Lou Harris hired as Kennedy pollster for
1960—for a $100,000 guarantee.
January 1, 1959 – Fidel Castro seizes power in Cuba.
January 7, 1959 – Eisenhower recognizes the new Castro regime.
January 1959 – JFK approaches William Proxmire aide Jerry
Bruno about running his Wisconsin campaign.
February 27, 1959 – Alabama Governor Patterson breakfasts at
the JFK home.
April 1, 1959 – First formal JFK campaign strategy meeting, at his
Palm Beach home.
April 19, 1959 – Castro meets with Richard Nixon in Washington.
May 1959 – Florence Kater writes to 50 editors, etc. regarding
JFK’s affair with her tenant, Pamela Turnure.
June 1959 – Jerry Bruno quits Proxmire’s office, returns to
Wisconsin, working full-time for Kennedy.
June 1959 – Alabama Governor John Patterson endorses JFK.
July 14, 1959 – Minnesota’s Senator Eugene McCarthy and
Governor Orville Freeman announce Hubert Humphrey’s
candidacy for the presidency.
July 22, 1959 – Gallup poll reveals a Stevenson-Kennedy ticket
would beat a Nixon-Rockefeller slate by 53-42% with 5%
undecided.
September 1, 1959 – Pierre Salinger joins JFK campaign staff.
September 10, 1957 – RFK resigns from the McClellan
Committee.
September 1959 – Joe Kennedy calls former Notre Dame
University President Father John Cavanaugh regarding Harris
Wofford joining the Kennedy campaign.
October 1959 – Sam Rayburn announces creation of a Johnson for
President Committee.
October 28, 1959 – Meeting at RFK’s Hyannis Port home to
discuss campaign.
November 14, 1959 – JFK writes in TV Guide re: role of
television in politics.
December 22, 1959 – Wayne Morse enters Oregon primary.
December 26, 1959 – New York Governor Nelson A.
Rockefeller withdraws from the race.
December 30, 1959 – Minnesota Senator Hubert H. Humphrey
formally announces his candidacy for the Democratic presidential
nomination.
January 2, 1960 – John F. Kennedy announces his candidacy for
the Democratic presidential nomination.
January 4 – National steel strike ends.
January 5 – Ohio Governor Michael V. DiSalle endorses JFK.
January 9 – Mark Hatfield announces Nixon will enter Oregon
primary; John Bricker announces Nixon will enter Ohio primary.
January 9 – Richard M. Nixon announces his candidacy for the
presidency.
January 11 – Wayne Morse announces his presidential candidacy.
January 13 – At a press conference Ike declines to endorse Nixon.
January 14 – JFK addresses the National Press Club.
January 16 – Stevenson calls on Soviet Embassy in Washington.
January 18 – Morse denies he is a stalking horse for Stevenson.
January 19 – Nixon completes filing for New Hampshire primary.
January 19 – Clennon King announces for Presidency in Miami
Beach.
January 19 – Nixon and Joseph P. Kennedy meet by accident on
Manhattan’s East 50th Street and engage in brief conversation.
January 19 – California Governor Edmund G. “Pat” Brown
announces for the presidency.
January 21 – Kennedy (with Jackie), in Milwaukee, announces
plans to enter Wisconsin and Nebraska primaries.
January 23 – Democrat National Committee hosts a "presidential
campaign kick-off dinner” in Washington.
January 25 – JFK addresses the National Press Club.
January 27 – Rockefeller addresses “Dinner with Ike” in DC,
avoids mentioning Nixon.
January 29 – Rockefeller formally withdraws from Illinois primary.
January 30 – New Hampshire Secretary of State removes TV
cowboy singer Elton Britt and Lar Daly of Chicago from his state’s
Democratic primary ballot; leaves JFK and Chicago pen
manufacturer Paul Fisher.
January 31 – Reports circulate that Ike will issue no endorsement
until the summer.
February – Harper & Brothers publishes Robert F. Kennedy’s
The Enemy Within.
February 1, 1960 – Sit-in movement launched at a Greensboro,
North Carolina Woolworth’s lunch counter.
February 3 – At a press conference Ike again refuses to endorse
Nixon, says he will wait until the July convention.
February 7 – At Palm Springs Sands Hotel, Frank Sinatra
introduces Judith Campbell (Exner) to JFK.
February 7 – Martin Luther King preaches first sermon at Atlanta’
s Ebenezer Baptist Church.
February 8 – Judith Campbell (Exner) joins JFK for lunch.
February 9 – Stevenson leaves on two-month of South and
Central America.
February 12 – In New York, Kentucky Senator Thruston Morton
(RNC National Chairman) suggests a Nixon-Rockefeller ticket.
February 13 – LBJ’s name booed at convention of California
Democratic Council.
February 17 – Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. arrested for perjury.
February 27 – Stevenson elected to Mettawa, Illinois village board.
February 27 – Daughter Kara born to Ted and Joan Kennedy.
February 29 – M. L. King arraigned in Montgomery.
February 29 – Greenback Party announces nomination of Ms.
Whitney Harp Slocomb of Los Angeles and Edward K. Meador of
Boston.
March 7 – JFK and Judith Campbell (Exner) consummate their
affair at New York’s Plaza Hotel.
March 8 – Kennedy and Nixon win New Hampshire primary.
March 10 – National States Rights Party Convention, held in
Miamisburg, Ohio, nominates Orval Faubus and John G.
Crommelin.
March 12 – Eisenhower indirectly endorses Nixon at Gridiron
Club Dinner.
March 15 – In Albany, Rockefeller says he will support the
nominee but still refuses to endorse Nixon.
March 16 – Eisenhower formally endorses Nixon at news
conference.
March 17 - Eisenhower approves “A Program of Covert Action
Against the Castro Regime”
March 17 - Secretary of Agriculture Ezra Taft Benson says he
supports Nixon only because he has no other choice.
March 23 – J. Edgar Hoover receives a memo detailing the JFK-
Judith Campbell meeting in Las Vegas.
March 24 – Senator Stuart Symington announces his presidential
candidacy.
March – Barry Goldwater publishes The Conscience of a
Conservative.
March – New Bedford Standard-Times proposes Goldwater for
the national ticket.
March 25 – Sinatra charges Maltz critics are hitting “below the
belt” at JFK.
March 26 – Goldwater addresses the South Carolina Republican
State Committee.
March 27 – On NBC’s Meet the Press Thomas E. Dewey
announces that a Nixon-Rockefeller ticket would be “tremendous.”
March 31 – Gore Vidal’s “The Best Man” opens on Broadway.
April 5 – Kennedy defeats Humphrey in Wisconsin primary.
April 5 – Nixon, unopposed, wins Wisconsin primary.
April 6 – JFK brings Exner to his Georgetown home.
April 7 – In Jamestown, New York, Rockefeller refuses to rule out
a run, rules out second-place.
April 8 – Bobby Baker informs JFK of Hollywood blackmail threat.
April 11– David Garth opens Stevenson for President Committee
in New York City.
April 11 – Stevenson press conference in NYC.
April 11 – JFK has memo on blackmail plot sealed and given to
Evelyn Lincoln.
April 12 – Kennedy (64.57%) defeats Stevenson (15.1%),
Symington (10.80%), Humphrey (8.06%), and Johnson (0.83%) in
Illinois primary.
April 12 – JFK meets with Sam Giancana at the Fontainebleau.
April 13 – Denver Post advocates drafting Rockefeller.
April 14 – Rockefeller announces he make four out-of-state trips in
the coming weeks including campaigning in a Pennsylvania
Congressional special election and the North Dakota special United
States Senate election, to the University of Chicago and to the
Philadelphia World Affairs Council.
April 18 – At Cornell, in Ithaca, NY Harry Truman says
Communists are behind recent Southern sit-ins.
April 19 – JFK, Stevenson, Nixon, and Rockefeller participate in
Dore Schary’s NBC “Startime” episode on citizenship.
April 19 – New Jersey primary.
April 20 – Rockefeller campaigns in Pennsylvania special
congressional election.
April 22 – Congress passes first civil rights bill in 85 years.
April 22 – Rockefeller addresses World Affairs Council in
Philadelphia.
April 23 – Jackie Robinson pickets a Cleveland chain store.
April 26 – Kennedy (71.29%) defeats Stevenson (11.55%) in the
Pennsylvania Democratic primary; Nixon outpolls Humphrey,
Symington, and Johnson.
April 26 – Nixon receives 98.15% of the vote in the Pennsylvania
Republican primary.
April 26 – Maine primary.
April 26- Kennedy takes 92.38% of the vote in the Massachusetts
primary.
April 26 – Nixon (85.96%) defeats Rockefeller (6.58%) in the
Massachusetts primary.
April 27 – Franklin D. Roosevelt, Jr. in West Virginia questions
Humphrey’s draft status in World War II
May 1 – Nixon leaks that Rockefeller is his personal choice for
vice-president; Rockefeller publicly expresses disinterest.
May 3 – Kennedy defeats two nonentities in the Indiana primary.
May 3 – Nixon wins Indiana primary.
May 3 – Kennedy and Nixon win the Ohio primary.
May 3 – Humphrey defeats Morse in District of Columbia primary
(57.35%-42.65%).
May 3 – Nixon and Senator George Smathers (both unopposed)
win the Florida primary.
May 4 – Florence Kater confronts JFK in Maryland regarding his
affair with Pamela Turnure.
May 4 – Humphrey and JFK debate in West Virginia.
May 4 – Martin Luther King arrested for driving with expired
plates and an Alabama license.
May 5 – The USSR announces it has shot down a US spy plane.
May 6 – President Eisenhower signs the Civil Rights Act of 1960.
May 6 – FDR calls Humphrey a “draft dodger.”
May 7 – LBJ re-nominated for the United States Senate.
May 7 – LBJ visits West Virginia.
May 7-9 – Socialist Labor Party Convention at New York’s
Henry Hudson Hotel—nominate Eric Hass and Georgia Cozzini on
May 9.
May 8 – Jacob Javits says there is a 50-50 chance of a
Rockefeller vice-presidential candidacy.
May 8 – In Charleston (WV) radio address JFK says violating
oath to support the Constitution would “a crime against God”
May 9 – The Food and Drug Administration approves sales of the
first birth control pill—first country to do so.
May 10 – Kennedy defeats Humphrey in West Virginia primary.
May 10 – Unopposed favorite son, Governor Cecil Underwood,
wins West Virginia Republican primary.
May 10 – Kennedy (unopposed) and Nixon (a write-in) win
Nebraska advisory primary.
May 11 – John D. Rockefeller, Jr., Nelson Rockefeller’s father,
dies at Tucson.
May 11 – Clennon King qualifies for ballot position in Alabama.
May 12, 1960 – Youth for Goldwater announced, with a goal of
securing him the: vice-presidential nomination.
May 13 – Sinatra-John Wayne incident at Moulin Rouge.
May 13 – Harry Truman endorses Stuart Symington.
May 15 - Simulmatics Report No. 1, “Negro Voters in Northern
Cities,” issued.
May 16 – Khrushchev demands an apology from Eisenhower re:
the U-2.
May 17 – Paris Summit collapses.
May 17 – JFK defeats Morse in Maryland primary.
May 17 – L'Osservatore Romano editorial on the Church
instructing politicians.
May 19 – Southern Baptist Convention rejects a motion on
separation of Church and state.
May 19 – Stevenson, at Democratic fund-raiser in Chicago, blasts
Ike re: U-2.
May 20 – Kennedy (50.97%) defeats Wayne Morse (31.95%),
Hubert Humphrey (5.68%), Stuart Symington (4.35%), and
Lyndon Johnson (3.87%), and Adlai Stevenson (2.76%) in Oregon
primary.
May 20 – Nixon (93.06%) defeats Rockefeller (4.1%) in the
Oregon primary.
May 23 – Rockefeller calls for an open debate within the GOP.
May 24 – States Rights advocate Farris Bryant wins runoff for
Florida governorship.
May 25 – Rockefeller declares he will accept a draft.
May 25 – Harold Stassen says Nixon would carry only five states
if nominated—advocates Rockefeller, Lodge, or Anderson.
May 26 – UN Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge accuses Soviets
of hiding a microphone inside a wood carving of the Great Seal of
the United States that they presented to the U.S. embassy in
Moscow.
May 28 – M. L. King acquitted by an all-white jury
May 29 – JFK confers with Stevenson at his Libertyville, Illinois
home.
May 29 – Edward R. Murrow’s "Small World" goes off CBS.
May 30 – Rockefeller and Emmet John Hughes confer at
Pocantico Hills.
May 31 – All 19 Scripps-Howard newspapers, including the New
York World-Telegram & Sun, endorse LBJ.
June 2 – Sam Rayburn announces Citizens Committee for Johnson.
June 4 – CBS uses videotape (instead of film) for the first time for
a documentary—on a local Westchester County election.
June 4 – New Mexico State Democratic Convention splits
between LBJ and JFK.
June 6 – Sammy Davis, Jr. announces engagement to May Britt.
June 7 – Pat Brown wins California primary.
June 7 – Hubert Humphrey (unopposed) wins South Dakota
primary.
June 7 – Richard Nixon wins New York primary.
June 7 – Adam Clayton Powell threatens to support a Republican
in 1960.
June 8 – Rockefeller breakfasts with Eisenhower.
June 8 – Rockefeller issues 2,000-word “call for plain talk”
—$3.5 billion increase in defense spending.
June 9 (11?) – Rockefeller phones Eisenhower—asks if he should
reconsider.
June 9 – JFK tells Joe Rauh re: his VP: “It will be Hubert or
another Midwestern liberal.”
June 10 – Eleanor Roosevelt endorses Adlai Stevenson.
June 11 – Rockefeller phones Ike to see if he should enter the race.
June 11 – St. Louis Post-Dispatch endorses Stevenson as the
ablest and best-fitted candidate.”
June 12 – Truman repeats his charges of Communist involvement
in civil rights movement.
June 15 – JFK on the "Jack Paar Show" with Peggy Cass and Ann
Bancroft.
June 16 – Eisenhower cancels planned three-week trip to Japan.
June 23 – JFK and Martin Luther King confer in New York City.
June 25 – Adam Clayton Powell claimed that "certain Negro
leaders [King] are captives of behind the scenes [Communist]
interests."
June 26 – At the 52nd annual Governors Conference, Rockefeller
refuses to sign a pledge supporting Nixon.
June 27 – William M. Brinton of Citizens for Rockefeller flies from
San Francisco to New York to persuade Rockefeller to institute a
Draft Rockefeller movement.
June (late) – JFK dangles VP nod before Humphrey.
June 27 – Kennedy addresses the Montana legislature.
June 27 – Montana state convention.
June 28 – Draft Rockefeller movement OKed—but without official
authorization.
June 29 – Brinton phones San Francisco to order setting up of
Draft Rockefeller office there.
Wednesday, June 29 – Truman announces he will not attend
Democratic Convention.
Wednesday, June 29 – Jackie Robinson meets with JFK.
Thursday, June 30 – Congo attains independence from Belgium.
Thursday, June 30 – New York Post endorses a Stevenson-
Kennedy ticket.
July – Paperback edition of Robert F. Kennedy’s The Enemy
Within published.
Friday, July 1 – JFK and Symington confer at JFK’s Georgetown
home.
Friday, July 1 – JFK writes to Jackie Robinson.
Friday, July 1 – Kennedy (31.43%) defeats Pat Brown (23.04%),
George H. McLain (11%), Hubert Humphrey (10.05%), George
Smathers (5.48%), and Mike DiSalle (5.37%) in California primary.
Friday, July 1 – Adam Clayton Powell endorses Symington, but
effusively praises LBJ, slams JFK.
Friday, July 1 – Bishops James Davis and James McManus urge
Puerto Rican Catholics to support the new Christian Action Party.
Saturday, July 2 – Truman charges Democratic Convention is
rigged for Kennedy.
Sunday, July 2 – LBJ supports Truman’s charges.
Monday, July 4 – In New York, JFK rebuts Truman’s charges.
Monday, July 4 – India Edwards and John Connally question
JFK’s health,
Tuesday, July 5 – Bobby Kennedy denies JFK has Addison’s
disease.
Tuesday, July 5 – Johnson announces presidential candidacy.
Early July – Americans for Goldwater opens headquarters in
Chicago.
Thursday, July 7 – Pennsylvania Governor David Lawrence calls
Stevenson “the best qualified man in either party to be President.”
Thursday, July 7 – Lar Daly appears on the "Jack Paar Show."
Friday, July 8 – Lar Daly telegraphs the FCC, demanding 22
more minutes of Jack Paar air time.
Friday, July 8 – Draft Rockefeller ads run in 29 newspapers in 21
states.
Friday, July 8 – LBJ arrives in Los Angeles.
Friday, July 8 – Senator George Smathers and Governor Robert
Meyner arrive in Los Angeles.
Saturday, July 9 – JFK arrives in Los Angeles.
Saturday, July 9 – Symington arrives in Los Angeles.
Saturday, July 9 – Stevenson arrives in Los Angeles.
Sunday, July 10 – Eisenhower phones Gabriel Hague—suggests
Nixon-Rockefeller ticket, with Nixon agreeing to serve only one
term.
Sunday, July 10 – Mayor Richard J. Daley arrives in Los Angeles.
Sunday, July 10 – JFK appears on Meet the Press.
Sunday, July 10 – JFK and Symington address the NAACP at
Los Angeles’ Shrine Auditorium.
Sunday, July 10 – Illinois delegation meets at Hotel Hayward,
swings 59 ½ votes to JFK.
Sunday, July 10 – Brown “personally” endorses JFK.
Sunday, July 10 – Eleanor Roosevelt arrives in Los Angeles.
Monday, July 11 – Democratic National Convention opens in Los
Angeles.
Monday, July 11 – Sammy Davis, Jr. booed singing the National
Anthem at convention.
Monday, July 11 – Eleanor Roosevelt suggests JFK take the vice-
presidency.
Monday, July 11 – Pat Brown gives up favorite son bid.
Monday, July 11 – Pennsylvania swings to Kennedy.
Monday, July 11 – Phil Graham and Joe Alsop suggest LBJ as a
running mate to JFK.
Monday, July 11 – Katanga declares independence from the
Republic of the Congo.
Monday, July 11 – JFK receives Judith Campbell at his
convention hideaway.
Tuesday, July 12 – JFK and LBJ debate before the Texas and
Massachusetts delegations.
Tuesday, July 12 – California delegation splits—30 1/3 for JFK;
31 ½ for Stevenson.
Tuesday, July 12 – Sargent Shriver approaches H. L. Hunt
regarding a JFK-LBJ ticket.
Tuesday, July 12 – Tip O’Neill (working for Sam Rayburn)
approaches JFK about a JFK-LBJ ticket.
Tuesday, July 12 – Democratic platform adopted.
Tuesday, July 12 – Johnson, Kennedy, Symington, and
Stephenson placed in nomination.
Wednesday, July 13 – Democrats nominate Kennedy on first
ballot.
Wednesday, July 13 (afternoon) – JFK phones Clark Clifford to
offer Symington the second spot.
Thursday, July 14 – Joe Alsop predicts JFK will offer LBJ the
second slot, but LBJ will refuse it.
Thursday, July 14 – Democrats nominate Johnson for vice-
president.
Friday, July 15 – Kennedy accepts Democratic nomination at the
Los Angeles Coliseum.
Saturday, July 16 – Henry M. “Scoop” Jackson unanimously
elected Democratic National Chairman.
July 18 – Brinton moves Draft Rockefeller headquarters from his
San Francisco law office to Chicago’s Conrad Hilton Hotel.
July 20 – Salinger announces formation of “Citizens for Kennedy”
under Whizzer White.
July 22 – Rockefeller Press Secretary Robert L. McManus says
the platform was "still seriously lacking in strength and specifics.”
July 22 – Cuba nationalizes all U.S.-owned sugar factories.
July 22-23 – Nixon Rockefeller meeting at Rockefeller’s Fifth
Avenue apartment. The “Compact of Fifth Avenue” issued.
July 23 – Secretary of Agriculture Ezra Taft Benson announces
Rockefeller would have the “best chance” of defeating JFK.
July 23 – CIA Director Allen Dulles briefs JFK at Hyannis Port.
Sunday, July 24 – Nixon’s mother, brothers, and daughters arrive
in Chicago.
Monday, July 25 – Nixon arrives in Chicago – 11:15 AM.
Monday, July 25 – The Republican National Convention opens.
Monday, July 25 – Herbert Hoover and Barry Goldwater address
Republican Convention.
Monday, July 25 – Walter Judd delivers keynote address.
Monday, July 25 – Nixon confers with Herbert Hoover (evening)
Tuesday, July 26 – One million persons cheer Eisenhower
motorcade in Chicago.
Tuesday, July 26 – Eisenhower addresses Republican Convention.
Wednesday, July 27- Thomas E. Dewey addresses the
Republican National Convention.
Wednesday, July 27 – Republicans nominate Richard Nixon—
nominated by Mark O. Hatfield. GOP nominates Henry Cabot
Lodge for Vice President.
Wednesday, July 27 – NBC’s Robert W. Sarnoff extends offer
of presidential debate.
Wednesday, July 27 – Republicans nominate Henry Cabot Lodge
for vice-president—nominated by Walter Judd, seconded by
George Christopher.
Thursday, July 28 – Richard Nixon’s acceptance speech.
Friday, July 29 – Stevenson and JFK confer in Hyannis Port.
Friday, July 29 – LBJ and JFK confer in Hyannis Port.
Saturday, July 30 – In Dallas, the Constitution Party votes to
request equal time in any broadcast debates.
August 2 – JFK announces formation of his campaign’s civil rights
section.
August 3 – Nixon begins campaign in Hawaii.
August 6 – Cuba nationalizes foreign-own property.
August 8 – Special session of Congress convenes.
August 9 – First meeting (at Waldorf-Astoria) to hammer out
debate format.
August 10 – Oceans 11 opens at New York’s Capitol Theater.
August 10 – Constitution Party of Texas names Charles Sullivan as
its presidential candidate.
August 12 – Sara Delano Roosevelt, FDR’s grand-daughter dies,
falling off a horse in the Adirondacks.
August 13 – First telephone call via satellite (Echo-1)
August 14 – Communist Party USA publishes resolution in The
Worker seemingly favoring the Democratic ticket.
August 14 – JFK meets with Eleanor Roosevelt at Hyde Park.
August 17 – Francis Gary Powers sentenced to 10 years in prison.
August 17 – Nixon injures left knee in Greensboro, NC.
August 17 – Bishop Bill Rogers of Fulton, MO calls for 30 million
write-in votes for Bishop Homer A. Tomlinson of the Church of
God.
August 18 – Billy Graham host 18 Protestant leaders in Montreux,
Switzerland to discuss the JFK nomination.
August 19 – Socialist Workers Party nominates Farrell Dobbs and
Myra Tanner Weiss.
August 19 – George Smathers named the Assistant Democratic
National Chairman and campaign manager for the Democratic
ticket in the Southern States, plus Texas and Oklahoma.
August 20 – JFK confers with Harry Truman at Independence,
Missouri.
August 21 – After bowling at Camp David, Nixon first feels knee
discomfort.
August 22 – NBC’s Robert Sarnoff raises possibility of
commercial sponsorship for debates.
August 24 – Ike responds “If you give me a week, I might think of
one. I don’t remember.”
August 24 – House of Representatives approves Senate Joint
Resolution 207 suspending the equal time rule (Section 315).
August 24 – JFK meets with representatives of the Baptist
Committee on Public Affairs (BJCPA), C. Emmanuel Carlson, and
W. Barry Garrett.
August 25 – Nixon appears on the "Jack Paar Show."
August 25 - Simulmatics Report No. 2, “Kennedy Before Labor
Day” issued.
August 26 – 150,000 hear Nixon speak in Atlanta.
August 26 – Executive Board of AFL-CIO endorses Kennedy.
August 29 – “Dick Nixon Sports Committee” announced.
August 29 – Nixon informed by physicians his knee is seriously
infected.
August 29 – Nixon enters Walter Reed Hospital.
August 31 – JFK and Nixon agree on three, possibly four, TV
debates.
September 1 – Rockefeller visits Nixon at Walter Read.
September 2 – Brendan Behan endorses JFK.
September 2 – Nixon endorses the Equal Rights Amendment.
September 2 – LBJ and Everett Dirksen visit Nixon in Walter
Reed Hospital.
September 3 – JFK campaigns in Alaska.
September 4 – Kennedy “crowd” phenomenon begins in Detroit.
September 5 – Death of former Louisiana Governor Earl Long.
September 7 – Nixon able to walk normally.
September 7 – Dr. Norman Vincent Peale issues statement
regarding a Catholic president.
September 8 – LBJ opens campaign in Boston.
September 9 – Nixon released from hospital.
September 9 – E. Frederick Morrow joins Nixon campaign.
September 12 – Nixon resumes campaign in Baltimore,
Indianapolis, Dallas, and San Francisco.
September 12 – Kennedy addresses the issue of his Roman
Catholic faith, before a Protestant group in Houston.
September 12 – CBS airs Walter Cronkite filmed interview of
Nixon, “Mr. Nixon: A Profile.”
September 13 – Nixon campaigns in San Francisco, Vancouver,
Portland, and Boise—addresses Booker T. Washington Political
Club, engine on plane gives out.
September 13 – New York’s Liberal Party endorses Kennedy.
September 14 – Nixon catches cold flying from Grand Forks to
Peoria.
September 14 – JFK campaigning in NYC; first visit to Max “Dr.
Feelgood” Jacobson.
September 15 – At Bradley University in Peoria, Nixon
participates in first live televised press conference.
September 15 – Nixon speech in St. Louis; Nixon running a 103
degree fever.
September 17 – Cuba nationalizes U.S. banks.
September 17 – JFK forgets wedding anniversary.
September 18 – The Americans for Democratic Action (ADA)
endorses Kennedy.
September 19 – CBS airs Walter Cronkite filmed interview with
JFK, “Mr. Kennedy: A Profile.”
September 19 – The CIA's Allen Dulles again briefs JFK.
September 20 – Charles Collingwood interviews JFK on CBS.
September 20 – Texas Democratic state convention in Dallas.
September 20 – Nixon press conference in Scranton, PA.
September 21 – Nixon’s last public press conference (Springfield,
MO)
September 23 – Florida KKK Grand Dragon Bill Hendrix
endorses Orval Faubus.
September 22 – Lodge suffers broken index finger in Indiana.
September 22 – Former Secretary of State James F. Byrnes
endorses Nixon.
September 23 – Martin Luther King receives $25 fine for traffic
violations—plus twelve months probation, provided King “shall not
violate any Federal or State penal statutes or municipal ordinances.”
September 23 – Rival Florida KKK Grand Dragon W. L. Griffin
endorses Richard Nixon.
September 24 – Former Texas Governor Allan Shivers endorses
Nixon.
September 24 – JFK arrives in Chicago (from Salt Lake City) for
first debate.
September 25 – JFK makes brief trip to Cleveland, returns to
Chicago.
September 25 – Nixon arrives in Chicago (from Washington) for
first debate.
September 26 – Nixon (morning) and JFK (afternoon) address the
United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners.
September 26 – First Kennedy-Nixon Debate in Chicago,
Howard K. Smith moderator
September 26 – Castro addresses United Nations for 4 ½ hours.
September 26 - Beverly Hills Nixon for President Club, Celebrities
Committee for Nixon-Lodge, Entertainment Industry for Nixon
Lodge, and Women’s Motorcade for Nixon-Lodge open joint
headquarters in Beverly Hills.
September 27 – Ike and British PM Harold Macmillan confer at
the Waldorf-Astoria.
September 28 – Sunrise at Campobello premieres at New York’
s Palace Theater.
September 28 – Elvira Carlson Doud, Ike’s mother-in-law, dies in
Denver.
September 28 – May Britt’s marriage to actor Eddie Gregson
formally dissolves.
September 29 – U.S. advises American dependents to leave Cuba.
September 30 – Chet Huntley and David Brinkley interview JFK
at Hyannis Port.
October 1 – JFK’s last day of rest, spent in Hyannis.
October 1 – Frank McGee’s “The Campaign and the Candidates”
airs Chet Huntley’s question to JFK re: Quemoy and Matsu.
October 1 – In Los Angeles, Henry Cabot lodge botches attempt
to tape TV show.
October 3 – Macmillan publishes Arthur Schlesinger’s Kennedy or
Nixon: Does It Make Any Difference? (51 pages, $1.95)
October 3 – Substitute foreign policy panel discussion featuring
Henry Cabot lodge airs on CBS.
October 4 – Nixon and Jackie Robinson booed at Newark rally.
October 5 – Nixon appears at Rockefeller Center rally.
October 7 – Second Kennedy-Nixon debate—in Washington, DC.
October 9 – Nixon confides American Cuba policy to the Chicago
Tribune's Willard Edwards (Billings. MT)
October 11-12 – National Conference on Constitutional Rights
held in New York City under chairmanship of Hubert Humphrey.
October 11 – Harry Truman says any Democrat who votes for
Nixon can “go to hell.”
October 12 – Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev disrupts a U.N.
General Assembly session by pounding his shoe on his desk.
October 12 – In East Harlem, Henry Cabot Lodge pledges Nixon
will appoint a black to the Cabinet.
October 13 – All 19 Scripps-Howard newspapers, including the
New York World-Telegram & Sun, endorse LBJ.
October 13 – American Anthony Zarba executed in Cuba.
October 13 – Third Kennedy-Nixon debate—Nixon in Los
Angeles; JFK in New York.
October 14 – Kennedy at University of Michigan (Ann Arbor) first
publicly proposes idea of Peace Corps.
October 14 – Khrushchev leaves the United States.
October 16 – Two more Americans executed in Cuba.
October 16 – Original date set for Sammy Davis-May Britt
wedding.
October 18 – LBJ writes John Connally, worried about losing
Texas.
October 19 – Martin Luther King arrested at Atlanta department
store sit-in.
October 19 – Joe Kennedy phones Arthur Krock to refute reports
that a JFK administration would be inflationary and favoring “total
racial integration.”
October 19 – Nixon, JFK, and Rockefeller appear at Alfred E.
Smith Dinner.
October 19 – Archibald Cox writes to Richard Goodwin re: Nixon
and Cuba; Goodwin begins to draft Kennedy white paper on Cuba.
October 20 – US recalls its ambassador to Cuba; imposes
embargo on that nation.
October 20 – Al Smith’s daughter endorses Nixon.
October 20 – JFK issues position paper on Cuba, urging direct
intervention, blasting Ike.
October 21 – Nixon requests Ike’s help. (Manchester, p. 1081)
October 21 – Fourth Kennedy-Nixon debate—in New York.
October 22 – Lady Bird Johnson’s father dies.
October 22 – John V. Lindsey and William Vanden Huevel debate
on local NYC TV and radio.
October 23 – Nixon challenges JFK to a fifth debate, solely on
Cuba.
October 24 – Jackie Robinson predicts the next president—
whether JFK or Nixon—will have a Negro in the cabinet.
October 25 – DeKalb County Judge J. Oscar Mitchell sentences
King to four months at hard labor for parole violation.
October 25 – Cuba nationalizes all remaining US businesses.
October 27 – Justice Department says Pearson charges regarding
Nixon loan are baseless.
October 27 – Plot to derail Nixon campaign train discovered near
Fort Wayne, Indiana.
October 27 – Hecklers toss eggs at Nixon at Muskegon rally
October 28 – Ike’s 30-minute TV address from Philadelphia
reaches highest audience of the campaign of any paid program.
October 29-November 1 – The Freedom Crusade Committee
distributes 2 million copies of “The Case of Martin Luther King” to
black voters.
October 30 – Donald Nixon confirms loan from Howard Hughes.
October 30 – The Chicago Tribune endorses Nixon.
October 30 – Eric Hass, Socialist Labor Party candidate, refuses
to participate in a CBS-TV debate with the Vegetarian and Beat
party candidates.
October 31 – Nixon meets with Ike in White House to discuss
increasing Ike’s increased role in campaign.
October 31 – Free World Press publishes Victor Lasky’s John F.
Kennedy: What’s Behind the Image?
Wednesday November 2 – Henry Fonda interviews Jackie and
Caroline Kennedy on paid TV ad.
Wednesday, November 2 – Nixon addresses rally at NYC’s
Coliseum.
Friday, November 4 – Marilyn Monroe’s last film, The Misfits,
premiers.
Friday, November 4 – The FCC rejects Lar Daly’s request for 22
additional minutes on the "Jack Paar Show."
Friday, November 4 – LBJ and Lady Bird mobbed by
Republicans at Dallas hotel.
Friday, November 4 – A crowd of a million-and-a-half persons
greets JFK in Chicago. Police arrest two persons for carrying
loaded weapons.
Friday, November 4 – Nixon floats idea of ex-presidents tour of
Eastern Europe past Ike; Ike responds negatively.
Friday, November 4 – In Syracuse, John Roosevelt raises issue of
JFK’s Addison’s Disease.
Saturday, November 5 – Nixon addresses rally at LA’s Pan
Pacific Auditoreum.
Saturday, November 5 – Norma Jean Rojas fatally stabs her
husband in an argument over whether to watch JFK on TV. She
preferred Lawrence Welk.
Sunday, November 6 – Nixon runs 32-page ad supplements in
Sunday newspapers.
Sunday, November 6 – Nixon proposes Truman-Hoover East
European goodwill tour.
Sunday, November 6 – Truman rejects Eisenhower-Nixon plan
for Eastern European tour.
Sunday, November 6 – Nixon visits Alaska, completes 50-state
campaign pledge.
Sunday, November 6 – Nixon pre-empts CBS’s "GE Theater" for
a 30-minute appeal to voters.
Sunday, November 6 – The Associated Press calls Nixon’s
psychotherapist Dr. Arnold Hutschnecker, inquiring if Nixon is in
“good health.”
Sunday, November 6 – Gallup Poll announces 49% for Kennedy,
48% for Nixon and 3% undecided.
Monday, November 7 – Postal authorities in San Diego discover
a bomb mailed to Nixon.
Monday, November 7 – Roper Poll calls it 49%-47% for Nixon
Monday, November 7 – Four-hour (2-6 P.M.) Nixon telethon on
ABC-TV-with Ginger Rogers, Lloyd Nolan, and Robert Young.
Monday, November – JFK appears on ABC-TV from 6:00-6:30
P.M.
Monday, November 7 – Thomas E. Dewey rebuts JFK on ABC-
TV from 6:00-6:45 P.M.
Monday, November 7 – In Detroit, Tricia and Julie Nixon make
only appearance on campaign trail.
Monday, November 7 – Nixon, in Chicago, does last national TV.
Tuesday, November 8 – Dixville Notch, NH votes 9-0 for Nixon-
Lodge.
Tuesday, November 8 – Kennedy elected president.
November 13 – Sammy Davis and May Britt marry.
November 17 – Hawaii audit gives state’s three electoral votes to
Nixon by 117 popular votes.
December 16 - Kennedy pulls ahead of Nixon in Hawaii by 21
votes.
December 27 - Judge Ronald Jamieson declared that Kennedy
had won Hawaii by 115 votes.
1960 Epilog
1960 Presidential Campaign Buttons
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