In the 20th century, the role of the US in international relations grew steeply from decade to decade, and so did the prominence of presidential elections. The outcome of many of them changed the course of history. The modern media, and television in particular, have brought candidates closer to the electorate and the appeal of their personalities has become increasingly important. Success also depended on the marketing skills of the candidate’s camp, and campaigns became ruthless and efficient political machines. Sometimes they were also fatally influenced by opinion polls. The world of party politics has changed – both Democrats and Republicans have charted new ideological directions and often their programmes have differed little. Issues of racial equality remained a constant in the domestic political arena, but were joined in the foreign arena by the fight against communism.
In all these respects, the most interesting, exciting and controversial elections were those of 1912, 1948 and 1960. The winners, Woodrow Wilson, Harry Truman and Jack Kennedy, had anything but an easy path to victory.
US Elections 1912 – America in the early 20th century
The 1912 elections were a watershed in several respects. A spirit of reform swept America, shifting the entire political establishment to the left; the Republican Party experienced an ideological rift between conservative and progressive branches that still exists today; and the election campaign resembled modern campaigns in its emphasis on the personalities of the candidates rather than on party programmes. Moreover, the main actors were real celebrities and magnets for the crowds of thousands who followed them at every turn.
And so, before their eyes, the dramatic end of a long friendship and political alliance between the two candidates, then President William H. Taft and his predecessor, one of the most famous Americans of all time, the charismatic ‘Teddy Bear’ Theodore (Teddy) Roosevelt, was also unfolding.
It was Roosevelt’s role in the events of that year that most changed the course of American presidential history, despite his defeat. Taft and Roosevelt were joined in the ring by the perennial socialist candidate Eugene V. Debs and the Democrat Woodrow Wilson, best known for his role in establishing the post-war European order and the Versailles peace.
While Europe was on the brink of the First World War, the political leadership on the other side of the Atlantic did not have time to concern itself with foreign policy. Despite the fact that just a few years later it was the US that would be decisive in the outcome of the war, few US presidential campaigns have paid as little attention to international affairs as the one in 1912.
This battle of the titans was about the soul of America, about the choice of whether to continue on the path of unbridled industrial capitalism and the interests of big corporations, or to take the side of the workers and stand up for the rights of the poor, the excluded and the exploited.
At the turn of the century, America was entering the so-called Gilded Age, dominated by the unimaginably wealthy dynastic potentates of the Rockefellers, the Carnegies, the Vanderbilts, the Fords, while at the same time millions of impoverished immigrants toiled seventy hours a week in factories, railways and construction sites in often deadly conditions.
Within a few decades, the Industrial Revolution had completely transformed the country, and a modern proletariat had emerged from a majority peasant population, with stifling cities bursting at the seams and immigrants from Europe sharing cramped sublet flats with rats. Contradictions grew, a few capable individuals turned technological progress to their advantage, and the anonymous masses lived.
Strikes multiplied and discontent peaked in one of the biggest industrial tragedies in US history, when in 1911 a fire in a textile factory in New York killed around 150 people, most of them girls and women aged between 14 and 23. Locked in the building so that they could not afford to take too many breaks, many jumped through the windows to certain death.
The need for reforms, especially in the areas of labour law and control over insatiable business and financial companies and monopolies, was recognised by all candidates. There were therefore no radical programmatic differences between them, it was mainly a question of the scope of the reforms and the means to implement them.
Race relations and severe segregation in the South, gender equality and women’s suffrage, child labour restrictions, unemployment, sick and disability benefits, health insurance, the eight-hour day, and even environmental policies joined the list of demands for change. The programmatic basis of the 1912 elections thus became one of the most progressive and forward-looking and oriented towards the future and the well-being of the little man.
The dramatic effects of the presidential struggle were thus not provided by the themes, but by the individuals, with their strong and colourful personalities and interesting life stories.
The Diverse Four
Republican Theodore Roosevelt first became President in 1901, after the assassination of William McKinley, who had held the most important position in the country for only a few months and in whose cabinet Roosevelt served as Vice-President. As a representative of a new generation of young politicians with progressive ideas and a belief that government should have more power, Roosevelt climbed the political career ladder.
The son of wealthy parents, he was quick and bright from a young age, but in poor health, with poor eyesight and a frail body. A born fighter, he devoted himself zealously to improving his physical fitness and became an accomplished boxer, horseman, marksman and lifelong devotee of regular physical exercise and outdoor pursuits.
After Harvard, he quickly found his calling in politics, and in New York, he began a successful fight against the corruption that plagued both politics and business. To counterbalance this, he worked as a cowboy on a ranch in the Dakotas and became interested in conservation and animal protection. When the Spanish-American War broke out in 1898, he hung up his job as Assistant Secretary of the Navy, formed a volunteer unit, the Wild Riders, and won a number of decisive victories in Cuba.
He became a national war hero. People called him Teddy, and it is also because of Roosevelt that teddy bears took on the name. Once, when he was President, his aides tied a bear to a tree during a hunt so that he could shoot it, but he refused because he did not consider it sporting or honourable. The owners of a shop put a teddy bear in the window in honour of the President and wrote ‘Teddy’s bear’ next to it. Overnight, it became a bestseller. And so one of the most popular toys of all time became part of Roosevelt’s legacy.
His landslide victory in the 1904 elections was no surprise. At the time, he promised not to seek a third term, a promise he later regretted and broke. During his second term, Roosevelt actively campaigned for world peace, proposing the creation of the Peace Society years before Wilson’s League of Nations, and even became the first American to win the Nobel Peace Prize for mediating the Russo-Japanese War.
When he left the White House in 1908, he chose his good friend and Secretary of War William Howard Taft as his successor. Convinced that the loyal Taft would carry on his progressive agenda, he wanted a fair break from the busy political rhythm and set off with his son on a year-long safari in Africa.
But Taft was no Roosevelt. He was a moderate conservative, not very charismatic or visionary, and above all lacking the ‘Rooseveltian’ political vigour and vitality, but an excellent lawyer. What he most wanted was to become a member of the Supreme Court. Important political posts sought him more than he sought them. In accepting the presidential nomination, he did his ambitious wife the greatest favour besides Roosevelt, and he himself said: “I don’t know why, but my plates have always been turned the right way when the chips were down.”
His plates were also getting fuller, especially in difficult moments, and towards the end of his term he weighed almost 170 kilos. Apart from food, he also sought solace in golf and during his re-election campaign in 1912 he was found more often on the golf course than at rallies or in the Oval Office. Taft so disappointed Roosevelt that the former President decided to run again after a four-year hiatus.
The third major player was the Democratic Party candidate, Woodrow Wilson. This was in many ways more reactionary than the Republican Party of a hundred years ago, which had freed the slaves under Lincoln. Wilson, too, was originally a conservative Democrat, a Southerner, a white supremacist and hostile to the then new wave of immigrants from Southern and Central Europe.
The young Wilson came to a respectable academic career despite reading difficulties due to dyslexia, but successfully overcame them by training an almost photographic memory and incredible concentration.
He came to politics relatively late in life, serving for many years as President of the famous Princeton University, where he was known as a stubborn reformer but respected educator. He quickly rose from the presidency of the university to the governor’s chair of New Jersey. He was aided in this by the notorious Tammany Hall political group, a powerful and corrupt Democratic organisation, without whose support it was impossible for him to secure powerful positions in politics.
Tammany Hall was dominated for decades by uncles from the background, but Wilson later turned his back on them. He became increasingly progressive and attracted public attention with successful proposals for more worker-friendly legislation, curbs on employers’ rights and corruption.
But the skeleton in his closet was his poor health. He suffered several strokes, and before the 1912 elections, a severe stroke nearly blinded him in one eye. The public did not know much about this.
The last was Eugene V. Debs, a man with labour roots and a trade union activist. He had experienced the harsh working conditions first-hand, having been forced to join the railways at the age of 14. Later, he successfully united railway workers in the first industrial union in the USA. A convinced leftist, he was first a member of the Democratic Party and then a founder of the American Socialist Party. Although he was never a Marxist and believed in democratic levers such as elections, he believed that competitive capitalism had to be overthrown.
He became radicalised in prison, where he ended up as an organiser of one of the biggest strikes in the US, when 100,000 railway workers resisted inhuman working conditions. Debs was a man of principle, totally committed to the struggle for workers’ rights and the labour movement, a warm man and a charismatic orator who often became so exhausted during emotionally charged speeches on stage that he ended up in bed or even in a sanatorium for weeks, exhausted.
He became a hero to many, and at his crowded rallies he was patted on the back, but he was also appreciated by his opponents. He was a candidate for the presidency five times.
The end of friendship
“I admire him from head to toe,” Taft said of Roosevelt. But black clouds have been gathering over their friendship ever since Roosevelt’s star-studded reception on his return from an African safari, followed by a high-profile speaking tour of Europe.
Dissatisfied with Taft, Roosevelt wanted to return to the political arena as soon as possible, but the top of the Republican Party was not as impressed with the increasingly progressive Teddy as they had been in the past. Much to his surprise and disappointment, Taft was nominated, even though Roosevelt had won the primary and there was no doubt who had a better chance of being elected.
But Roosevelt never threw in the towel. He simply created a new Progressive Party, splitting the Republicans in half. At the convention of the new party, the mood was optimistic. For the first time, women were delegates, and the standard-bearer of the movement for gender equality and the right to vote, the eminent Jane Addams, even gave a speech.
The party programme read as if we were in the 21st century – even former President Obama said that Roosevelt was the first to advocate a national health programme. They promised, among other things, an efficient government and a greater role for the state in the economy and in controlling big business, labour legislation, income and inheritance taxes, and a welfare state. The programme was called ‘New Nationalism’.
Even the nomination at the Democratic Convention did not go smoothly and Wilson, who was not the front-runner, was only nominated as a compromise candidate in the 46th round of voting. The fact that he turned his back on the corrupters of Tammany Hall almost cost him the nomination. But with the Socialists there was no doubt and Debs was the only real favourite to be the candidate.
The presidential campaign has now taken its final form – four candidates are competing for the top prize. The split among the Republicans was grist for the mill of the Democrats, who were aware that Taft and Roosevelt would cancel each other out in their chances of victory. Only Taft’s programme was moderately conservative, but the other three were difficult to distinguish.
When Taft accepted the fact that he and Teddy had truly become adversaries, he cried. But the two men quickly forgot the basics of etiquette and, in the style of a recent modern presidential campaign, started insulting each other in public. For example, Roosevelt declared that Taft was “a fat man with little more sense than a guinea pig”.
With dozens of journalists following him every step of the way, Roosevelt was hyperactive. He visited all the major countries and spoke up to ten times a day. He even survived an assassination attempt, miraculously hit at point-blank range by a rogue’s throw, but saved by a fifty-page speech in his jacket pocket. He gave the whole speech, which lasted more than an hour, before he went to hospital, covered in blood.
Debs also talked and talked, and his supporters sang the Internationale enthusiastically, giving him a 29-minute round of applause after his performance in Madison Square Garden.
Wilson was similarly active, and while he could not match Roosevelt in visibility and charisma, he was aware of the incredible opportunity that the Republican conflict presented. Taft, on the other hand, was not publicly visible, depressed and complained that others were getting a lot of attention and “there is nothing new to report about me, except that I play golf”.
Woodrow Wilson did win the election, with 40 states. Roosevelt won 6 and Taft 2, but Roosevelt and Taft together won 1.2 million more electoral votes than Wilson. Debs, with almost a million votes, was the best electoral result for the American Socialist Party. But the campaign took the last vestiges of his health and he ended up in hospital. Taft was not disappointed for long, but his dream did come true in 1924 when he became Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
If the Republicans had nominated Roosevelt, he would almost certainly have won, and in all likelihood World War I would have ended sooner, as he was in favour of the US entering it immediately. But his new party, built on a cult of personality, slowly faded away, while Teddy nursed his wounds on an adventure in the unexplored Amazon forests of Brazil.
Since the Taft-Roosevelt feud, Republicans have remained divided between progressives and conservatives, but the two former friends have nonetheless grown closer again. On Theodore Roosevelt’s death in 1919, Taft was the last to leave his grave in tears. In many ways, Roosevelt’s legacy was carried on years later by his distant cousin, the Democrat Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Yet more proof of how fluid and undefined the boundaries between Democrats and Republicans were at the time.
US Elections 1948 – Random President
The outcome of the 1948 elections was the greatest political miracle of the 20th century. No one believed in its success except the winner, the Democrat Harry S. Truman. Not the party, not the media, not the pollsters, not even his wife and daughter. The opposing Republican camp, with Thomas E. Dewey at its head, was so confident of victory that Dewey was already being addressed as ‘Mr President’ and received numerous congratulatory messages from all over the world. The day after the election, the front page of the Chicago Daily Tribune said: “Truman beats Dewey!”
But Truman didn’t win by a hair, he won two million more votes and ended up with 303 electoral votes in 28 states, compared to Dewey’s 189 and 16 states. He was the lowest-rated of all Presidents, but today he is considered one of the most influential. In an age of new technologies and regular monitoring of public opinion, how could America have been so wrong?
In April 1945, a seriously ill Franklin D. Roosevelt died 82 days after becoming President for the fourth time, and was succeeded by Harry Truman. Truman met the President only twice during this time and had no idea that the US was on the verge of developing the atomic bomb. Still less could he have imagined that he would be the one who would have to authorise the dropping of Fat Man and Little Boy, as the deadly bombs were called, on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
But Truman, until then a little-known former Senator from Missouri, took the toughest challenges of his life calmly and responsibly and led America to victory. The decision to use atomic weapons haunted him all his life, and most of all he feared having to make it again.
Truman was first brought to the White House by a combination of circumstances. He was one of the few presidents without a university degree. He ended up in politics by chance after his retail business went bankrupt during the economic crisis. He was deep in debt, without a break of steam, and continued to pay it off for twenty years. Local patrons helped him to a seat in the Senate, where he quickly emerged as a champion of sweeping social reforms.
When Roosevelt was looking for a harmless and unproblematic partner to replace the eccentric Vice-President Henry Wallace, who was increasingly drawn to the far left, the party suggested Truman. With his meteoric rise after Roosevelt’s death, leading Democrats realised that Truman was, in fact, a complete outsider. “My God, Truman is going to be President!” echoed through the White House.
It was indeed difficult to step into Roosevelt’s shoes, to successfully continue his many social policies under the New Deal, and at the same time to deal with veterans’ integration, the housing crisis, the growing racial violence in the South, and on top of that, to literally care for peace in the world. The Cold War was on, and the US was playing a major role in it.
The blockade of Berlin led Truman to order the famous ‘airlift’ and to confront the growing hostilities between Israel and Palestine. The US was the first to recognise Israel in May 1948, as Truman bowed to pressure from the powerful Jewish community.
Meanwhile, the fear of communism was creeping into the bones of the Americans. Initially, Truman did well, becoming the patron of the Marshall Plan and the author of the Truman Doctrine, which sought to curb the spread of Soviet geopolitical influence by financial aid to threatened countries rather than by force.
Even then, the Soviet Union was interfering in the US elections and a memorandum came to light showing that they would try to prevent Truman from winning. But it was not only the Soviets who were angered, for at home he was accused of taking the country to the brink of World War III. He was soon branded inexperienced and rumours spread that, after many years, it was time for a Republican President again.
When Truman angered members of his own party by overemphasising civil rights and denouncing segregationist laws in the South, even his closest colleagues advised him to say goodbye to the hope of a second term. Within a year, his support had fallen from 87% to 37%, and some Democrats were even urging the late Republican President Eisenhower to be their candidate.
Hot-blooded Democrats and moderate Republicans
Internal squabbles continued at the Convention, especially on the issue of civil rights. Truman was, however, nominated as a second candidate, as it has always been the custom for a serving President to be given a second chance. But he had so angered the Southern supremacists with his desegregationist programme that many left the rally in protest. They waved Confederate flags (the Confederacy was made up of Southern slave-owning states that seceded from the Union during the Civil War) and a few days later formed a new party.
The States’ Rights Party has formally advocated that individual states retain the right to decide on legislation on race relations. This would keep racial discrimination legal in the South without interference from the federal government. Its leader until his death in 2003 at the age of 100 was Senator Strom Thurmond of South Carolina. An outspoken racist, he said, among other things, “With the Truman Plan, blacks could go to white schools and sit on white buses, but we would become a subordinate race and our Anglo-Saxon roots a farce.” He later became a respected member of the Republican Party.
But these were not the only apostates from the Democratic Party. Henry Wallace, a left-wing intellectual, founded the Progressive Party. This was a far-left party with close links to the Communists. It was later shown that Soviet spies had infiltrated it. Wallace was supported by many famous Americans, including Roosevelt’s son Elliott, Thomas Mann, Arthur Miller and Hellen Keller.
Truman could hardly have had a worse chance of winning, so it is no wonder that his Republican opponent said, “I will be President. It’s written in the stars.”
Thomas E. Dewey was the brilliant 44-year-old Governor of New York who, as New York’s attorney general, boldly took on the worst mobsters in the land. He put the notorious Lucky Luciano behind bars at the tender age of 35, and broke up the crime rings of Meyer Lansky and the tough Tammany Hall boss, James Hines. He became a true hero and was even portrayed by Humphrey Bogart in one of the films about his legendary pursuits.
He had an elegant, often sublime presence and a beautiful baritone voice – in his youth he had hoped for an operatic career. He was also adorned with a rather awkward moustache, but despite frequent remarks that he looked like the man on the wedding cake, he kept it on because his wife liked it. He was a natural leader, hard-working and obsessed with efficiency, but unemotional and shy.
Teddy Roosevelt was the Deweys’ family idol, and at home they regularly discussed black rights, tax reforms, protection of natural resources and foreign policy.
Tom Dewey was the epitome of liberal republicanism. Already in 1944, he was nominated as the Republican candidate, but lost to Franklin Roosevelt. He was renominated in 1948 at the Republican convention, which was far less chaotic than the Democratic one. He tried unsuccessfully to challenge Robert Taft, the uncharismatic and boring son of former President William Taft, from the conservative wing of the party.
Dewey’s programme was very similar in outline to Truman’s – black rights and the expansion of freedoms, anti-communism, recognition of Israel, the importance of the US role in the world, support for the Marshall Plan, and so on. It became clear that the struggle for victory would be fought around personalities rather than issues and concrete policy proposals.
“Give them the wind, Harry!”
“We will win” was Truman’s only motto. He embarked on the greatest American tour of all time, promising to visit every corner and speak on every lawn. He was obviously aware of his appeal and his folksy simplicity as a former merchant and farmer, and as a sparkling and outspoken wit without a hair on his tongue.
The Truman camp was moved to a special 16-car train called the ‘Truman Special’, the last, bulletproof presidential carriage of which was named Ferdinand Magellan. He travelled 56,000 kilometres on it, far more than Magellan’s famous round-the-world journey.
The train also became a family home for his wife Bess, Truman’s childhood sweetheart, and his daughter Edith, Margaret, a talented singer. The three had a very close and warm relationship and the family became a real curiosity for the thousands of Americans whom Truman addressed at every village and town station. At the end of his speeches, he introduced the two women in his life and Margaret threw a rose into the crowd, and people shouted, “Sing something beautiful, Margaret!”
The Truman biography comic strip ‘Country Boy, Soldier, Statesman, President’ became a hit. Despite the growing enthusiasm of the crowds, the campaign was constantly struggling with a lack of money and they regularly begged Democratic donors to sign a cheque to give them an extra day of appearances.
The polls showed Truman doing worse and worse, and 90% of the newspapers were against him. So he simply stopped following the opinion polls and reading the newspapers and buried himself even deeper in his work. He was persistent in spreading the message of his progressive programme and in pointing out the good state of the economy.
The women’s section of the campaign has developed its first political programme exclusively for women voters. Truman insisted: “Before you stands the present and future President.” He also tactfully stole the black vote from the Republicans and was the first to speak in the spiritual heart of the black community in Harlem.
Dewey also had his own train, the aptly named ‘Victory Special’, on which he was regularly accompanied by dozens of enthusiastic journalists. His campaign was elaborate, he had hired the best advertising agency and there was more photographic equipment on board than in a Hollywood studio. He commissioned a detailed statistical analysis of the electorate in every state, studied the polls and the newspapers and rejoiced in victory.
But his campaign was lukewarm on substance, deliberately not wanting to risk raising specific issues in order not to alienate any segment of the electorate. He stuck to his own principle of “When you lead, don’t tell” and addressed rallies with platitudes such as “The future is in our hands”.
He exuded confidence but could not match Truman’s charisma. He did not like to shake hands and was unable to establish a genuine personal connection. Everything was disturbingly perfect, whereas Truman sometimes spoke from the train in his pyjamas.
Truman’s supporters shouted louder and louder, “Show them, Harry!” He was also supported by many celebrities, followers of the late legend Franklin Roosevelt, with one of the most politically engaged women of the 20th century, Franklin’s widow Eleanor, at the forefront. Even Ronald Reagan, then a Democrat and President of the Screen Actors Guild, publicly cheered for her.
But the media insisted on predicting Dewey’s victory, and he behaved like a president. Foreign leaders knocked on his door, for example he met Winston Churchill for nine hours. When fifty influential political writers and commentators were asked who would be President, all of them, without exception, said, “Thomas E. Dewey!”
On the day of the election, Harry Truman snuck into a country hotel to rest. He was not surprised to learn that the results were swinging more and more in his favour. “Of course I’m going to win,” he said, and went to bed. Dewey too retreated into seclusion, horrified at the turn of events. The next morning it was clear that Truman would remain President. “Who would have thought it,” said Dewey. “That son of a bitch has won!”
Truman won mainly because of the votes of peasants and blacks, but many also supported him because of his leadership skills in dealing with the Berlin blockade and his good economic prospects. Many Dewey voters, however, did not even go to the polls because they were confident of victory. Truman’s inauguration, televised for the first time, saw a million people on the streets of Washington. Many bands played the song ‘I’m just wild about Harry’.
Elections 1960 – “My son will be President!”
The 1960 election was the closest in the 20th century. In the end, just over 110,000 votes separated the two candidates. The results in at least three states remain disputed. Yet, when most people think of this legendary election, in which the two heavyweights, Democrat John (Jack) F. Kennedy and Republican Richard Nixon, clashed, the first thing that comes to mind is Kennedy’s life story. His personality, his appearance, the euphoria he caused at every turn, his family pedigree, his love affairs, his serious illness, his friendship with the film industry and, last but not least, his tragic end.
Nixon is, of course, most associated with the Watergate wiretapping affair that cost him the presidency in 1974. The background to the scandal is better understood when we get to know Nixon better during the 1960 campaign as a reclusive, sullen, suspicious and unrelaxed man.
Kennedy was a global icon before he became President. The credit goes above all to his presidential campaign, one of the best organised, well thought-out and finely honed campaigns, involving hundreds of brilliant operatives and thousands of dedicated volunteers.
The most important strings were pulled from behind the scenes by the clan leader, Father Joseph (Joe) P. Kennedy. He repeatedly said, “My son is going to be President!” And to this end, he mobilised a network of powerful connections, including the criminal mafia underworld and the family’s vast wealth. Kennedy Sr. took care of the dark side of his son’s presidential battle, being accused of flirting with Nazis and anti-Semitism, and later of bribery and vote-stealing in his son’s favour. He even went so far as to promise Jack’s wife Jackie, who had been cheated on countless times, a million dollars to stay married and maintain her husband’s apparent integrity in the public eye.
A year before the real election, Jack’s face was already gracing the covers of serious newspapers and women’s magazines, city posters and, of course, TV screens. Through the Kennedys, political marketing and public relations became central to the American political landscape and have remained so ever since. The media industry was impressed by the depth of his father’s pocketbook and the media sometimes showed JFK some exaggerated affection.
Far from being the favourite for the Democratic nomination, the 42-year-old Kennedy has earned it through years of thoughtful preparation. Senator of Massachusetts since 1952, he had already made an unsuccessful bid for the vice-presidency in 1956 and announced his presidential candidacy a year later. At the time, few in a party dominated by old-timers such as the intellectual Adlai Stevenson and the boisterous Texan Lyndon Johnson, the long-time leader of the Democrats in the Senate, took the young man seriously.
So he chose the harder route, through primaries, where voters choose between candidates within the same party. Participation in the primaries is not compulsory, but the results are extremely important as they indicate the ‘electability’ and popularity of a candidate among voters rather than party bosses. They are therefore hardly ignored by the latter at the party’s national convention, which officially elects the candidate.
Kennedy swept the primaries, legitimising his eligibility to contest the nomination. The most valuable victories were in the majority Protestant states. Until then, few believed that the Catholic Kennedy, despite his undeniable charm and ability, would succeed in convincing the Protestant electorate. Religion had become one of the main themes of the whole campaign and he was accused of being more loyal to the Pope than to the country.
Kennedy said, “I am the Democratic candidate for President, not the Catholic one. Religion is a private matter. When I served my country during the war, and when my brother lost his life for it in the war, no one asked us about our faith.”
However, according to later estimates, he still lost at least 1.5 million votes because of his religion.
At the 1960 convention, after a successful primary, the young Kennedy confidently emerged as the front-runner and was nominated in the first round of voting. One of the most disaffected experienced politicians who also hoped for the nomination was Lyndon Johnson. Kennedy and his clan did not suffer. The feeling was mutual, so Kennedy’s next move was shocking but shrewd. He chose Johnson as his vice-presidential candidate, hoping that the rugged Texan, skilled in backroom political deal-making, would help him win the Southern vote. Which is exactly what happened.
When Handsome Jack accepted his nomination, 35 million people watched him on TV. Among them was Richard Nixon, the front-runner for the Republican nomination. The confident Nixon analysed his opponent and thought: “I can beat him. I can beat him in front of the TV cameras.” He could not have been more wrong about the latter.
Republicans choose Nixon
At 47, Richard M. Nixon was already a seasoned politician, having served eight years as Vice President to the popular General Dwight ‘Ike’ Eisenhower, who was also snubbed by the Democrats after the war. Coming from a modest Quaker family, Nixon had to give up material goods and the best schools throughout his youth. He sold newspapers, played the piano in church, was a janitor and the star of the school debating society. At a very young age, he became a prominent Republican.
Although he was able to win people over with arguments, he was suspicious and distrustful. He let very few people into his inner circle, did not like to be consulted and took key decisions alone. He was also unable to chat about mundane matters and was rarely relaxed and smiled genuinely.
As Ike’s Vice-President, he was the most active on the then very turbulent international stage. Especially between the Americans and the Soviets, tensions were escalating and one of Nikita Khrushchev’s main hobbies was provocative and offensive rhetoric against the US and the West. But in 1959, Nixon took on Khrushchev in the famous ‘kitchen debates’ on the merits of capitalism versus socialism, which took place in the context of the US-Soviet cultural exchanges in Moscow, to great acclaim. At that time he won the sympathy of his fellow citizens and the political points of the party top.
This made Nixon the front-runner at the Republican National Convention, even though Ike always looked down on him as a upstart. His main rival was the famous millionaire and powerful Governor of New York, Nelson A. Rockefeller, a member of another of the world’s great and richest American dynasties. But the legacy of Theodore Roosevelt was still alive and well in the Republican Party, and with it the division between the progressive and conservative branches.
The liberal Rockefeller, a philanthropist, a supporter of art, culture and education, but otherwise a true merrymaker and entertainer, was a member of the former, close to the Democrats in many respects, and led by members of the latter. Not only was he too free-thinking, unpredictable and autocratic, he was also too rich. The Republicans realised that he could finance the campaign entirely on his own and that he would not need the party apparatus and donors. So they quickly closed the door in his face and elected Nixon as their presidential candidate.
Nixon initially wanted Rockefeller as Vice-President to secure the support of the liberal wing of the party, but Rockefeller found the offer dishonourable (he did accept the Vice-Presidency under Gerald Ford a year later), but then they made a secret deal in which the wily Nixon promised Rockefeller that he would include a number of progressive policies in his political programme, notably in the area of civil liberties for blacks, and thus secure his support after all.
Henry Cabot Lodge, Ambassador to the United Nations, became the Vice-Presidential candidate, which turned out to be yet another wrong decision by the Nixon camp. Lodge was unpleasant and haughty, often cancelled his appearances at short notice, and was much more interested in his daily afternoon rest than in a successful campaign.
Every minute can bring a new voice
At the end of July, the longest, most long-winded and most tireless campaign of all time began after both conventions. The two candidates travelled the length and breadth of the country, shaking so many hands that they themselves were often clenched and even bleeding. Every minute was carefully planned and, above all, the Kennedy campaign, run mostly by boys in their thirties, was an admirable machine of efficiency. Timetabling became an art and Jack’s schedule included nights with his mistresses.
The Democratic candidate’s headquarters were in Hyannis Port, on the Kennedy estate. The campaign’s operations and logistics director was his 33-year-old brother, Robert or Bobby, and his “brain blood bank” was the dedicated Ted Sorensen, a 31-year-old intellectual, writer and political mind who educated Kennedy thoroughly on liberal politics, history and international relations.
All the Kennedy siblings and their spouses became active operatives on the ground, with precise tasks of lobbying, donation-raising, speeches, visits and interviews. The Kennedy camp was made up of the best-informed people in the US. Experts, academics, analysts, scientists, researchers were hired for all areas of domestic and foreign policy, and every Kennedy appearance was prepared on time and to the last detail.
He was also hard-working and impeccably prepared. He knew the political and economic situation of each state, and above all the names of everyone who had any influence in it. He made as many speeches and appearances as any Democrat before him, not even the indefatigable Harry Truman. Unlike Nixon, he was humorous and often made the audience laugh.
Most of all, the Kennedys have mastered the modern mechanisms of public relations. They carefully nurtured Jack’s image – the new generation’s representative was at once a war hero, a family man, a Pulitzer Prize winner. It helped that, as a former journalist and writer, he appreciated a good word and journalists, and liked to have a drink with them after a long hard day.
He also flirted with the film industry in his younger years and maintained a number of high-profile friendships, such as with the famous Rat Pack of ‘bad boys’, headed by Frank Sinatra, and with Peter Lawford, conveniently married to one of the Kennedy sisters, among others.
The biggest impact was, of course, on girls and women. While Jackie was about to give birth and his affairs were an open secret, American women went completely mad. The phenomenon of ‘jumping’ was born – first it was teenage girls jumping with euphoria at a Kennedy parade or performance, then it was middle-aged women, pensioners, pregnant women, nuns. Television broadcast the sometimes frenzied jumping of the crowds, accompanied by giggles and shouts of delight. No wonder the Kennedys were becoming increasingly confident of victory.
In the Nixon camp, the atmosphere was very different. Nixon was never a team player and made most of his campaign management decisions alone. Even his closest associates often found it difficult to reach him, and he spent his evenings alone or with his wife.
He had a hostile attitude towards the media, and the more sympathetic they were to Kennedy, the more he insulted journalists and withheld information from them. They were relieved when they were allowed to cover the Kennedy campaign instead of the Nixon campaign. At the same time, he wanted to endear himself to people and went overboard in trying to appear warm and sympathetic. In his speeches, he often felt sorry for himself and came off as pathetic when he lamented his poor childhood. On top of that, he injured his knee and spent two weeks in hospital with severe inflammation, losing valuable campaign time.
Scrambling before the finishing line
The main campaign themes were foreign policy, the fight against communism and racial inequality. Nixon insisted on the inexperience of his opponent, arguing that only he would be able to cope with the Soviets, the problems in Cuba and the decolonisation of Africa. At home, he promised to continue the policies of the popular Eisenhower, who could not be faulted much.
Kennedy played on a more emotional note and his main assets were character and courage. He convinced Americans that it was time for a new generation to take charge of the future. He also promised a greater welfare state, because many people were suffering from severe poverty. But at the end of the day, they were both moderate politicians who often competed for the same votes.
Of these, the African-American vote was very important. While they traditionally voted for the Republican Party of Lincoln, which freed them from slavery, the policies of the Democrat Franklin Roosevelt and his New Deal gave many a better life, and many leaned towards the Democrats.
In the Deep South, the Democratic Party was still synonymous with racism and segregation, and Kennedy avoided making generous promises on civil rights so as not to alienate the party’s Southern base. It is therefore paradoxical that Nixon was more progressive, but Kennedy has gone down in history as the great champion of human rights and equality.
He did it with another great marketing ploy, when he and his brother got Martin Luther King released from prison. Kennedy even telephoned his pregnant wife. The news spread like wildfire through the black community and the media. King’s father, an influential preacher and hitherto Republican, secured Kennedy the votes of many supporters.
The undisputed highlight of the campaign was the series of presidential debates, which were publicly televised for the first time in history. Within a decade, television had become the main entertainment of the American people and these debates were the best recipe for getting to know the candidate better.
Since they mostly agreed on the main themes, it was mainly a clash of personalities. The preparations were feverish and meticulous. They were to meet four times, starting with an opening address and then answering questions from the pre-assembled journalists in the studio. They were not allowed to use the notes.
The action in the studio was interesting. Kennedy came in rested and tanned, in a beautiful dark suit, perfectly prepared and collected. He followed the advice given to him on the use of professional make-up.
Nixon, however, bumped his recently injured knee on the way out of the car outside the studio and turned pale on the spot. He gritted his teeth but suffered visibly. His dress of a nondescript colour hung on his thin body and, because he did not want the right make-up, he had visible under-eye bruising. At the last moment he accepted that the assistant had put on cheap make-up, but in the hot studio it melted and his chin would run. He was sweating from the pain and generally looking tense. All the time he was addressing Kennedy, while the telegenic and relaxed Kennedy was addressing the audience.
Although the following debates went better for Nixon, the first impression did its work. Before the first debate, public opinion was only one percentage point more in Kennedy’s favour (47%-46%), but after the last debate the ratio was 51%-45%. A record 120 million Americans watched the debates.
But a few days before the election, Nixon’s popularity soared, especially when Eisenhower finally publicly endorsed him. On the eve of the election, he addressed the electorate on television. The Kennedys were so confident of victory that they were in for a surprise on election day.
Although Nixon’s crowds were much more reserved, it turned out that quiet people vote too. Kennedy did win the electoral vote, but by fewer states and only 0.17% of the ballots. Suggestions that the elder Kennedy bribed the mayor of Chicago, Illinois, where Kennedy ended up winning by only 6,000 votes, remain alive.
The American elections of the 21st century, which began with the controversial fight for every ballot in Florida in 2000, also suggest that the world will continue to be entertained, amazed and often in awe at their outcome.
