mr. beat presents presidential elections in American history the 44th presidential election in American history took place on November 8th 1960 it was the first election in which Alaska and Hawaii could both participate white eisenhower had a pretty good run but he was the first president officially not allowed to seek a third term his vice president for eight years Richard Nixon now enthusiastically sought the presidency several Republicans however supported Nelson Rockefeller the governor of New York and the member of the wealthy Rockefeller family Rockefeller was the leader of the liberal / moderate wing of the Republican Party after Rockefeller decided to drop out of the race Nixon easily won the Republican nomination but he was a little worried he didn't have the Rockefeller Republicans on his side so he met with Rockefeller to make sure that they were on the same page on many issues by doing this Nixon sort of officially became a big government Republican you could say Henry Cabot Lodge jr. the US ambassador to the United Nations was Nixon's running mate Lodge was a familiar name as he was the grandson of Senator Henry Cabot Lodge and also had a bunch of other ancestors who were involved with national politics the Democrats knew they had to nominate someone exciting to get back to the White House many Democrats were interested most of them were new to the national scene but most were just not that exciting Pat Brown the Governor of California one of the nomination but wasn't that exciting Stuart Symington a senator from Missouri wanted it and was a bit more exciting then there was a de leeuw Stevenson who had lost the last two presidential elections me not exciting Wayne Morse a senator from Oregon better Lyndon Johnson the Senate Majority Leader even better Hubert Humphrey a senator from Minnesota yeah kind of got people fired up but really there was just one man that energized the Democratic Party far more than any other John Kennedy and despite some harsh criticism that he was too young to be Prez he was just 43 after all the Democratic Party went with him anyway even though Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson had their disagreements Kennedy helped unite the party behind him by asking Johnson to be his running mate and Johnson accepted so it was Nixon vs. Kennedy both of them drew huge enthusiastic crowds everywhere they went Nixon promised a campaign in all 50 states even Alaska and Hawaii he probably later regretted that promise however after he hurt his knee on a car door and the knee got severely infected after he recovered two weeks later he stayed true to his pledge but some historians say he was an idiot for doing so as he likely just wasted valuable time visiting states he had no chance of winning anyway Lyndon Johnson greatly helped Kennedy by aggressively campaigning for him in the south it was actually quite a smart move for Kennedy to choose him as a running mate still several Americans criticized Kennedy for his youth and just like with Al Smith in 1928 there were plenty of Protestants who didn't want Kennedy a Roman Catholic as president because of his religion since the economy was strong Kennedy and Nixon often attack each other on foreign policy believe it or not this was the first time live presidential debates were held in the general election there were four of them and they were all on television so it was a pretty big deal for the first debate most people who listen to it on the radio agreed that Nixon won however for those who saw it on TV most agreed that Kennedy won why many say that Nixon looked uncomfortable in weeks he kept sweating and was still recovering from his recent knee injury he was tired from campaigning all day and hadn't worn any makeup so his beard stubble showed up the viewers at home meanwhile Kennedy looked rested tan and confident during the debate it's pretty crazy how many agree that appearing on television literally changed the outcome of this election however going into election day it was difficult to tell who would win everyone knew it would be close and therefore this election became one of the most suspenseful and dramatic in American history and here are the results in a squeaker John Kennedy won becoming the 35th president in American history it was the closest presidential election since 1916 how close well in Nixon's home state of California Kennedy appeared to win by 37 thousand votes however after absentee ballots were counted a week later Nixon came back to win the state by 36,000 votes as with many close elections the losing side accused the winning side of voting fraud especially in Illinois and Texas where it was especially close if Nixon would have won those two states he would have won the election when it was all said and done Kennedy received 303 electoral votes in Nixon received 219 electoral votes 14 unpledged Democratic electors won election from voters in Mississippi and Alabama in other words these were protest votes against Kennedy for his support of the civil rights movement instead they cast their votes for Harry Byrd a senator from Virginia Byrd also got another electoral vote in Oklahoma from an elector who broke his promise that he'd vote for Nixon all this didn't matter though as these electors didn't change the outcome of the election the popular vote was obviously much closer Kennedy got 49.7% and Nixon got 49.6% 112 thousand eight hundred and twenty seven votes separated the two Lyndon Johnson became the 37th vice president in American history at 43 years old Kennedy became the youngest person ever elected president I'll see you for the next presidential election but a yeah