See how it looked in 1960

U.S. Gains Vigorous President With Kennedy’s Close Victory

By Richard L. Strout | Staff Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor

Washington

In one of the crucial elections of the century Americans picked for the presidency a man committed to strong government and social change.

President-elect John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts is the 34th man chosen President. He is the youngest man ever elected and succeeds the oldest. And he is the first Roman Catholic.

Senator Kennedy’s election restores to Washington a united party government for the first time in six years with executive and both chambers of Congress controlled by Democrats.

In world affairs Mr. Kennedy’s selection means that an American of 43 will deal with a generation of European leaders – Soviet Premier Nikita S. Khrushchev; Dr. Konrad Adenauer, West German Chancellor; President de Gaulle of France; and British Premier Harold Macmillan – who are 30 years his senior. It brings to the presidency the first man born in this century.

Aims Outlined

In domestic affairs it elevates a vigorous, self-confident and articulate legislator committed to be a “strong” President who has stated that he intends to use unique powers of the American presidency to the utmost.

As he outlined his conception of these powers in his speech to the National Press Club here Jan. 14 he said it was “imperative” that the new President take leadership into his own hands, guide foreign policy himself, and be willing to serve the public “at the risk of incurring their momentary displeasure.”

“He must be prepared to exercise the fullest powers of his office,” he declared.

Mr. Kennedy’s election was one of the most dramatic of the century, recalling 1948 when Harry S. Truman made a spectacularly unexpected victory, and 1916, when Charles Evans Hughes went to bed mistakenly thinking himself victor.

Count Seesawed

It was a race. The nation waited with bated breath for the election results from Illinois, California, New Mexico, Minnesota, and Alaska.

This was one of the closest presidential elections in American history. The margins between Vice-President Richard M. Nixon and Senator Kennedy in three small states kept swinging back and forth.

There was some doubt also about both Illinois and California for hours.

Most advanced polls showed Senator Kennedy the probable but close victor and he started off an election eve with a burst of popular votes from populous Eastern cities. This seemed to confirm the forecast.

Then, however, as later results came in from Western states and as rural votes swelled from the big battleground areas, majorities began to decline. The final victory will be the closest since 1948.

Dramatic Moment

A complicating factor was a batch of 11 electoral votes in Mississippi won by a group opposing Senator Kennedy but not supporting Republican Mr. Nixon.

As Mr. Kennedy’s electoral count hung beneath the needed 269, there was a remote possibility in the early hours of Nov. 9 that they might prevent either candidate from getting an outright majority, in which case the election would go into Congress. Under such circumstances each of the 50 states would have one vote.

At 3:15 a.m. e.s.t. Nov. 9, Vice-President Nixon made what some interpreted as a qualified concession of defeat to a moved and cheering group of supporters in California.

But he made it plain that he would be negative only if the trend continued. Now Illinois, California, New Mexico, Minnesota, and Alaska are still undecided.

At his home at Hyannis Port, Mass., Mr. Kennedy went to bed without claiming victory. It was one of the most dramatic scenes in the political history of the century.

Thanks From Nixon

The big audience which sat up to see the final act of the drama watched uncomfortable TV announcers point out that the Kennedy lead, which at one point stood at almost 2,000,000 popular votes, slowly dwindled to less than 1,000,000. There seemed no reason to most to doubt the ultimate outcome, but Mr. Kennedy needed one more state to clinch the result.

Finally TV cameras switched to Mr. Nixon and his wife “Pat” moving from their hotel room down to the crowd of Republicans in the big auditorium below.

The crowd seemed to sense Mr. Nixon’s state of mind and by applause sought to prevent his speaking.

Mr. Nixon had full control of himself and spoke cheerfully and good-humoredly. Mrs. Nixon fighting back emotion, stood at his side. The Vice-President thanked supporters, said that if the then current trend continued without significant change “Senator Kennedy will be the next President of the United States,” and then made an appeal for national unity. He offered his own “wholehearted support” to his rival if elected. Then he added that he was going to bed.

Promptly television attention was switched to the exterior of the illuminated Kennedy house at Hyannis Port. Mr. Kennedy’s press secretary, Pierre Salinger, told the press that the Senator, too, was calling it a day, or a night, and would go to bed without further comment before 10 a.m.

For spectators it all made a spectacular photofinish.

In the words of Leonard W. Hall, Mr. Nixon’s campaign manager, “This one is a squeaker.”

Mr. Kennedy’s associates seemed to consider that the Massachusetts senator was elected.

Patterns Examined

As this phase of the battle closed, Mr. Kennedy was leading in two big states, California and Illinois, though by diminishing majorities. Either state could put him over and indeed; the vote was so close that even the delayed 3 electoral votes of Alaska would have served.

Meanwhile, in Washington, President Eisenhower called a Cabinet meeting, Nov. 9, to smooth transition to the new administration.

Analysis indicated Mr. Kennedy had lost in some areas by being a Roman Catholic but had gained a great deal more elsewhere. One spot check by the Columbia Broadcasting Corporation showed that Mr. Kennedy got about 62 percent of the vote in designated “Catholic” areas, or a little less than the expected 70 percent, and 19 percent more than Adlai E. Stevenson got in 1958, in the same areas.

On the other hand, according in this study, Mr. Kennedy got 46 percent of the total in selected areas chosen as “Protestant” or 6 percent more than Mr. Stevenson did in the same precincts.