The 1960 United States presidential election in Illinois took place on November 8, 1960, as part of the
1960 United States presidential election
The 1960 United States presidential election was the 44th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 8, 1960. In a closely contested election, Democratic United States Senator John F. Kennedy defeated the incumbent V ...
. State voters chose 27 representatives, or electors, to the
Electoral College, who voted for
president and
vice president.
In the nation's second-closest race following
Hawaii,
Illinois was won by
Senator
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
John F. Kennedy (
D–
Massachusetts), running with Senator
Lyndon B. Johnson, with 49.98% of the popular vote against
incumbent Vice President
Richard Nixon (
R–
California), running with
United States Ambassador to the United Nations
The United States ambassador to the United Nations is the leader of the U.S. delegation, the U.S. Mission to the United Nations. The position is formally known as the permanent representative of the United States of America to the United Nations ...
Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr.
Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. (July 5, 1902 – February 27, 1985) was an American diplomat and Republican United States senator from Massachusetts in both Senate seats in non-consecutive terms of service and a United States ambassador. He was considered ...
, with 49.80% of the popular vote, a margin of victory of only 0.18%.
As of 2020 this is the last time that a Democrat would win Illinois by only a single digit margin of victory.
Primaries
Turnout
Turnout in the state-run primary elections (Democratic and Republican) was 16.43% with a total of 836,458 votes cast.
Turnout during the general election was 86.51%, with 4,757,409 votes cast.
[ Both major parties held non-binding state-run preferential primaries on April 12.][
]
Democratic
The 1960 Illinois Democratic presidential primary was held on April 12, 1960, in the U.S. state of Illinois as one of the Democratic Party's state primaries ahead of the 1960 presidential election.
The popular vote was a non-binding "beauty contest". Delegates were instead elected by direct votes by congressional district on delegate candidates.
All candidates were write-ins. Kennedy ran a write-in campaign, and no candidate actively ran against him in Illinois.[
Not all of the vote-getters had been declared candidates. Johnson, Stevenson, and Symington had all sat out the primaries.
Chicago mayor Richard J. Daley, head of the Cook County Democratic Party, promised to deliver Kennedy the support of Cook County's delegates, so long as Kennedy won competitive primaries in other states.][
]
Republican
The 1960 Illinois Republican presidential primary was held on April 12, 1960, in the U.S. state of Illinois as one of the Republican Party's state primaries ahead of the 1960 presidential election.
The preference vote was a "beauty contest". Delegates were instead selected by direct-vote in each congressional districts on delegate candidates.
Nixon ran unopposed in the primary.
Analysis
Some, including Republican legislators and journalists, believed that Kennedy benefited from vote fraud
Electoral fraud, sometimes referred to as election manipulation, voter fraud or vote rigging, involves illegal interference with the process of an election, either by increasing the vote share of a favored candidate, depressing the vote share of ...
from Mayor Richard J. Daley's powerful Chicago political machine
The Cook County Democratic Party is a political party which represents voters in 50 wards in the city of Chicago and 30 suburban townships of Cook County. The organization has dominated Chicago politics (and consequently, Illinois politics) ...
.
Daley's machine was known for "delivering whopping Democratic tallies by fair means and foul."
Republicans tried and failed to overturn the results at the time—as well as in ten other states.
Some journalists also later claimed that mobster Sam Giancana
Salvatore Mooney Giancana (; born Gilormo Giangana; ; May 24, 1908 – June 19, 1975) was an American mobster who was boss of the Chicago Outfit from 1957 to 1966.
Giancana was born in Chicago to Italian immigrant parents. He joined the 42 ...
and his Chicago crime syndicate "played a role" in Kennedy's victory. Nixon's campaign staff urged him to pursue recounts and challenge the validity of Kennedy's victory, but Nixon gave a speech three days after the election that he would not contest the election.
A myth arose that Daley held back much of the Chicago vote until the late morning hours of November 9. However, when the Republican '' Chicago Tribune'' went to press, 79% of Cook County precincts had reported, compared to just 62% of Illinois's precincts overall. Moreover, Nixon never led in Illinois, and Kennedy's lead merely shrank as election night went on. Earl Mazo
Earl Mazo (July 7, 1919 – February 17, 2007) was an American journalist, author, and government official.
Education and early life
Born in Warsaw, Poland, Mazo migrated to the United States as a small child with his parents, Sonia and George ...
, a reporter for the pro-Nixon ''New York Herald Tribune
The ''New York Herald Tribune'' was a newspaper published between 1924 and 1966. It was created in 1924 when Ogden Mills Reid of the ''New-York Tribune'' acquired the ''New York Herald''. It was regarded as a "writer's newspaper" and competed ...
'' and his biographer, investigated the voting in Chicago and "claimed to have discovered sufficient evidence of vote fraud to prove that the state was stolen for Kennedy."
A special prosecutor assigned to the case brought charges against 650 people, who were acquitted by a judge who was considered a "Daley machine loyalist."
Three Chicago election workers were convicted of voter fraud in 1962 and served short terms in jail. Mazo, the ''Herald-Tribune'' reporter, later said that he "found names of the dead who had voted in Chicago, along with 56 people from one house." He found cases of Republican voter fraud in southern Illinois but said that the totals "did not match the Chicago fraud he found."
An academic study in 1985 later analyzed the ballots of two disputed precincts in Chicago which were subject to a recount. It found that while there was a pattern of miscounting votes to the advantage of Democratic candidates, Nixon suffered less than Republicans in other races, and the extrapolated error would have reduced his Illinois margin only from 8,858 votes, the final official total, to just under 8,000. It concluded there was insufficient evidence that he had been cheated out of winning Illinois.
Even if enough legitimate systemic fraud was discovered in Illinois to give Nixon the state, that alone would not have been enough to win him the presidency. Kennedy would've still been left with 276 electoral votes, seven more than what he needed to win the White House.
Recount
Ben Adamowski
Benjamin S. Adamowski (November 20, 1906 – March 1, 1982) was a politician and lawyer.
Early life
His father, Max Adamowski, was an alderman in Chicago, as well as a real estate agent in Logan Square, and tavern owner. He graduated from ...
, a Republican who lost reelection as Cook County State's Attorney to Democratic nominee Daniel P. Ward
Daniel Patrick Ward (August 30, 1918 – April 23, 1995) was an American jurist.
Born in Chicago, Illinois, Ward graduated from Marmion Academy in Aurora, Illinois. He went to St. Viator College and then received his law degree from DePaul Univer ...
, requested a recount of the state's attorney race. Republicans sought to use this recount, as they could not order a recount of the presidential results, to prove that fraud had been committed in the presidential election. Sidney Holzman, the chair of the Board of Election Commissioners, stated that only the three BEC members could handle the ballots and would only recount the ballots for the state's attorney election. Judge Thaddeus Adesko ruled that twenty-five teams of counters had to be used and that the other elections would be included in the recount.
The recount was finished on December 9, and showed that in six towns around Chicago mistakes of ten votes or more in favor of Kennedy occurred in 3.1% of the precincts, those in favor of Nixon occurred in 2.6%, and those in favor of third-parties occurred in 4.8%. 11% of the precincts in Chicago had errors of ten votes of more in Kennedy's favor and 8.6% in Nixon's favor. Kennedy's vote was overcounted in 38% of Chicago's precincts while Nixon's vote was overcounted in 40%. Nixon's total was increased by 926 votes.
Republicans accused the election commission of manipulating the recount and Adamowski successfully sued for another recount in 1961, although only his election was recounted. The original recount increased his vote total by 9.073 while the second one increased his total by 12.694 per precinct.
Results
Results by county
See also
* United States presidential elections in Illinois
Following is a table of United States presidential elections in Illinois, ordered by year. Since its admission to statehood in 1818, Illinois has participated in every U.S. presidential election.
Winners of the state are in bold. The shading refe ...
References
Works cited
*
{{1960 United States elections
Illinois
1960
It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism.
Events
January
* Ja ...
1960 Illinois elections
Electoral fraud in the United States