Home > “Break a Leg” > The People > Kennedy vs. Nixon

The race between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon was the stuff of political legend. It was one of the most suspenseful– and closest– Presidential elections in history. It was especially dramatic in Southern California, where it pitted a candidate with deep Hollywood roots against a local favorite son.

Kennedy’s father Joseph had been a Hollywood icon: he had founded R.K.O. Studios, and he’d had a years-long affair with actress Gloria Swanson. Kennedy’s own honeymoon had been in Beverly Hills, at the estate of actress Marion Davies. His sister Patricia had also gone into the movie business: she had settled in Santa Monica, married actor Peter Lawford, and become close friends with Judy Garland.

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Vice President Richard Nixon was famously uptight, although he did try to loosen up his image. He is pictured here greeting costumed characters at Disneyland.
Photo credit: © UCLA Library/L.A. Times Photographic Archive
Nixon, meanwhile, had staked out the L.A. area as his political home base. Nixon had been born in Yorba Linda, and he had grown up mostly in Whittier. He had twice been elected to Congress from California’s 12th District, then won a statewide race for the Senate. After that, he had carried the state twice as Dwight Eisenhower’s Vice President. He had delivered his most famous speech, the so-called Checkers speech, in Hollywood. He was the first born-and-bred Californian to reach this kind of national stature.

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Senator John F. Kennedy, pictured here on “The Tonight Show”, pioneered the use of T.V. for political advantage.
Photo credit: ABC Television
It just so happened that the Democratic National Convention was in L.A. that year. The Biltmore Hotel was its base of operations, so it was where Kennedy offered the V.P. spot to Lyndon Johnson. Kennedy officially won the nomination at the Sports Arena, and he gave his acceptance speech at the adjacent Coliseum.

In those days, California was a key swing state, so both candidates gave it a lot of attention as they hustled for votes. They famously debated on television, which had never been done before. These debates were so popular that they became a tradition.

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Kennedy and Nixon before their first debate.
Photo credit: Associated Press
On Election Day, Kennedy watched the returns come in from Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, while Nixon watched from L.A.’s Ambassador Hotel. Kennedy ended up winning L.A. County by barely half a percent. Nixon carried the overall state by roughly the same margin. Of course, the tally that really mattered was the nationwide result: Kennedy won the electoral vote 303 to 219, although he won the popular vote by less than two-tenths of a percent.

Kennedy was accused of “dirty tricks” in Texas and Illinois, which theoretically could have swung the election. Even so, Nixon agreed not to dispute the results, so Kennedy became the 35th President of the United States. Ironically, Nixon would later win the White House in 1968, only to be done in by his own “dirty tricks” a few years later; but that is a whole other topic for another time….

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