EK Endorses JFK for 1960

Although Estes Kefauver was not a candidate for President in 1960 – having instead decided to run for re-election to the Senate – he remained broadly popular among the Democratic base. Voters, especially those in rural and farm states, continued to support his brand of liberal populism.

The Democratic standard-bearer for 1960, John F. Kennedy, was conscious of Kefauver’s appeal among the voters and aware that, as a rich young Eastern hotshot from a dynastic political family, Kefauver’s voters might not naturally flock to him. As a result, he did was he could to woo the support.

As former Kefauver campaign worker Fred Strong told me in our interview, JFK made an aggressive effort to get as many of Kefauver’s ex-campaign workers on his side as possible. And on at least one occasion, he had the Tennessee Senator himself cut an ad for the Kennedy-Johnson campaign.

Here, courtesy of the Carl Albert Center, is that ad:

It comes as no surprise that the ad hits on a lot of Kefauver’s favorite themes. “Why do I feel so strongly about the necessity of a Democratic victory this fall?” he asks. He cites the need for an equal opportunity for all Americans, the importance of combatting monopolies and corporate shenanigans (name-checking his own hearings into the prescription drug industry), developing America’s natural resources, greater concern for the people’s welfare, and restoring economic growth. “In other words,” he concludes, “the necessity to get on the move again.”

This ties some of the classic Kefauver themes (combatting economic concentration, public power and resource development, looking out for the little guy) with the Kennedy campaign’s youth-and-vigor based slogan of “getting America moving again” after the stodgy Eisenhower years.

He praises JFK as “a vigorous leader who tells us what we’re up against and what we must do to pull ahead.” This seems a bit like damning with faint praise, honestly. Meanwhile, he lauds Lyndon Johnson as “not only a master legislator, but a man whom President Roosevelt was proud to call his protege.” Interesting that he tied Johnson, not Kennedy, to FDR’s legacy. (It’s worth noting here that Kefauver endorsed LBJ during the primary, in exchange for Johnson’s help with his re-election bid.)

Incidentally, it seems Kefauver never thought Kennedy would get the nomination that year. One of Kefauver’s aides, James J.P. McShane, decided to leave and join Kennedy’s campaign shortly before the convention. Kefauver gave McShane his blessing, but delivered a warning to his departing aide.

“They’re going to do to Jack what they did to me in ’52,” Kefauver said. “I don’t think Jack’s got a chance. I went in with almost as many votes as he’s going in with, and they just tore me to pieces. I think they’re going to end up tearing the guts out of Jack.”

It’s understandable that Kefauver was scarred by his own rough experience with the party power brokers, but it’s somewhat surprising that he didn’t recognize that Kennedy was a golden-haired child within the party, and that the bosses wouldn’t hesitate to hand Kennedy what they had worked so hard to deny Kefauver. It goes to show that, while Kefauver understood very well that the party leaders didn’t care for him, he never fully understood why.