The 1960 Democratic Convention - Part 2

[freddylubin]

Once upon a time, when a convention held real drama. Watching Gene McCarthy nominate Adlai Stevenson is really moving.

[LandingCraft1969]

This was innocence!

[David50s]

You could get half votes because states increased the size of their delegations by having double the delegates with a half vote each.

[msynman]

Does anyone know how Stevenson won 79.5 votes?

Why not 79 or 80?

Are the convention delegates allowed to split their votes or something?

[glm15jul]

If Kennedy had not won the nomination in 1960, The party would have been split apart and Nixon would have easily won that election and would have been our president 8 years earlier than he actually was.

[glm15jul]

Senator Kennedy asked Senator Symington of Missouri to be his running mate. Johnson did not want the vice presidency anyway. Those are truths! But IF it was Kennedy-Symington, instead of JFK-LBJ, Kennedy probably would have not won the election. He would not have carried Texas. ( He barely won it with LBJ on the ticket. ) And if Kennedy did win the election with Symington, most likely November 22, 1963 would not be a historical date today.

[presidentbren]

I wonder what it would have been like had Kennedy not received the nomination. What if Symington, or Johnson, or Jackson, or Stevenson had been nominated? Would they have one?

[Nostalgiaantes]

thank you for great footaage!

[Freenbean]

JFK picked Johnson because he wanted to win. Johnson helped Kennedy where he was running the weakest- the South and the West. At this time the polls gave Nixon a slight edge.

The question is why did LBJ accept? Everyone figured he would turn the offer down. There is some evidence that LBJ thought that as VP he could continue to run the Senate as if he were still Majority Leader. He found out otherwise.

[Freenbean]

briefly starting at 4:45 you see Ted Kennedy with the Wyoming delegation. His assignment was the Western states, and he had gotten the chairman of the Wyoming delegation to agree to cast all his state's vote for his brother if necessary. As you can tell they were needed, so Ted was there to make sure that promise was kept.

[mrflibble101]

JFK needs to to be reborn!

[seth917]

@mrflibble101

We'd probably be speaking Russian right now...

[mrflibble101]

@seth917 and why's that?

[seth917]

@mrflibble101

They would have one the cold war had only Democrats been elected.  This country needs competition.

[0907oliv]

@mrflibble101 He does need to be reborn. Will it be in our lifetime? Will we recognize him? He was the best.

[bealio721]

Thanks for the info. I will check that out. I always wondered what possessed Kennedy to pick Johnson. This country would be in a much better position if Kennedy had picked Symington. Could have been.... Roosevelt 1933-1945 Truman 1945-1953 Stevenson 1953-1961 Kennedy 1961-1963 Symington 1963-1969 Humphrey 1969-1977 Muskie 1977-1985 Hart  1985-1993 Clinton 1993-2001 Gore 2001-2009 Obama 2009-2017

[0907oliv]

@bealio721 Actually, I don't think it has really been determined why JFK picked Johnson. Hard to believe the womanizing issue since LBJ was a womanizer himself. Most stories in the past have been that he needed him to win the South. Dark Side of Camelot is not a good read. The book is poorly documented - it is documented the way a celebrity book would be document - not like a good bio or history. The author was criticized for his sources and poor documenting.

[bealio721]

Kennedy was brilliant but LBJ was awful. Should have picked Stuart Symington for Vice President. What a pity.

[scottploof67]

Hillary would have been VP if they did the same in the 2008 convention.

[Cooman456]

Very true. Or if it was worked this way, we wouldn't know who the nominee was going to. The DNCs and RNCs are so boring these days because we know who the nominee is going to be. What's the point? To bore the American people? I wished I lived in 1960 so I can get excited over these candidates, and only 25% of the delegates were chosen in primaries. Good times...

[mimih23]

I'm not up to par on this part of history. Someone please tell me why were they so intent on placing Adlai Stevenson into office?

[Cooman456]

Stevenson wanted to be a last minute comprimise for the 1960 convnention. Eleanor Roosevelt, when asked a week before the convention which candidate she liked (Humphrey, Kennedy, Symington, Johnson, and Morse), she said she liked neither, and liked Adlai Stevenson instead. In 1952, Stevenson announed his candidacy at the convention beause he was drafted, and he won the nod that way. In 1960, Stevenson announced his candidacy at the Convention again, but lost this time. Eleanor Roosevelt had sway

[BamaChris]

Stevenson was perhaps the most liberal candidate and had been a leader in the party for quite some time, but he was a proven loser. He was also viewed as weak, not only by Republicans, but also by many Democrats. As POTUS, JFK sent him to the United Nations in a way to try to isolate him, but he proved to be somewhat useful during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

[iPodGenious]

I thought i had already Commented on this video but i guess not but anyways

Great video thanks for uploading :) I like these old videos

[thorir88]

Great rare video.

[dyinglikeflies]

Fix! It was a fix!