For Immediate Release: November 5, 2010
Further information: Rachel Day (617) 514-1662, rachel.day@jfklfoundation.org
Boston, MA – To officially mark the 50th anniversary of the election of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Mayor Thomas M. Menino has proclaimed Monday, November 8, 2010 to be John Fitzgerald Kennedy Victory Day in Boston. In his proclamation, Mayor Menino urged “all my follow Bostonians to join me in honoring this favorite and loyal son of our great city who brought enormous pride to the people of Boston on being elected President of the United States.”
Senator Kennedy first announced his bid for the presidency on January 2, 1960. With youthful energy and a pioneering vision, he delivered hundreds of speeches in front of thousands of people of every age, bringing his message of a “New Frontier” directly to the voters.
After months of crisscrossing the country, Senator John F. Kennedy returned to Boston on November 7, 1960 to wind up his presidential campaign with a rally at Boston Garden.
Earlier in the day, Kennedy made a whirlwind tour through New England, speaking in Providence, Rhode Island; Springfield, Massachusetts; Hartford, Connecticut; and Manchester, New Hampshire.
But his Boston homecoming brought the campaign to a crescendo. Thousands greeted him as he made his way by motorcade to the Boston Garden where he addressed some 22,000 screaming, chanting, roaring supporters. Before an overflow crowd, Senator John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts said:
"I come here to Boston to this garden which is located in the 11th Congressional District of the State of Massachusetts, which my grandfather represented 60 years ago, and which I had the honor of representing 14 years ago when I was first elected to the House of Representatives. I have therefore proudly come back to this spot and ask your help tonight to be elected President of the United States."
[Click here for the full text of the speech.]
[Click here for a YouTube excerpt of the appearance at the Boston Garden.]
On the morning of November 8 – Election Day – Senator John F. Kennedy and Mrs. Kennedy cast their ballots at the old West End branch of the Boston Public Library, near their legal home, the apartment at 122 Bowdoin Street on Beacon Hill. They then flew to Cape Cod on the Caroline and headed to Hyannisport to wait for the election returns. It would be a full 24 hours before Kennedy could claim victory in one of the closest presidential contests in American history, becoming the 35th President of the United States.
To help mark the anniversary of this historic election, on Monday, November 8, the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library will display a telegram from President Eisenhower and a series of news bulletins and that came in over the teletype machine that Robert Kennedy had installed in his house to assure immediate updates of election results. The news bulletins were received in the early morning hours of November 9, 1960. The telegram from President Eisenhower came later that afternoon.
The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library invites the public to visit the Museum at the Kennedy Presidential Library to experience sights and sounds from the campaign trail. Highlights of the Campaign Trail exhibit include:
• A recreation of the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles where on July 13, 1960, John F. Kennedy was nominated to be the 35th president of the United States;
• Footage of Kennedy and Nixon stump speeches, campaign songs, and television coverage;
• A reproduction of the Chicago television studio where the first debate took place with the actual audio control and television camera used by CBS affiliate WBBM-TV in 1960;
• The electoral map from the 1960 presidential race with video footage of Walter Cronkite’s election-night coverage;
• A video of President Kennedy’s entire Inaugural Address.
By marking the 50th anniversary of John F. Kennedy’s election and presidency, the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library Foundation seeks to remind a new generation of Americans of the ideals that President Kennedy embraced: the responsibilities of citizenship and the importance of public service; a belief in democracy, civil rights, and the pursuit of social justice; the value of civil political debate; and a commitment to internationalism and science to build a better and secure world.
Click here to watch the Kennedy Library’s 50th Anniversary Celebration video.
For additional archival resources, visit the Kennedy Library website’s “Campaign of 1960.”
The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum is a presidential library administered by the National Archives and Records Administration and supported, in part, by the Kennedy Library Foundation, a non-profit organization. For more information, visit www.jfklibrary.org on the Internet.