Talk Elections

I'm interested in hearing your responses.

I really believe having Governor Nelson Rockefeller of New York as his Vice Presidential runningmate could have pushed Nixon over the top.

Rockefeller was not interested in the VP position, however.

Why not? I think being a VP gave you more influence than being NY governor, even back then. Also, do you have any other ideas about what Nixon should have done differently?

President Al Gore -

You may as well find the following forum discussion from 2006 interesting, regarding the 1960 Presidential election.

https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=41204.0

Theodore H. White believes had Nixon decided to go with the the more advanced civil rights plank instead of the more moderate plank on civil rights, could have won Nixon the election.

Rockefeller supported the more advanced civil rights plank.

So possibly, with the more advanced civil rights plank, and with Rockefeller as his running mate, Nixon could have won.

I think Nixon shouldn't have made his pledge to campaign in fifty states, since that led to him having to campaign in states he had no chance of winning or states that wouldn't matter.

My view is that Rockefeller did not fully support the 1960 Republican platform, in particular their failure to adopt the advanced civil rights plank which he supported, as I have discussed in another post in this thread.

As well, Rockefeller is credited with saying that he was not made of standby equipment, meaning he had no interest in the Vice Presidency.

He did accept the Vice Presidency, of course, under Ford, however, this was near the end of his career.

Yes, you are absolutely correct. 

This is another very serious error in the 1960 Nixon campaign.

Because of this pledge, Nixon was campaigning in the latter stages of the campaign in such states as Alaska, already safe for him, while Kennedy was campaigning in places like New York and Pennsylvania.

In the final analysis, however, don't forget Kennedy got 303 EV to 219 for Nixon.  It would have been extremely difficult, if not impossible, for Nixon to have made up an additional 50 EV in order to win the election.

Rockefeller could have helped.
Advanced civil rights plank could have helped.
Not campaigning in all 50 states could have helped.

But 50 EV is a lot to make up. 

Welcome to the forum.

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Thanks guys!

Does anyone think that Nixon should have talked more about Eisenhower's economic record, used Ike more extensively (I know Ike had some heart problems but Nixon could have at least made some commercials with Ike), and attacked JFK more aggresively, especially for being an elitist (Nixon could have said that JFK did not experience the same economic difficulties that he and most Americans experienced, and thus is an out-of-touch elitist)? Also, do you think margaret Chase Smith would have been a good VP pick for Nixon? Sure sexism was much more widespread, but Nixon could have probably gotten an appreciably larger share of the female vote.

Nixon should have done more. His campaign was focused too much on Foreign policy. That was not the number one issue that year.

That's what helped Kennedy, he tapped into the Public's issues and worries with his persona.

Nixon should have known better than too focus on one issue, he should have chosen a smart campaigner his VP. Gerald Fold, or Rockefeller would have been great

Agreed.

Also, Nixon should've done a radio-only debate. Those who listened to it on the radio thought Nixon won, but those who watched it on TV thought JFK won.

These two. Also, Eisenhower was still a very popular President in 1960, and Nixon should have gotten him to start campaigning for him a lot sooner, and, of course, not make the "Come Back to me in a week" gaffe.

Eisenhower had heart problems in 1960, so I'm not sure how much more he would have been able to campaign. Still, Nixon should have made many ads starring Ike and also made an ad where Ike said that he was joking about that "Come back to me in a week" comment and then list all of Nixon's accomplishments as Vice President. Ike said that he was joking about that comment later, so Nixon should have made an ad about it.

Agreed. :) If Nixon had to do a TV debate, he should have shaved and worn some makeup. Also, he should have not injured his leg on the campaign trail (or at the very least, he should have taken a break from campaigning right after he came out of the hospital), since this led to him looking uncomfortable and sickly during the debate.

Also, I think that Nixon should have spent more time in swing states like Illinois, Missouri, Texas, and New Jersey, since those were close states within his reach. Had he not made the 50 states pledge he probably would have won them, or at the very least, he would have stood a greater shot. Had he carried all of those states, he would have won (but he would have won with just Illinois and Texas or Illinois, New Jersey, and Missouri).  

I agree that Nixon should have agreed to a radio-only debate and that he should have campaigned more in large swing states. However, Nixon injuring his leg was kinda out of his control, and I read that he didn't wear makeup because he saw how the media criticized Hubert Humphrey (I think) for wearing makeup during one of his debates with JFK (for the Democratic nomination). Also, i think Nixon should have been much more aggressive with Kennedy in the debates, since I think many people (and the media) criticized him for always agreeing with Kennedy while Kennedy criticized Eisenhower.

Actually, if he hadn't been in friggin' North Carolina, it probably wouldn't have happened.

he was way too librul. almost as much as that commie kennedy.

Will you stop trolling, obamaisdabest?

will you stop trolling, libertas?

Lots of good points already made.  
- His knee infection kept him off the news early on while Kennedy became the media darling.  
- He declined to use Ike extensively, deciding it was improper to risk the President's health with extensive campaining.  I did, however, see Ike make an appearance at a huge rally in Nassau Co, NY in mid-Oct 1960.  Rockefeller and Lodge were also there.
- His pledge to campaign in all 50 states was timed poorly.  Being in Alaska as the campaign ended while Kennedy had huge rallies in eastern states was just plain dumb.  Never would happen today.  And his knee infection likely delayed the Alaska trip to the very end.
- His choice of Lodge probably hurt more than helped.  No way were they going to carry Massachusetts.  Perhaps Sen Clifford Case of NJ would have swung that state to Nixon.

Making up 50 EVs hard to do?  In this election not at all!http://members.cox.net/rbt48/weather/Presidential_Elections/1960%20election%20spreadsheet.pdf (http://members.cox.net/rbt48/weather/Presidential_Elections/1960%20election%20spreadsheet.pdf)  Toss in IL (change 5,000 votes) for 27 EVs, MO (chage another 5,000 votes) for 13 EVs, and NJ (change another 12,000 votes) for 16 EVs and you are there.  Or skip NJ and MO and, instead, change 24,000 votes in TX for another 24 EVs and you get Nixon to 270.  So for a change of less than 22,000 popular votes and Nixon wins the election.

Yes, but everything has to go just right in several states.

Do you think IL and TX were rigged for JFK?

It can never be proven conclusively that Illinois and Texas were rigged, however, there is plenty of evidence that with the Daley machine in Cook County and the Johnson influence in Texas, that this could have pushed Kennedy over the top in both states, through fraudulent means.

But like I say, this cannot be proven beyond doubt here in 2010.

I don't know if we can prove that they were rigged to the point where Nixon would have won without the rigging, but it's a fact that in Fannin County, TX, more people voted then that were registered (Fannin went to JFK) and that in Angelina County the vote tally was 147 for Kennedy but 24 for Nixon when only 86 people lived there. Also Earl Mazo, a reporter for the New York Herald Tribune, found out that a bunch of Kennedy voters in Illinois were actually dead and another bunch somehow all lived in a demolished and decrepit house in Illinois. Do we know whether those votes would have carried Nixon? I don't think we can ever find out. But it's safe to assume that there was some rigging in both IL and TX.

One thing I'm wondering is if there was any vote fraud on Nixon's side? 

It was an accident. Those kinds of things could happen to anybody. I'm sure Nixon was pretty careful.