SIX TAKEAWAYS FROM JFK’S OREGON CAMPAIGN

Senator John Kennedy knew he had to win the Oregon Democratic Primary on May 20, 1960 to have any hope of winning his party’s Presidential nomination that year. So, he came to Oregon early and he came often. 

Looking back on that campaign in Oregon, it’s hard not to marvel at the pace the candidate and his staff maintained. That same pace applied across the country helped (barely) carry JFK to a victory in November. 

His win in November was an incredibly close one. He got 49.72% of the national popular vote to Richard Nixon’s 49.55%. In the electoral college it was a different story, Kennedy winning 303 electoral votes (but not Oregon’s six) to Nixon’s 219. In May 1960, he won the Oregon Democratic Primary easily with 51% of the vote to Senator Wayne Morse’s 32%. Hubert Humphrey and LBJ were not a factor.

With perfect historical hindsight, here are six takeaways from the Kennedy campaign in Oregon. 

ONE. THE KENNEDY CAMPAIGN WAS INTENSE. When his father Joseph P. Kennedy gave his son his blessing to run for President on Thanksgiving night in 1957, he told him, ““Just remember, this country is not a private reserve for Protestants. There’s a whole new generation out there and it’s filed with the sons and daughters of immigrants from all over the world and these people are going to be might proud that one of their own is running for President. And that pride will be your spur, it will give your campaign an intensity we’ve never seen in public life.” JFK’s response was, “Well Dad, I guess there’s only one question left. When do we start?” Source: The Road To. Camelot - Inside JFK's Five-Year Campaign by Thomas Oliphant and Curtis Wilkie. 

In it to win it.

TWO. JFK WENT WHERE NO OTHER PRESIDENTIAL HOPEFUL HAD EVER GONE IN OREGON. During the two days he campaigned here in February 1960 he did 15 events in five cities. In April he did 13 events in six cities. Before the May 20 primary he did nine events in five cities that month. Imagine a presidential candidate these days visiting these Oregon cities: Portland. Salem. Eugene. Medford. Seaside. Klamath Falls. Albany. Ashland. Beaverton. Corvallis. Newport. The Dalles. Hillsboro. Saint Helens. Springfield. Toledo. Imagine a candidate coming here at all. The head of the Oregon Historical Society, Kerry Tymchuk, misses those old days.  “By the time our May primary occurs in presidential election years, the nominees of each party have all but been decided, and all that we see of the candidates is a brief stop in Portland for a fundraiser and perhaps a rally,” he wrote on the occasion of what would have been JFK’s One Hundredth birthday. 

On Coos Bay. November 1959. Photo courtesy of JFK Library and Jacques Lowe.

THREE. JFK CONFRONTED THE CATHOLIC QUESTION IN OREGON. Would American voters put a Catholic in the White House? How do you fight a whispering campaign? Those two questions loomed large over the campaign in Oregon. JFK decided to tackle the question directly, as in this radio interview with KXL in 1958, “I will say that in the thirteen years I’ve been in congress, I’ve seen no evidence that the American people make their judgment based on this question. There are so many questions facing us in the United States which are so important that really doesn’t seem to me to be a matter of the greatest public importance, where I might go to church on Sunday, providing I be the candidate, let’s say, that gives indication of being willing to meet his constitutional responsibilities and being able to meet them.” In many campaign appearances, when asked about his religion he responded, “ That’s funny, when I signed up for the Navy in World War Two they never asked me my religion.” 

When a candidate’s faith mattered.

FOUR. JFK CONFRONTED HIS CRITICS FROM LABOR IN OREGON. And there were plenty of them. They resented his efforts to clean up corruption in organized labor and tested him in Oregon with chilly receptions wherever he went. But JFK never backed down and often won the day by meeting directly with rank-and-file critics. Congresswoman Edith Green ran the Kennedy campaign in Oregon and recalled one confrontation with labor this way.” Rosy McDonald [Joseph D. McDonald] was the president of the Oregon AFL-CIO. It was his job to introduce Kennedy. It was in the hotel, and the room was packed. When we came in it was just the most frigid atmosphere I had ever experienced. And Rosy, I think his exact words were, ―Well, our next speaker, some people like and some people don’t. I give you Senator Kennedy. And there was just the required applause, you know just perfunctory. Kennedy threw away any prepared speech and just talked off the cuff. It was one of the best speeches I ever heard him give.” There are multiple similar stories of JFK convincing union members in Oregon he was okay. 

Even the Republican-run Oregonian admitted that JFK won the day in Seaside.

FIVE. JFK WAS A GENUINELY NICE GUY. It wasn’t just union members who were persuaded to support JFK after meeting him in person. Take Wally Wadkins. He was recruited to drive JFK in a parade in Medford because he had a 1959 Lincoln Continental convertible. He made his money in timber and mining. He mentioned to JFK that he was missing the opening day of the fishing season on Klamath Lake with his son so he could drive him in the parade. “I’ll make it up to you. Don’t worry,” Kennedy said. Sure enough, Wadkins was invited to the Inaugural ceremonies after JFK was elected President. Then there’s Mary Kelly of Medford. She organized the FDR Dinner at which JFK spoke in 1959 and 1960. The dinner for 1400 was a pot luck affair. Kelly says afterwards Kennedy went into the kitchen and thanked each volunteer worker individually. She says he also sent Christmas cards each year to the volunteers. 

At Portland State College with (L) Dick Feeney and (C) Professor/pundit Marko Haggard. April 1959.

SIX. CAROLINE PROVED TO BE A HUGE FACTOR. Not his daughter Caroline. But the campaign airplane called The Caroline. It was the first aircraft ever used in a Presidential campaign. JFK’s father had purchased it from American Airlines in 1959 and had it refitted for a Presidential campaign. The candidate’s ability to cover so much ground may have made the difference in November 1960. 

The Convair 240 refitted as Caroline for the campaign. (The 2 stood for two engines and the 40 stood for 40 seats.)The plane was built in 1948 for American Airlines. JFK’s father bought it in 1959 for the campaign. It was the first private plane ever used in a US Presidential campaign.

In teh General E November, JFK lost to Richard Nixon in Oregon. 52.5% to 47.3%. That wasn’t a surprise. The Kennedy campaign barely appeared in Oregon after the May Primary. But from the earliest appearances here in 1958 to the last campaign swing to the State Fair in September 1960, it sounds like it was fun while it lasted.