The Kennedy Political Machine (1956-1960) (S1, E4) — Kennedy — Full Episode

[0:00] Previously on Kennedy... [0:03] Kennedy, won't you tell us something about your campaign [0:05] for a stronger Massachusetts? [0:08] Massachusetts is either directly or indirectly affected [0:11] by everything we do or do not do. [0:14] He'd climb one rung of the ladder, [0:16] then he'd start looking to the next one. [0:18] The presidential election of 1956 [0:21] would be an important opportunity for Kennedy [0:24] to gain momentum on his political journey. [0:27] He spotted a potential opening for himself, [0:30] so Kennedy thought he could butter up Adlai Stevenson [0:35] and be chosen as an ideal running mate. [0:38] He campaigns vigorously for Adlai Stevenson. [0:42] He would soon know if his efforts had been enough [0:45] to claim the vice presidential nomination. [0:49] To lead us to a fruitful America [0:52] from the state of Massachusetts, John F. Kennedy! [0:58] John F. Kennedy lived a life [0:59] that would help define an entire generation. [1:04] Together we shall save our planet, [1:06] or together we shall perish in its flames. [1:09] What was it about that guy? [1:12] Looks, style, empathy. [1:15] He was incredibly charming. [1:17] Intellectual and progressive. [1:20] He was the future. He was next. [1:23] President, for just over a thousand days, [1:26] Kennedy navigated events and crises that changed the world. [1:31] Kennedy is feeling the pressure from civil rights activists. [1:33] This was a country on nuclear war footing. [1:37] This could be the last mistake that anybody makes politically. [1:41] He changed us in the process of his own growth. [1:46] We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, [1:51] not because they are easy, but because they are hard. [1:55] 60 years after his assassination, we are still fascinated by the triumphs [2:02] and flaws of the youngest president ever elected. [2:05] I ask you to join us in all the tomorrows yet to come, [2:10] in building America, moving America, [2:13] taking this country of ours up, and sending it into the 60s. [2:33] August 1956. [2:38] It was off to Chicago for the 1956 Democratic National Convention. [2:44] These are taking place in the televised age by the 1950s and 60s, [2:48] and part of what parties are trying to do is tell Americans [2:53] what kinds of issues do they stand for, [2:55] who are some of our most exciting figures, [2:58] who are the voices of the future. [3:00] That's where Kennedy fits in in 1956. [3:03] When Kennedy arrived, he denied allegations [3:06] that he sought the vice presidential nomination. [3:09] Playing games, clearly he was better prepared than anybody. [3:14] That was really his first gambit, [3:17] was to seize control of the state Democratic apparatus, which he did. [3:23] Secretly, his team had prepared for months, [3:27] working to support Stevenson and boost Kennedy's chance [3:30] to be chosen as his running mate. [3:34] However, Stevenson decided not to choose at all. [3:37] I have decided that the selection of the vice presidential nominee [3:42] should be made through the free processes of this convention. [3:45] Stevenson decided he would allow state delegates to choose the nominee, [3:52] meaning each vice presidential candidate would have to scramble [3:56] for the next 24 hours trying to collect the most votes. [3:59] Kennedy decided to chase the nomination, rushing to pull a team together. [4:07] Kennedy, his family members, Sorenson, and the larger Kennedy machine went into motion. [4:14] It was a frenzied, messy, nonstop political free-for-all. [4:18] It's fascinating. We're still in the era of backroom politics, with smoky backrooms, you know. [4:26] This is not an era as we live in now where it's all decided before that convention starts. [4:31] I mean, you know, was Kefaufer gonna be named? Or was Kennedy gonna be named? [4:35] Kennedy's team raced around the convention, trying to secure as many delegates as possible [4:43] to win the vice presidential nomination. [4:45] The hotel room turned campaign headquarters was suddenly bursting with activity. [4:53] Bobby Kennedy took on a key campaign role, attempting to personally persuade delegates [4:59] to vote for his brother and scolding them if they didn't. [5:04] During that frantic 24 hours, Kennedy's father, Joe, called campaign headquarters. [5:10] Bobby answered the phone. The room froze and stared at Bobby, [5:15] observing his alarmed reaction to what he heard on the other end of the line. [5:22] Joe was incensed that his son had decided to run for the vice presidential nomination, [5:28] certain that a defeat would destroy Jack's political future. [5:32] You can imagine, you know, probably a good bit of profanity, [5:37] telling him how dumb they were to do it. [5:40] Joe insisted that Kennedy back down. Jack refused. [5:45] As the results were tallied, Kennedy seemed to be in the lead. [5:50] So yeah, I watched it, and I'm begging them to pick John F. Kennedy. [5:58] Campaign headquarters waited in joyful anticipation, [6:01] but suddenly there was a roadblock. [6:04] The votes began to swing in favor of Tennessee Senator Estes Kefauver. [6:10] Before long, two candidates, Senator Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota [6:14] and Albert Gore of Tennessee, receded from the race. [6:19] As the final votes came in, the Kennedy camp knew it was not in his favor. [6:24] In the end, Kefauver won the nomination for vice president. [6:32] The Democratic Party will vote from this convention far stronger for what we have done here today. [6:40] Kennedy returned home empty-handed after losing the vice presidential nomination, [6:45] but he had won a major victory. [6:48] After appearing on TV numerous times and proving himself a charming, youthful, [6:53] and hardworking presence at the convention, Kennedy had a surge in popularity. [6:59] I want to take this opportunity first to express my appreciation. [7:04] He has used this to get his name out there. [7:08] He's used this to make deals, to make friends, to try to add to his organization. [7:13] Following Stevenson's defeat and Eisenhower's re-election, [7:19] the Kennedy family gathered at Hyannisport for Thanksgiving in 1956. [7:25] Kennedy and his father Joe are huddled in a small study discussing the future. [7:32] After Kennedy's surge in popularity at the Democratic National Convention, [7:36] questions arose about a presidential run. [7:40] Kennedy listed every reason why he believed running for president was a bad idea. [7:46] His father countered each point one by one. [7:51] The two went back and forth until the conversation reached a stalemate. [7:58] Finally, Kennedy uttered four words that would unwittingly change the course of his life. [8:04] Where do we begin? [8:11] Somebody once asked him, why do you want to run for president? [8:15] And his answer, that's where the action is. [8:18] He wanted to be where the action was. [8:20] The Kennedy presidential campaign started very early, before any other candidate. [8:29] Money could buy advertisements, but time was a luxury that could not be purchased. [8:35] Ted Sorensen said one hour of work in 1957 was the equivalent to two hours of work in 1958. [8:44] And in those days, Kennedy was not traveling with a great entourage. [8:48] It was basically Ted, who would keep track of the speeches. [8:52] He would attend and listen carefully to every speech. [8:55] What worked, who didn't, what could be more clear. [9:00] They analyzed the political situation. [9:02] What were the key states? [9:05] And that's where they started. [9:08] In 1957, Kennedy participated in more than 140 campaign events, [9:14] building momentum for his presidential run, as well as his upcoming Senate re-election race in 1958. [9:21] The number of days on the road in 57, 58, 59, there's a famous story about Lyndon Johnson [9:30] looking up one day in the Senate in 57 or 58 and saying something like, where's Kennedy? [9:36] I never see him around. [9:38] He spent a great deal of time drumming up support from and forming relationships with journalists, [9:46] taking advantage of each press inquiry. [9:49] There was a tremendous amount of exposure in the national mass circulation press, [9:57] Time magazine, life. [9:59] Kennedy created a campaign division solely to monitor public opinion and collect data. [10:06] They're writing down the name and the address of every single person that he's met, [10:12] putting it on an index card. By 1960, they have maybe 10,000 index cards. [10:20] It gave a personal touch to it so that the audience felt recognized and appreciated. [10:28] Eventually, they built a deep file of political contacts, friends and supporters. [10:35] Nobody had ever campaigned like that before. [10:37] With the 1958 Senate election swiftly approaching, [10:43] Kennedy's months of effort on the campaign trail were paying off. [10:48] The impression that stays with me is that what started as a rather small effort began to grow [10:54] and to grow and to grow. And at first, the audience might be 100 people, then it was 500, [11:03] and it was 1,000, then it was a full auditorium and people outside. They just got this positive response [11:12] that encouraged them to carry on. [11:16] In 1958, Kennedy won Senate re-election by the largest margin in Massachusetts history. [11:30] After the victory, Kennedy knew his sole focus had to be the presidential race. [11:37] Although he had not yet announced his candidacy, Kennedy secretly campaigned with an eye [11:42] towards the national audience, building towards the 1960 election. [11:47] You're saying the center of action is the precise term of the presidency. [11:52] Now, if you're interested, which many, many people are, not just me, [11:57] the presidency is the place to be in the sense of when you get anything done. [12:03] To enhance his image as a serious politician, Kennedy and Sorensen made it a goal to release [12:09] an assortment of scholarly articles and pamphlets expressing Kennedy's politics, ideas, and observations. [12:17] In public, Kennedy spoke about topics like health care, public school funding, and foreign policy concerns. [12:25] He was a mainstream Democrat who believed in the Cold War. He believed in the welfare state at home. [12:34] So he was anti-communist in his foreign policy in a very firm way. [12:38] He was sort of a Roosevelt disciple in terms of domestic policy in this country. [12:45] He's talking about get America moving again so we can compete against the Soviet Union. [12:53] The Cold War is what dominates the 1960 election, almost completely. [13:01] Kennedy developed a way of looking at America that was fresh, that the country was a little bit [13:08] stuck, that it needed a new push, that it needed some goals that might excite people and stimulate effort. [13:19] To win the presidency, Kennedy would have to be nominated at the Democratic National Convention in 1960. [13:27] To get the nomination, he would need to persuade at least 761 delegates from around the country to support him. [13:34] In the months leading up to the convention, Kennedy trekked across the country, meeting with state leaders and influential politicians. [13:43] He was everywhere. The more people saw of him, the better he did. [13:51] Nobody had ever worked like that as a presidential candidate. [13:56] In 1959, Joe Kennedy purchased an American Airlines aircraft, fitted it with a new interior, and donated it to his son's presidential campaign. [14:10] That plane, called Caroline, was the first private aircraft ever used by a presidential candidate. [14:18] It was a sizable tribute to the newest Kennedy family member. [14:23] I think of all the things his father did for him, having that plane was a big deal, because I think it increased his mobility, particularly in 59. [14:35] During the campaign, the airplane logged more than 100,000 miles. [14:41] Ted Sorensen called the Kennedy campaign a highly organized army ready for battle. [14:47] I am today announcing my candidacy for the presidency of the United States. [14:56] Senator Kennedy, if you don't win the presidential nomination, will you accept the vice presidency? [15:01] I shall not, under any conditions, be a candidate for vice president. [15:05] If I fail in this endeavor, I shall return and serve in the United States Senate. [15:10] To win the presidential nomination, Kennedy needed delegates. [15:16] He set his eyes on state primaries, a series of daunting obstacles he would have to overcome. [15:23] His major Democratic rival, Lyndon Johnson, opted to sit them all out, feeling that his influence [15:30] and years spent in Congress would be enough to earn the nomination at the convention. [15:36] However, Kennedy believed winning at the primaries would carry him into the convention with momentum. [15:43] In March of 1960, Kennedy dove into his first primary in New Hampshire and won handily. [15:50] You know, because it's neighboring to Massachusetts, it wasn't considered a breakthrough on his part. [15:57] Next comes Wisconsin. [15:58] Kennedy gave unprecedented access to documentarian Robert Drew and his crew [16:05] to follow him as he campaigned in the Wisconsin primary. [16:09] You're essentially running against Hubert Humphrey, who's, you know, [16:13] trying to do a low-funded campaign, but high energy. [16:17] And Wisconsin, of course, is neighboring to his own Minnesota. [16:21] So he's, he's putting his all into that campaign. [16:25] He wasn't nearly as good on the campaign trail as Kennedy. [16:29] Listen now, anybody I didn't get, because I guess we're late, yeah, who's it there? [16:43] If you would write me at the Senate, [16:45] I'll send you a picture and an autograph and something about the Capitol. [16:49] Who's it there? [16:50] Who's it there? [16:52] Now just write me, Senator Kennedy, the Senate, Washington, D.C. [16:55] There, that, you know, the eyes just look together, that's fine. [17:04] He was really good-looking. That helps. [17:08] Kennedy's physical attractiveness was huge. [17:11] He looked great, particularly when he was feeling well, [17:14] and he always seemed to have a suntan. [17:16] You know, he had that kind of bon vivant quality. [17:22] Men want to be him, women want to have him. There's something to that. [17:26] It became a kind of running joke among many of the reporters covering him [17:32] about the women who would flock to see him like they would flock to see Elvis Presley or [17:39] some kind of movie star celebrity. And he made his youth into an attractive quality [17:45] by associating it with sort of the dawning of a new age. It was time to get the country moving again. [17:53] As Kennedy campaigned in 1960, he honed the power of his words. [18:03] Well, John F. Kennedy knew how to deliver a speech. [18:07] He was funny, and he gave short speeches. They're witty. They're to the point. [18:13] They were all, at most, six paragraphs, maybe 12. Make them want more. [18:19] I run for the presidency because, like you, I have strong ideas about what this country must do. [18:27] I have strong ideas about the United States playing a great role in a historic moment, [18:34] when the cause of freedom is endangered all over the world. [18:38] These are rhetorical devices to make your words more powerful. [18:43] But that particular accent and the particular pacing and all of that, [18:49] I think, I don't think anybody's come anywhere close to it. [18:53] This is somebody who gives speeches that make people want to get up and march somewhere. [18:58] I ask your help in building the United States. I ask your help in reestablishing [19:09] the prestige and strength of our country. I ask your help. [19:20] April 1960, Wisconsin. The campaign lasted four weeks. [19:28] While Kennedy did well in large cities like Milwaukee, Humphrey spent much of his time [19:34] with farmers in rural areas. Humphrey was far more familiar with that territory [19:39] than his upper-class opponent from Boston. [19:42] This is the heart of Senator Kennedy's strength, the heavily populated city areas, [19:54] particularly the Polish-Catholic Fourth District in Milwaukee. [19:58] We passed that bill two years ago, but it failed by one vote in the Senate, [20:10] when the president withdrew his support on the day the bill was coming up to vote. [20:15] That's how important the office of the presidency is. [20:18] He shall determine what shall be our policy on Berlin. [20:22] He shall determine whether we shall be at war or peace. [20:25] When the Wisconsin numbers came in, Kennedy and his team were shaken. [20:32] He had won by only 13 percent, a dramatic contrast to his landslide victory in New Hampshire. [20:39] It punctured the Kennedy momentum for a brief period that they really realized they had to regroup. [20:50] After Wisconsin, Kennedy won in Illinois, his home state of Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, [21:06] Indiana, and Nebraska. But the next destination, West Virginia, [21:12] would prove to be a challenge unlike any state so far. [21:16] As different from Massachusetts or anything John Kennedy had ever known, very Protestant, [21:32] very few Catholics, people who didn't know wealth. [21:38] West Virginia was rural, at the heart of America's coal country. [21:43] Coal mines were running at 100 percent capacity, everybody was busy, [21:48] but it still had the reputation of having pockets of poverty. [21:51] And I think that's how Kennedy was briefed, that he was going to be coming into a poverty-stricken place. [21:58] Instead, he found a lot of working coal miners. [22:01] The campaign increased its intensity beyond what it had displayed in Wisconsin. [22:07] The Humphrey camp followed suit. [22:12] One of the biggest gripes the general public had with Kennedy was his Catholic faith. [22:17] This was especially true in West Virginia. [22:20] You would be divided between two loyalties to your church and to your state if you were to be elected president? [22:26] The question is whether I think that if I were elected president, [22:31] I would be divided between two loyalties, my church and my state. [22:36] Let me just say that I would not. [22:38] I have sworn to uphold the Constitution in the 14 years I've been in Congress. [22:43] In the years I was in the service, the Constitution provides in the First Amendment [22:47] that Congress shall make no laws abridging the freedom of religion. [22:51] I must say I believe in it. [22:52] I think it's the only way that this country can go ahead. [22:55] I am sure that no one believes that I'd be a candidate for the presidency [22:59] if I didn't think I could meet my oath of office. [23:03] This clear, strong oath seemed to quiet the local critics. [23:07] On May 10th, Kennedy won 60 percent of the popular vote in West Virginia. [23:15] That afternoon, overcome with emotion from the hard-fought campaign, [23:19] Humphrey tearfully announced he would no longer seek the Democratic nomination. [23:26] Kennedy won more votes than any other candidate in the Democratic primaries, [23:31] walking away with 32.5 percent of the total vote. [23:35] It was a significant accomplishment, but it wasn't enough to lock in the nomination. [23:41] With the nomination up for grabs, [23:46] Kennedy took off with the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles. [23:50] I assure you that today we began here in this city an effort to win this nomination, [24:05] which I believe will be successful. [24:07] At the 1960 Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles, [24:16] Kennedy was vying for the presidential nomination against Lyndon Johnson of Texas, [24:22] Stuart Symington of Missouri, and Adlai Stevenson of Illinois. [24:27] If we're going to successfully move through the 60s, if we're going to be true to our destiny of being [24:33] the great defender of freedom in these dangerous times, then the United States must build its strength. [24:38] Civil rights were this convention's hot-button topic. [24:43] You know, the experiences of African Americans vary greatly. [24:47] The common thread is segregation, discrimination, denial of opportunity. [24:51] It was a movement that could not be contained in the South or even in the United States. [25:00] It was a powerful human statement for the desire for human freedom, and that is what gave it so much power. [25:09] Despite his lackluster record on the issue, Kennedy took a decisive step by supporting [25:15] a progressive civil rights plank at the convention. This plank called for the complete elimination [25:21] of discrimination based on race, religion, and national origin. It also demanded fair employment [25:30] practices and openly advocated the sit-in demonstrations occurring all over the Deep South. [25:38] So at that convention, what's notable is the lead that the Kennedy group takes in insisting on a strong [25:44] civil rights plank, responding to the demands that are rising, the pressures that are accelerating, [25:51] and most significantly, the importance of Black voting in Northern industrial states. [26:00] After this unflinching stance was announced, nine Southern states promptly signed a document [26:06] denouncing Kennedy as a candidate. [26:09] It wasn't like everybody was for John Kennedy in 1960. That was clear. [26:14] People were counting. Are we going to get the number of votes on the first ballot? [26:20] So there was a tension as to whether it was going to work. Absolutely. Total tension. [26:27] The legwork done by the Kennedy camp over the past four years finally paid off on July 13, 1960. [26:40] To lead us to a fruitful America, to a peaceful world for mankind everywhere, [26:46] is the great senator from the state of Massachusetts, John F. Kennedy. [26:52] Amidst tens of thousands of people, Kennedy accepted the Democratic nomination at the Los Angeles Coliseum, [27:04] and chose his former opponent, Lyndon Johnson, as his vice presidential running mate, believing the Texas [27:11] senator would help secure the Southern political support he needed to win the election. [27:16] And we stand today on the edge of a new frontier, the frontier of the 1960s, the frontier of unknown [27:26] opportunities and peril, the frontier of unfilled hope and unfilled threats. The new frontier is here, [27:35] whether we seek it or not. Beyond that frontier are uncharted areas of science and space, unsolved problems of peace and war. [27:45] The 1960 presidential race between Kennedy and Nixon would be the first widely televised election in history. [28:05] If the American people couldn't see their candidate in person, [28:08] they could watch him from the comfort of their own home. The candidates would debate four times, [28:14] arguing their case to the nation. The candidates need no introduction. The Republican candidate, [28:20] Vice President Richard M. Nixon, and the Democratic candidate, Senator John F. Kennedy. [28:26] The president gained, America gained, by continuing the dignity, the decency that has characterized us, [28:33] and it's that that keeps the prestige of America up. Not running down America the way [28:37] Senator Kennedy has been running it down. Much as Richard Nixon has criticized, [28:43] he mounted the stage of the Republican Party on five separate occasions to accept the nomination for [28:48] national office. Three times for president and twice for vice president. He was formidable. [28:55] I really don't need Mr. Nixon to tell me about what my responsibilities are as a citizen. [28:59] I've served this country for 14 years in the Congress and before that in the service. [29:03] I have just as high a devotion, just as high an opinion. [29:06] You look at the Kennedy-Nixon debate, a Republican running at the center and a Democrat running at [29:11] the center in 1960 don't disagree on much. And so when people were trying to decide who do they want, [29:20] you have two people who want the job who are saying they're pretty much going to do similar things. [29:26] So then TV becomes that much more important because you're making your decisions based on [29:31] what does your gut tell you? Kennedy presents very differently than Nixon. [29:36] And the difference between the crowds the day before that debate and the crowds after that debate, [29:46] the crowds the next morning heading into Iowa were enormous. We called them the dancers. [29:55] The crowds, if you look down the street half a mile away, you started to see as soon as they saw him, [30:03] you could see the crowd start to jump. [30:04] I don't think I looked at him as some sort of a sex idol. I looked at him as an energizer. [30:14] He was the future. He was next. [30:17] I think one of the most important things was when he called Coretta Scott King [30:29] in the election when Martin Luther King was arrested. [30:33] Martin Luther King is busted in Georgia on a phony parole violation charge. He's sent off to a rural [30:40] Georgia prison where there's great fear that he will never get out of there alive. [30:43] He was arrested after participating in a sit-in, but he had an outstanding traffic violation. [30:51] So he wasn't given bail. He's put into jail. And this was the end of October, [30:56] the elections beginning November. [30:58] Nixon, who I think frankly had a better civil rights record during the last eight years in Kennedy, [31:05] froze and he didn't know what to do. He, he was trying to compete in the South, [31:09] and so he didn't want to inflame. He thought he might win over some Southern Democrats. [31:14] So Nixon tried to just kind of put his head in the sand and just hope that this [31:18] King incarceration would be resolved quickly by local officials. Kennedy makes a phone call [31:24] that lasted maybe a minute or two to Coretta Scott King and just said, I'm worried about your husband [31:29] and we'll be thinking of you and we'll do everything we can do. [31:33] That sent a huge message to the Black community. And then John F. Kennedy, he was helpful. [31:39] And they got Martin Luther King out of jail. Kennedy's action redounded in his favor. King's father, [31:49] Martin Luther King Sr., was actually intending to vote for Nixon. [31:54] And when they got Dr. King out of jail, Daddy King said, I got a whole suitcase full of votes, [32:01] and now they're going to Kennedy. And so that was a signal. Black people then lined up behind [32:08] John F. Kennedy. With time running out before the election, Kennedy and Nixon were still in a tight [32:19] race. Kennedy knew that to win, he needed to address any last concerns the public still had. [32:27] This program this evening does not constitute an endorsement of either the Speaker or the party [32:36] which he represents. The program has been motivated by the religious issues in this campaign. [32:42] He's looking at the polling data. They decide, look, we've got to take the Catholicism issue head on. [32:52] The talk on the street was, he'll kiss the Pope's ring. The Pope calls him every morning and tells [32:59] him what to do. I mean, I remember this. I was a Catholic school kid at the time. [33:04] Kennedy knew he had to address the subject in a public arena one last time before the election. He chose [33:12] Houston as the location where the Greater Houston Ministerial Conference was taking place. [33:18] I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute. For while this year [33:26] it may be a Catholic against whom the finger of suspicion is pointed, in other years it has been, [33:33] and may someday be again, a Jew or a Quaker or a Unitarian or a Baptist. [33:40] He made his points forcefully, but he was very good in not being overly combative, but he was assertive. [33:49] And we raise the question because we would like to know if you are elected president and your church [33:55] elects to use that privilege and obligation, what your response will be under those circumstances. [34:02] If my church attempted to influence me in a way which was improper or which affected adversely [34:10] my responsibilities as a public servant sworn to uphold the Constitution, then I would reply to them [34:16] that this was an improper action on their part. It would be an unfortunate breach of an interference [34:24] with the American political system. After the speech, Kennedy spoke off the cuff, [34:31] answering a series of questions from the ministers that had not been screened in advance. [34:36] I'm sure that I have made no converts to my church, but I do hope, I do hope that at least my view, [34:45] which I believe to be the view of my fellow Catholics who hold office, I hope that it may be of some [34:52] value in at least assisting you to make a careful judgment. Racing across the country and fueled by [35:09] adrenaline, Kennedy often had dark circles around his eyes. Without much time to rest or eat, [35:16] just days before the election, Kennedy claimed, I'm going to last about five more days, but that's time [35:24] enough. It's the day before the election in 1960, and Kennedy finishes in Waterbury, Springfield, [35:33] in Boston Garden that night. My grandmother marched us down to City Hall to see this remarkable [35:41] presentation. I remember one sign that was hung on the Grand Army Hall of the Republic that said, [35:46] welcome home, Jack. I mean, I'm 11 years old and looking up and saying, you know, tomorrow, [35:52] this guy could be the president. And nobody knows how the election is still going to turn out. [35:57] His last speech was at Boston Garden, and it was brilliant. It was absolutely brilliant. [36:03] I thank you for your support. I ask you to join us tomorrow. And most of all, I ask you to join us if we [36:21] are successful. I ask you to join us in all the tomorrows yet to come, in building America, moving America, [36:30] picking this country of ours up, and sending it into the 60s. Finally, election day had arrived. Kennedy, [36:52] his wife Jackie, and their two-year-old daughter Caroline were camped out at Hyannisport. Joe Kennedy, [36:59] the father, had a big place on Hyannisport, and we were invited to be there on election night as the [37:05] returns were coming in. And the cohesion among the family was a beautiful sight. Photographers and [37:14] reporters are all around them, for this is the man who, in the next 24 hours, may become president of [37:20] the United States and she first lady of the land. Jackie was pregnant with John Jr., due at the end of [37:30] the month. Jackie described the scene as a cold, clear autumn day. She would later remember her [37:38] husband as restless but quiet, spending some time in the sun and then trying to nap. From the very [37:47] beginning, it becomes obvious that this is going to be a close election. The television networks have [37:56] made elaborate preparations to broadcast the election returns as they come in from the different parts of [38:01] the country. Huge tally boards post the returns as they come in minute by minute, hour by hour. [38:12] The excitement of being there, watching the returns coming in, it was neck and neck all night. [38:22] I guess the thing I really remember, trying to stay up and come on, I'm not going to stay up till [38:28] 6 o'clock tomorrow morning and find out we still got 10 hours to go, you know. But we stayed up awful late and we had no idea. [38:35] In Illinois, the voting will be so close that the lead will go back and forth from one candidate to [38:44] the other. But then, this turns into a seesaw battle in quite a few of the states, all night long. [38:50] As darkness set over Cape Cod, Kennedy hung up the phone with his brother Bobby after learning the [39:03] numbers would not be in for hours. He retired to his bedroom. In the morning, Kennedy's closest aide, [39:18] Ted Sorensen set out for Kennedy's house, just like any other day in Hyannisport. As he approached, [39:26] he noticed something was different. Secret service agents were stationed around the home. John F. Kennedy [39:36] was the next president of the United States. Kennedy won the election with 303 electoral votes [39:47] to Nixon's 219. The popular vote was much closer with Kennedy receiving only 118,000 [39:56] more votes than Nixon. To all Americans, I say that the next four years are going to be difficult [40:04] and challenging years for us all. The election may have been a close one, but I think that there is [40:11] general agreement by all of our citizens that a supreme national effort will be needed in the years ahead [40:19] to move this country safely through the 1960s. I ask your help in this effort, and I can assure you that [40:29] every degree of mind and spirit that I possess will be devoted to the long-range interests of the [40:36] United States and to the cause of freedom around the world. So now my wife and I prepare for a new [40:44] administration and for a new baby. Thank you. Ends up writing his farewell speech to Massachusetts, [40:56] which is astonishingly eloquent and powerful. For 14 years, I have placed my confidence in the citizens [41:06] of Massachusetts, and they have generously responded by placing their confidence in me. Now on the [41:15] Friday after next, I am to assume new and broader responsibilities. We must always consider, he said, [41:25] that we shall be as a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us. I ask for your help and your [41:36] prayers as I embark on this new and solemn journey. Next on Kennedy. General Kennedy, you solemnly swear [41:51] that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States. He's very young, [41:57] and he doesn't fit the mold. How would he do on the world stage, given he was so young and inexperienced? [42:03] He was instantly overwhelmed by it. The sheer number of concerns that were piled onto his plate, [42:10] and they were urgent issues. This could spiral out of control.