NBC News: John F. Kennedy- ‘On Meet The Press Through The Years’

Source:NBC News– U.S. Senator John F. Kennedy (Democrat, Massachusetts) on NBC News’s Meet The Press in 1958.

Source:The New Democrat

“From the time he was a congressman for Massachusetts’ 11th district, John F. Kennedy took time to appear on various NBC News programs. From Meet the Press to Home and The Huntley-Brinkley Report, Kennedy discussed the most pressing issues of the day on NBC.

The arc of Kennedy’s career can be traced by these appearances, as we see him in the various offices he held, speaking on a wide array of topics. Among these are corruption in the Democratic Party, the United States’ relationship with the Soviet Union, an escalation of troops in Vietnam, and his political ambitions through the years. There are some moments, particularly on Meet the Press, in which he is forced to defend his beliefs vigorously. At other times, he leisurely engages interviewers on the joys of public service and speculates on the future of women in politics. Nevertheless, his demeanor is always that of a collected and confident leader.

This collection spans more than a decade, from 1951 to shortly before Kennedy’s death in 1963. In 1952, we see his keen political acumen, predicting four years in advance that Adlai Stevenson would likely be the next Democratic nominee for president. Kennedy has the opportunity to reject the idea that his religious affiliation could be a political setback on Meet the Press two years before his own run for the presidency. In 1960, he shares his view that technology and space travel will be a key factor in “the image of the United States abroad” as it seeks to trump the Soviet Union worldwide. Finally, in an exclusive interview with David Brinkley and Chet Huntley, which would be his last appearance as a guest on NBC, Kennedy displays a modesty that one might not expect from a war hero with a Harvard degree. When asked by Huntley if the office of the President is unmanageable, Kennedy responds that “this country and its affairs are not managed in the real sense in the White House. There’s 180 million decisions being made which finally manage the country.”

Fifty years after his tragic death, we remember a president that inspired millions and dedicated his life to public service.

Go to NBC Universal to license any portion of this video.”

From NBC News

John Kennedy, was perfect for NBC’s Meet The Press, because he was so quick. The people there liked him and knew that he could not only answer their questions, but wanted to do it and answer them with depth. Very similar to Bill Clinton or Barack Obama, he was very quick off the cuff and could answer questions with humor.

Meet The Press liked interviewing JFK because he was likable, popular, well-known, and very funny. The 1950s was a fascinating time and JFK was in Congress the whole time as the country was dealing with the Cold War, post World War II economic boom, the early days of the civil rights movement, and even American women starting to make important impacts out of the home in the American economy.

Meet The Press had female anchors and questioners. There were women in Congress like Senator Margaret Chase Smith and many others. Jack Kennedy was in his thirties and early forties during this decade and had a great future ahead of him if he wanted it. Which is why Meet The Press loved having him on.

Jack Kennedy, was sort of an absentee Representative in the House. Somewhat bored and loved being a bachelor and enjoying the Washington nightlife when Congress was in session. It wasn’t until JFK decided to run for the Senate in 1952 that he started taking his job more serious and making his positions known in Congress.

There are a lot of things to love about Jack Kennedy and he is my political hero, but he’s definitely someone who grew in office. Wasn’t a great Representative, but a good Senator at least in the sense that he started taking issues seriously and studying them and not just going to his committee hearings, but knowing the right questions to ask.

I don’t believe JFK becomes President of the United States on his personal appeal and family name alone in 1960, had he not become a serious Senator and taken his job in Congress seriously and getting on the road and getting his political platform out there.

I’m not sure JFK gets into his politics without his father Joe pushing him. But it’s clear that once JFK got into politics and ran for the House in 1946 and was elected he loved it and became a natural campaigner and politician. He gave a great speech, great interviews, knew how to excite and inspirer people.

JFK wasn’t a natural public servant and someone who actually loved doing the job that he was elected to do. His tenure in the House is a pretty good example of that. I believe he sort of grew in public service once he was elected to the Senate, especially his second term when he started considered running for president in 1957 or so.

JFK was someone even though had a fairly thin resume outside of Congress and somewhat of a thin voting record and list of accomplishments in Congress, was someone who was great at expiring people and laying out a vision for how America could be even greater and how all Americans could succeed in America.

Read Full Post »

Slate Magazine: David Weigel: ‘Filibuster Reform Kicks Open the Coffin and Returns From the Dead’

Source:Slate Magazine– Richard Cordray is President Barack Obama’s nominee to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Source:FRS FreeState

“So far, it seems like only Greg Sargent and HuffPost are noticing: Democrats are talking about filibuster reform again. The latest progress report comes in this story from Ryan Grim and Jennifer Bendery, who find Democratic senators newly frustrated by their failure to pass bills or confirm nominees, especially CFPB head Richard Cordray.

Reid indicated Tuesday that he would bring Cordray’s nomination to a vote in July, and a Senate Democratic aide said that vote will come at a time when Reid is ready to launch into a broader fight over all of Obama’s stalled nominees. The “plan is to wait until immigration is complete before engaging in total all-out nom[ination] fight,” said the aide.

What kind of fight are we talking about? It starts with Democrats claiming to hold 51 votes to end the filibuster on executive branch nominees, because Republicans are being unreasonable. Republicans have tried to blunt the attack by proving that, hey, they’re letting people through and you’re not noticing.

“This President is being treated exceptionally fairly,” said Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, on the floor this week. “The President has recently submitted a few new nominations. I know I have been reminding him that we can’t do anything about vacancies without him first sending up nominees. But again, even with the recent nominations, 58 of 82 nominations still have no nominee.”

Basically, Republicans need to lower the temperature and portray Democrats as unreasonable liars. “More executive branch appointments, confirmations, by and large – it’s been handled in a very bipartisan way,” said Mitch McConnell yesterday in his brief weekly on-camera press conference. This is one reason you saw so much harrumphing when Sen. Ted Cruz bragged to Texas conservatives that “squishes” sold him out on his filibuster of the motion to proceed to debate on guns. That fed into the public impression that Republicans were obstructionists – and, well, they are, for lots of good reasons, but it’s tough to sell when something popular is being obstructed.

So Republicans hype the nominees they let through, ask why Obama isn’t sending more nominees, and (as Daniel Foster pointed out in National Review) nominating conservatives for mandatory seats on bipartisan panels, whenever possible. They also express shock that Democrats would change the rules, or think about it.
“The majority leader said earlier this year that he would not change the rules in any extraordinary way, the nuclear option, in this Congress,” said McConnell on Tuesday. “I take him at his word. The assumption is that will not be done.”

From Slate Magazine

“Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) clearly explains how the republican minority was abusing senate rules at historic levels, leaving the democrats no choice but to change those rules and lower the number of votes needed from 60 to 51 to overcome obstructionist filibusters of presidential nominees.”

Source:TDC– U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (Democrat, Nevada)

From TDC

To be completely fair and to put everything out there and I do agree with probably everything that Majority Leader Harry Reid said in his speech, but Senate Democrats led first by Tom Daschle in 2003-04 and later Harry Reid when he was Senate Minority Leader from 2005-06, did the exact same thing that Senate Republicans led by Mitch McConnell are doing now, that Republicans are in the minority. They’re blocking nominees simply because they don’t like them, or are worried that Democrats will get a partisan advantage in the Federal court system. Which is exactly what Senate Democrats first led by Tom Daschle and later Harry Reid, did to then President George W. Bush, when Democrats were in the minority in the mid 2000s.

I think the only solution here is really clear and I also agree with Leader Reid on this as well. There should be no more filibusters on any executive or judicial nominee, that clears the committee with a majority vote. And in exchange, the minority party led by the Minority Leader can offer amendments to all the nominees that they disapprove of. Amendments like before this nominee is approve, the Senate needs answers to these questions or have these documents turned over first. But those amendments would just need majority approval as well. But at the end of the day, if the President and the Senate has a majority vote for the nominees, they should be approved.

Read Full Post »

Criterion Collection: Primary (1960) The Democratic Race For President

Source:Criterion Collection– John and Jacqueline Kennedy, perhaps in 1960.

Source:The Daily Press

“Later this month, we’re releasing The Kennedy Films of Robert Drew & Associates, a collection of landmark achievements in documentary filmmaking. The first in the set is Primary, which documents the 1960 presidential primary in Wisconsin and was shot on a camera engineered specifically by Drew and his team to allow for sync-sound recording, a feature that made the entire genre of cinema verité possible.

In one of the most famous shots in all of documentary history, Albert Maysles’s camera follows JFK into Milwaukee’s American Serb Hall (host tonight to a post-primary party for Republican candidate Ted Cruz). The scene documents the palpably intense level of adulation that Kennedy had already managed to attract, and which would carry him later that year to the highest office in the country.”

From the Criterion Collection 

How about this for a political promotion: Robert F. Kennedy goes from being a Congressional counsel and staffer in the Senate in the late 1950s, to not just running his brother’s presidential campaign in 1960 at the age for 34, but running the winning campaign that year as well.

Source:The Daily Press– John F. Kennedy’s brother Robert campaigning for his brother in 1960.

The 1960s elections especially the presidential election between Senator John Kennedy and Vice President Richard Nixon, were fascinating for several reasons. But it was a fascinating election season before Jack Kennedy and Dick Nixon won their party’s nomination for President. The Democratic primaries had two of the strongest leaders in the Democratic Party competing with each other for the Democratic nomination, in Senator Kennedy and Senator Hubert Humphrey.

The two Senators represented different factions of the Democratic Party and even different generations of the party. Even though they were both from the same generation officially. Hubert Humphrey represented the old guard, or what I call the Old-Left of the Democratic Party, the FDR coalition of Northern Progressives and Southern Conservatives who tended to work together on economic policy and foreign policy, but were different on civil rights obviously.

Senator Humphrey came out in favor of civil rights before it became popular to use as an example. And Senator Kennedy represented what I call the Reformed-Left, people who were called New Democrats in the 1980s, the true Liberal Democrats in the party. The JFK vs HHH Democratic primaries weren’t just about who would try to lead the Democratic Party in the next four years. But who would lead the country and which faction of the Democratic Party would lead the country in the next four years.

And I believe had Jack Kennedy not of been assassinated as President in 1963 and gotten reelected in 1964, the Vietnam War doesn’t happen at least as far as how the United States was involved in it. And that he would’ve realized how big of a mistake it would’ve been for America to try to win that war at least on our own. And what’s called the New-Left that came together in the 1960s because of the Vietnam War and the Great Society, against the war, but strongly in favor of the Great Society.

I don’t believe the New Left emerges that’s become Occupy Wall Street today. Because there wouldn’t of been a need for it and the old FDR/LBJ coalition would’ve stayed in place and the Democratic Party would look different today. Had Senator Humphrey defeated Senator Kennedy in 1960 and somehow gone on to defeat Vice President Nixon in the general election. The Democratic Party would look different today as well because again I don’t believe a President Humphrey would’ve gotten the United States as involved in the Vietnam War as it did.

And the New-Left or Occupy Wall Street isn’t in existence today, because again there wouldn’t of been a need for it. But the Reformed-Left or New Democratic Coalition doesn’t emerge either, or at least not as early as it did. Perhaps Senator Kennedy runs for President in 1968 and gets elected, but a lot of New Democrats of today that came from the Baby Boom Generation that looks up to Jack Kennedy and see him as our leader, I’m not a baby boomer I’m a Gen-Xer, but Jack Kennedy is a big political hero of mine. And I’m a New Democrat as well.

The JFK-HHH primaries was really about the sole or future of the Democratic Party and where we were going as a country. And what the Democratic Party was going to look like in the future. Which is why these primaries were so important and a big reason why people were so fascinated. Because JFK was new as a national leader and spoke differently and had different ideas and a different vision. As far as where he would take the country and Democratic Party. Against HHH who represented the old guard or Old-Left in the Democratic Party that were looking to expand the New Deal.

Read Full Post »

Theodore White: The Making of The President (1963)

Source:Amazon– from Theodore H. White.

Source:The Daily Press

“In the 1960s, writer Theodore H. White changed journalism forever by putting the campaign for the White House under a microscope. The first of his bestselling series on presidential elections, The Making of the President, 1960, earned a Pulitzer Prize and became a TV documentary that won four Emmys®, including program of the year. This collection brings together three television adaptations of White’s influential books for a full, in-depth account of presidential politics during the tumultuous 1960, 1964, and 1968 elections.

Produced by Oscar® nominee David L. Wolper (Roots), these programs feature White’s insightful scripts and rare film footage that reveal the winners and losers in unguarded, behind-the-scenes moments. All the backroom deals, convention-floor drama, and campaign strategy come alive again in three historic races: Kennedy-Nixon, Johnson-Goldwater, and Humphrey-Nixon-Wallace. From preprimary jockeying to the final vote tally, these spellbinding narratives dissect the inner workings of our democracy and trace the path to power.

Journalist and author Theodore H. White served as China bureau chief for Time and as correspondent and editor for The New Republic, The Reporter, and Colliers. He won numerous writing awards, including a Pulitzer Prize and two Emmys.”

From Amazon

“David L. Wolper’s documentary film “THE MAKING OF THE PRESIDENT 1960”, narrated by Martin Gabel, gives viewers a close-up look at the inner workings of the 1960 campaign for President of the United States, a hard-fought struggle which was won (just barely) by Massachusetts Senator John F. Kennedy.

The film made its debut on ABC-TV on December 29, 1963, just a month after JFK’s death.

Directed by Mel Stuart, who also helmed another very fine David Wolper-produced film about President Kennedy — 1964’s “Four Days In November.”

Source:David Von Pein– from Theodore White.

From David Von Pein

The 1960 United States presidential campaign was one of the best ever, because of who ran for President. The Democratic Party nominated the best person they had in Senator John Kennedy and the Republican Party nominated the best person they had in Vice President Richard Nixon. It was literally the best vs the best. Two men that represented the now and future of their party, who were the leaders of their party. It gave American voters a clear choice in who to select to be the next President and who to be the next President early in the Cold War with the Soviet Union.

The 1960 election gave people another choice as well:Do we want to continue to do what we were doing as a country, have the Federal Government stay the course and not make any big changes, or do we want to try a different path. Senator Kennedy tried and I believe was successful in making the argument that America was stagnating not moving and advancing as fast as it could. And that Vice President Nixon represented this conservative approach of not moving real fast, staying back and seeing how things develop. Where Vice President Nixon tried to make the argument that America wasn’t ready to chart a different course.

Dick Nixon didn’t want to chart a course with a somewhat young and inexperienced Senator that had never been an executive before. Thats the choice that America had for President in 1960. What Jack Kennedy represented for the country was a true vision of where he wanted to take the country and how we would get there. Making the argument that America was sitting still in the 1950s under President Eisenhower who was somewhat conservative. And that the country wasn’t advancing fast enough. And sitting still and even falling behind.

The recession of the late 1950s helped Senator Kennedy make the case that it’s time to move again. And Dick Nixon President Eisenhower’s loyal and influential Vice President represented the conservative wing of the Republican Party.

Vice President Nixon I believe didn’t do much to counter this Democratic argument or defend himself. But what he did instead was try to make this campaign about Jack Kennedy’s youth and inexperience. Even though they both came to Congress the same time in 1947 to the House and were friends there. And remained friends when Nixon became Vice President in 1953 and Kennedy was elected to the Senate the same year. And Nixon was only four years older and we’re in the same generation, both men were also Irish.

One difference between Jack Kennedy and Dick Nixon, was that Kennedy did offer the country a change of course, that would finish off what was created in the 1930s with the New Deal. But in a different way, focusing on health care, civil rights and tax cuts. Making the case the country was overtaxed.

I believe Nixon didn’t have what’s called the vision thing, at least in 1960. He developed that by 1968 when he was elected President. But 1960 for him was: “This is what’s been working, so let’s continue what we’ve done.”

Read Full Post »

So This is Washington: The Real Mitt Romney?

Source:So This is Washington– U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy (Democrat, Massachusetts) running for reelection in 1994.

Source:The Daily Press

“Footage from the Romney/Kennedy Debate, October 1994” 

From So This is Washington 

“Mitt Romney Is A Democrat In Republican’s Clothing.” 

Source:Berkus Baby– Mitt Romney (Republican, Massachusetts) running for U.S. Senate against Senator Ted Kennedy (Democrat, Massachusetts) in 1994.

From Berkus Baby 

Who is Mitt Romney? Which is a question I would like to know the answer too and 18 years later since he started running for office in 1994, I still don’t know the answer too. I think we know who is father was, George Romney who was a Progressive Republican from Michigan and Governor of that state. But his son I think the best answer to that question is he’s whoever he thinks he needs to be at any given time depending on what public office he’s running and what jurisdiction he’s running in.

In 1994 Mitt was a Progressive Northeastern Republican, which is different from being a Progressive Democrat.

In 2002 Mitt when he ran for Governor, I think was still that Progressive Republican, but took harder right-wing stances on social issues like abortion and same-sex marriage, because he wanted to run for President in 2008 as a Republican.

In 2012 Mitt sounds like a Neoconservative on foreign policy, national security, and homeland security, and a Tea Party Republican on economic policy, except for trade, because again he wants to be President as a Republican.

It’s that old pop culture cliche will the real Mitt Romney stand up. (Actually, I just invented that myself) The problem with that is there might not be a real Mitt Romney, at least not one Mitt Romney when it comes to politics. And he might not know who he is ideologically either.

Read Full Post »

David Rosman: U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy and Reverend Jerry Falwell- Liberty Baptist College (1983)

Source:David Rosman– U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy (Democrat, Massachusetts) being introduced at Liberty University.

Source:FRS FreeState

“On October 4, 1983, Rev. Jerry Falwell introduced Sen. Edward Kennedy, who gave one of his most famous and praised speeches on Faith, Truth and Tolerance in America.”

From David Rosman

“Sen. Ted Kennedy speaks at Liberty Baptist College on Oct. 4, 1983 as Chancellor Jerry Falwell, Sr. watches on the right. (Photos by Les Schofer)

Liberty University Chancellor Jerry Falwell, Jr. said the Liberty University community will be remembering the Kennedy family in prayer.

Sen. Ted Kennedy, a friend of Liberty University’s founder, the late Dr. Jerry Falwell, and his family, died late Tuesday at his home in Hyannis Port, Mass., after a long battle with brain cancer.

Kennedy, 77, had spoken at Liberty and conversed with Falwell, Sr. on many occasions.

Jerry Falwell, Jr. wrote about Kennedy’s relationship with his father in the July/August “Liberty Journal.” An excerpt is below.”

Source:Liberty University– U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy (Democrat, Massachusetts) and Reverend Jerry Falwell, in 1983.

From Liberty University

Senator Ted Kennedy, would be one of the few Northeastern Progressive Democrats that could give a speech at a Southern Evangelical university like Liberty University. Because Senator Kennedy was someone who could work outside of his element. Especially when he didn’t have enough power to get everything he wanted on an issue.

Ted Kennedy was a legislature before he was a politician. Which is why you see Senator Kennedy on the same stage not debating with Reverend Jerry Falwell (one of the fathers of the Religious-Right in America) and they make about as odd of a couple as Reverend Jesse Jackson giving a speech at a KKK rally. Something just seems odd about it.

But you have to remember that two of Senator Kennedy’s best friends in Congress were Senator Orrin Hatch and John Boehner. (Now Speaker of the House) Two of the most Conservative Republicans in Congress. But Senator Kennedy was one of the best speakers when it came to truth and tolerance and civil rights in America.

You don’t have the legislative record in Congress as a Senator, without the ability to not only work with your colleagues in the Senate and people in your party, but you also have to not only be able to work with Senator’s from the other party, but people in the House of Representatives as well. At least in your own party if your party is in the majority there. Ted Kennedy, understood all of that.

Perhaps not as articulate as Lyndon Johnson, Martin King or Bill Clinton, but you knew when Ted Kennedy spoke about those issues, that he was speaking from his heart that these were issues that really believed in. Which is why Senator Kennedy always had one of the best civil rights records in Congress.

And Senator Kennedy’s contribution to the immigration reform debate in 2006-07, is a perfect example of that. Truth and tolerance and civil rights, are just as important as they were in 1983 84 when this speech was given, as it is today. To speak what’s on your mind and tell the truth and what you really believe.

Tolerance and cooperation, is something we didn’t have enough in politics and the rest of the country back then. But at least in the 1980s both parties believed in government and governing. And we’re smart enough to know they had to work with the other party in order to govern.

Now it’s about how do you make the other side look bad so you can score politically. And that has just gotten worst today. Tolerance, treat people as you would want to be treated. Until they’ve proven they’re not worthy of your respect. And judge people by the content of the character, not by the color of their skin. Or the shape of their face or style of their hair or any other thing that has to do with their race or ethnicity.

Don’t judge people by their name, or what religion they practice (if any) what gender they are attracted to physically and so on. That we treat people as people not groups. We don’t treat people special because they are a member of a group, good or bad. That we judge all people as people not members of groups.

Which is something that Senator Kennedy understood very well for the most part. And is something that as we become even more diverse as a country is a message that needs to be understood and communicated even more today. Seeing Ted Kennedy with Jerry Falwell on the same stage not debating each other and actually being nice to each other.

Ted Kennedy and Jerry Falwell, were the definition of Odd Couple. Perhaps they could’ve had their own sitcom. Like the Irish Baptist, or Out of Place or something like that, Strange Bedfellows. Except they would both be straight. Jerry Falwell getting on Ted Kennedy for falling off bar stools and Ted Kennedy getting on the Reverend for preaching to the choir in their living room, literally as he’s trying to sleep. An Odd Couple that could get along.

But even people who are clearly opponents when it comes to politics and have to defeat other side to accomplish their goals, can get along with each other. If they understand that they are opponents and not enemies that are always in combat seeking to destroy the other side.

Read Full Post »

Frozen Feet Films: Fritz- The Walter Mondale Story

Source:Amazon– About the life and career of former U.S. Senator and Vice President of the United States, Walter Mondale.

Source:FRS FreeState

“Fritz tells the story of the life and legacy of former Vice President Walter “Fritz” Mondale and his efforts to inspire a new generation to consider a life of public service. Featuring rare archival footage, family home videos, and interviews with President Carter, Vice President Al Gore, Geraldine Ferraro, Minnesota Governor Arne Carlson, friends and family reveal a man who never wavered in his commitment to civil and human rights. Throughout his accomplished career – attorney general, senator, vice president, presidential candidate, ambassador, and teacher – Mr. Mondale has remained true to his small town roots, dedicated to helping others.”

From Amazon

Walter Mondale to me is someone who was ahead of his time, the way all Vice Presidents since are judged. Because he was the first Vice President with real authority or at least the first since Richard Nixon. But Vice President Mondale designed how the Vice Presidents Office looks today, serving as the President’s Chief Counsel on policy and perhaps even politics as well. As well as basically the Chief Operating Officer of the Administration. Something he, Vice President Bush, Vice President Gore, Vice President Cheney and Vice President Biden all have done well.

Pre-Walter Mondale except maybe for Vice President Nixon, the Office of the Vice President was basically ceremonial. Counting the days to when their term was over or when it’s time to campaign again or they would preside over the U.S. Senate. When Congress was in session, it wasn’t a very important office.

Today the Vice Presidency is important. When instead of the Vice President presiding over the Senate, they are basically the President’s Chief Representative to Congress. As well as their other duties at the White House. And Vice President Mondale made that office definite.

Then Senator Walter Mondale worked out an agreement with Jimmy Carter when they ran together in 1976, that if he was to be Carter’s Vice President, that he would have to have real responsibility in that office. The Vice President under the U.S. Constitution, is the first officer in the Federal Government. Only the President out ranks him. And that’s how it was in the Cater Administration, except it was no longer just on paper, but in practice as well and I believe that job and office of the modern Vice Presidency, is a major part of Walter Mondale’s legacy.

Read Full Post »

Democratic Media: ‘1960 DNC: John F. Kennedy Teams Up With Rival Lyndon B. Johnson’

Source:Democratic Media– U.S. Senator John F. Kennedy (Democrat, Massachusetts) accepting the 1960 Democratic Party nomination for President, in Los Angeles, California.

Source:FRS FreeState

“JFK’s choice of LBJ helps to deliver Texas and shows running mates can help win elections.”

From Democratic Media

This is obviously a photo of then Senator John F. Kennedy (Democrat, Massachusetts) and Senate Majority Leader Lyndon B. Johnson (Democrat, Texas) running for President and Vice President together in 1960, after Senator Kennedy nominated Leader Johnson to be his running mate at the 1960 Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles, California.

Source:Heritage Auctions– JFK and LBJ teaming up in 1960.

1960 was the last presidential election where a Vice Presidential nomination was the difference in who was elected President. Because Jack Kennedy already had the votes of the Liberal and Progressive Democrats. Especially in the North who could care less about Senator Kennedy being an Irish-Catholic, Northeastern Liberal from Massachusetts.

But because of those factors Southern Democrats (who are Conservative Republicans today) weren’t convinced that Jack Kennedy was acceptable enough to be President of the United States. Which is why Lyndon Johnson who was also the Leader of the Senate at the time, was so critical to this ticket, because he was a Southern Democrat at least regionally.

With the Kennedy-Johnson ticket, this meant Democrats could win both the Northeast and South, as well as California. Because Kennedy could work the liberal states and Johnson could work the Southern states. Because the Northeast was probably going to vote for Kennedy anyway, but with Johnson on the ticket, Johnson could convince Southern Democrats that an Irish-Catholic, Northeastern Liberal was acceptable enough to be President of the United States. And Senator Kennedy’s speech to Southern Baptists in 1960 in Houston where he came out for being in favor of Separation of Church and State and that he wouldn’t take orders from the Pope in policy and decision-making.

In some ways Democrats in 1960 had a dream ticket, with the future of the Democratic Party. A real superstar in the best sense of the word, not a flash in the pan running with the most powerful Democrat in the country. Someone who was more than qualified to be President of the United States 1960.

This is not the last or first presidential election where the Vice Presidential nominee was important. It was also important in 1952 with Richard Nixon, 1976 with Walter Mondale, 1980 with George Bush, 1992 with Al Gore, 2000 with Dick Cheney, 2008 with Joe Biden. But 1960 was the last one where the VP nominee was able to deliver votes and states for the ticket.

Read Full Post »