1960 United States presidential election in Tennessee
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County Results
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Elections in Tennessee |
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Government |
The 1960 United States presidential election in Tennessee took place on November 8, 1960, as part of the 1960 United States presidential election. Tennessee voters chose 11[2] representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.
Ever since
Between 1896 and 1948, the Republicans would win statewide contests three times but only in the second amiss the national anti-Wilson tide of 1920[8] did they receive down-ballot coattails by winning three congressional seats in addition to the rock-ribbed GOP First and Second Districts.[9] After the beginning of the Great Depression, however, for the next third of a century the Republicans would rarely contest statewide offices seriously despite continuing dominance of East Tennessee and half a dozen Unionist counties in the middle and west of the state.[10] State GOP leader B. Carroll Reece is widely believed to have had agreements with E. H. Crump and later Frank G. Clement and Buford Ellington that Republicans would not contest offices statewide or outside their traditional pro-Union areas.[11] Despite this, the capture of a substantial part of the West Tennessee Dixiecrat vote of 1948 allowed Dwight D. Eisenhower to narrowly carry the state for the GOP in both 1952[12] and 1956.
For 1960, the nomination of Irish Catholic John F. Kennedy by the Democratic Party — who had made major gains in the 1958 midterm elections — led to severe questioning of how Tennessee’s heavily fundamentalist electorate would react to Kennedy’s Catholicism.[13]
Campaign
During the campaign, both Kennedy and Republican nominee incumbent Vice President Richard Nixon visited Tennessee in the second week of October.[14] Kennedy focused on Nixon’s supposed opposition to the Tennessee Valley Authority, whilst Nixon focused on how his platform was closer to that of the Founding Fathers and Andrew Jackson than Kennedy’s. Kennedy, for his part, noted that the Democratic Party was founded by Tennessean Jackson.[14]
Predictions
Source | Ranking | As of |
---|---|---|
The Philadelphia Inquirer[15] | Tossup | October 3, 1960 |
Knoxville News Sentinel[16] | Lean R | October 23, 1960 |
Daily News[17]
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Lean D | October 28, 1960 |
The Daily Item[18] | Tilt R | November 4, 1960 |
Los Angeles Times[19] | Tossup | November 6, 1960 |
Results
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Republican | Richard Nixon | 556,577 | 52.92% | |
Democratic | John F. Kennedy | 481,453 | 45.77% | |
National States' Rights Party | Orval Faubus | 11,304 | 1.07% | |
Prohibition | Rutherford Decker | 2,458 | 0.23% | |
Total votes | 1,051,792 | 100% |
Results by county
1960 United States presidential election in Tennessee by county[20] | |||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
County | Richard Milhous Nixon Republican |
John Fitzgerald Kennedy Democratic |
Orval Eugene Faubus National States’ Rights |
Rutherford Losey Decker Prohibition |
Margin | Total votes cast | |||||
# | % | # | % | # | % | # | % | # | % | ||
Anderson | 11,153 | 52.56% | 9,878 | 46.55% | 152 | 0.72% | 38 | 0.18% | 1,275 | 6.01% | 21,221 |
Bedford | 2,633 | 36.81% | 4,457 | 62.32% | 62 | 0.87% | 0 | 0.00% | -1,824 | -25.50% | 7,152 |
Benton | 1,773 | 45.20% | 2,030 | 51.75% | 120 | 3.06% | 0 | 0.00% | -257 | -6.55% | 3,923 |
Bledsoe | 1,439 | 58.69% | 981 | 40.01% | 24 | 0.98% | 8 | 0.33% | 458 | 18.68% | 2,452 |
Blount | 13,552 | 68.20% | 6,213 | 31.27% | 67 | 0.34% | 40 | 0.20% | 7,339 | 36.93% | 19,872 |
Bradley | 7,865 | 69.69% | 3,307 | 29.30% | 91 | 0.81% | 22 | 0.19% | 4,558 | 40.39% | 11,285 |
Campbell | 5,079 | 61.21% | 3,134 | 37.77% | 63 | 0.76% | 21 | 0.25% | 1,945 | 23.44% | 8,297 |
Cannon | 1,195 | 48.05% | 1,275 | 51.27% | 14 | 0.56% | 3 | 0.12% | -80 | -3.22% | 2,487 |
Carroll | 4,517 | 59.36% | 2,961 | 38.91% | 117 | 1.54% | 14 | 0.18% | 1,556 | 20.45% | 7,609 |
Carter | 12,214 | 77.31% | 3,412 | 21.60% | 94 | 0.60% | 78 | 0.49% | 8,802 | 55.72% | 15,798 |
Cheatham | 683 | 26.20% | 1,883 | 72.23% | 34 | 1.30% | 7 | 0.27% | -1,200 | -46.03% | 2,607 |
Chester | 1,807 | 59.05% | 1,192 | 38.95% | 54 | 1.76% | 7 | 0.23% | 615 | 20.10% | 3,060 |
Claiborne | 3,888 | 64.20% | 2,142 | 35.37% | 18 | 0.30% | 8 | 0.13% | 1,746 | 28.83% | 6,056 |
Clay | 1,098 | 52.14% | 976 | 46.34% | 32 | 1.52% | 0 | 0.00% | 122 | 5.79% | 2,106 |
Cocke | 6,581 | 81.30% | 1,442 | 17.81% | 34 | 0.42% | 38 | 0.47% | 5,139 | 63.48% | 8,095 |
Coffee | 3,058 | 39.79% | 4,555 | 59.26% | 66 | 0.86% | 7 | 0.09% | -1,497 | -19.48% | 7,686 |
Crockett | 1,467 | 48.69% | 1,438 | 47.73% | 95 | 3.15% | 13 | 0.43% | 29 | 0.96% | 3,013 |
Cumberland | 3,523 | 60.70% | 2,189 | 37.72% | 62 | 1.07% | 30 | 0.52% | 1,334 | 22.98% | 5,804 |
Davidson | 52,077 | 46.25% | 59,649 | 52.98% | 666 | 0.59% | 205 | 0.18% | -7,572 | -6.72% | 112,597 |
Decatur | 1,684 | 54.76% | 1,321 | 42.96% | 51 | 1.66% | 19 | 0.62% | 363 | 11.80% | 3,075 |
DeKalb | 1,440 | 47.59% | 1,547 | 51.12% | 29 | 0.96% | 10 | 0.33% | -107 | -3.54% | 3,026 |
Dickson | 1,928 | 32.71% | 3,930 | 66.68% | 33 | 0.56% | 3 | 0.05% | -2,002 | -33.97% | 5,894 |
Dyer | 4,097 | 49.95% | 3,868 | 47.15% | 221 | 2.69% | 17 | 0.21% | 229 | 2.79% | 8,203 |
Fayette | 1,370 | 48.95% | 892 | 31.87% | 517 | 18.47% | 20 | 0.71% | 478 | 17.08% | 2,799 |
Fentress | 2,726 | 71.89% | 1,014 | 26.74% | 37 | 0.98% | 15 | 0.40% | 1,712 | 45.15% | 3,792 |
Franklin | 2,041 | 28.59% | 5,041 | 70.61% | 45 | 0.63% | 12 | 0.17% | -3,000 | -42.02% | 7,139 |
Gibson | 5,173 | 45.66% | 5,796 | 51.16% | 330 | 2.91% | 30 | 0.26% | -623 | -5.50% | 11,329 |
Giles | 1,598 | 24.54% | 4,879 | 74.91% | 24 | 0.37% | 12 | 0.18% | -3,281 | -50.38% | 6,513 |
Grainger | 3,017 | 75.86% | 939 | 23.61% | 12 | 0.30% | 9 | 0.23% | 2,078 | 52.25% | 3,977 |
Greene | 8,835 | 66.55% | 4,406 | 33.19% | 20 | 0.15% | 15 | 0.11% | 4,429 | 33.36% | 13,276 |
Grundy | 786 | 26.55% | 2,143 | 72.40% | 19 | 0.64% | 12 | 0.41% | -1,357 | -45.84% | 2,960 |
Hamblen | 7,093 | 69.23% | 3,122 | 30.47% | 30 | 0.29% | 0 | 0.00% | 3,971 | 38.76% | 10,245 |
Hamilton | 39,703 | 55.70% | 30,482 | 42.77% | 959 | 1.35% | 133 | 0.19% | 9,221 | 12.94% | 71,277 |
Hancock | 2,107 | 82.56% | 438 | 17.16% | 7 | 0.27% | 0 | 0.00% | 1,669 | 65.40% | 2,552 |
Hardeman | 1,601 | 44.42% | 1,711 | 47.48% | 288 | 7.99% | 4 | 0.11% | -110 | -3.05% | 3,604 |
Hardin | 3,323 | 65.18% | 1,690 | 33.15% | 73 | 1.43% | 12 | 0.24% | 1,633 | 32.03% | 5,098 |
Hawkins | 7,010 | 72.48% | 2,586 | 26.74% | 65 | 0.67% | 11 | 0.11% | 4,424 | 45.74% | 9,672 |
Haywood | 1,188 | 35.63% | 1,867 | 56.00% | 258 | 7.74% | 21 | 0.63% | -679 | -20.37% | 3,334 |
Henderson | 3,597 | 70.14% | 1,490 | 29.06% | 31 | 0.60% | 10 | 0.20% | 2,107 | 41.09% | 5,128 |
Henry | 3,033 | 36.93% | 5,049 | 61.48% | 131 | 1.60% | 0 | 0.00% | -2,016 | -24.55% | 8,213 |
Hickman | 1,224 | 33.20% | 2,401 | 65.12% | 38 | 1.03% | 24 | 0.65% | -1,177 | -31.92% | 3,687 |
Houston | 366 | 23.87% | 1,150 | 75.02% | 13 | 0.85% | 4 | 0.26% | -784 | -51.14% | 1,533 |
Humphreys | 1,126 | 29.90% | 2,592 | 68.83% | 27 | 0.72% | 21 | 0.56% | -1,466 | -38.93% | 3,766 |
Jackson | 1,049 | 39.80% | 1,539 | 58.38% | 10 | 0.38% | 38 | 1.44% | -490 | -18.59% | 2,636 |
Jefferson | 6,141 | 78.79% | 1,620 | 20.79% | 28 | 0.36% | 5 | 0.06% | 4,521 | 58.01% | 7,794 |
Johnson | 3,854 | 86.74% | 571 | 12.85% | 13 | 0.29% | 5 | 0.11% | 3,283 | 73.89% | 4,443 |
Knox | 50,811 | 61.00% | 31,990 | 38.40% | 413 | 0.50% | 86 | 0.10% | 18,821 | 22.59% | 83,300 |
Lake | 732 | 34.03% | 1,346 | 62.58% | 62 | 2.88% | 11 | 0.51% | -614 | -28.54% | 2,151 |
Lauderdale | 1,322 | 27.36% | 3,462 | 71.65% | 48 | 0.99% | 0 | 0.00% | -2,140 | -44.29% | 4,832 |
Lawrence | 5,709 | 53.66% | 4,862 | 45.70% | 47 | 0.44% | 21 | 0.20% | 847 | 7.96% | 10,639 |
Lewis | 580 | 25.09% | 1,723 | 74.52% | 4 | 0.17% | 5 | 0.22% | -1,143 | -49.44% | 2,312 |
Lincoln | 1,428 | 22.53% | 4,862 | 76.71% | 30 | 0.47% | 18 | 0.28% | -3,434 | -54.18% | 6,338 |
Loudon | 5,356 | 65.47% | 2,722 | 33.27% | 61 | 0.75% | 42 | 0.51% | 2,634 | 32.20% | 8,181 |
Macon | 2,829 | 74.80% | 915 | 24.19% | 38 | 1.00% | 0 | 0.00% | 1,914 | 50.61% | 3,782 |
Madison | 8,863 | 50.09% | 8,083 | 45.68% | 717 | 4.05% | 30 | 0.17% | 780 | 4.41% | 17,693 |
Marion | 2,657 | 45.30% | 3,124 | 53.27% | 76 | 1.30% | 8 | 0.14% | -467 | -7.96% | 5,865 |
Marshall | 1,717 | 31.87% | 3,625 | 67.29% | 38 | 0.71% | 7 | 0.13% | -1,908 | -35.42% | 5,387 |
Maury | 4,133 | 37.99% | 6,615 | 60.81% | 113 | 1.04% | 18 | 0.17% | -2,482 | -22.81% | 10,879 |
McMinn | 6,586 | 61.17% | 4,111 | 38.18% | 70 | 0.65% | 0 | 0.00% | 2,475 | 22.99% | 10,767 |
McNairy | 3,310 | 59.15% | 2,173 | 38.83% | 93 | 1.66% | 20 | 0.36% | 1,137 | 20.32% | 5,596 |
Meigs | 901 | 56.14% | 691 | 43.05% | 7 | 0.44% | 6 | 0.37% | 210 | 13.08% | 1,605 |
Monroe | 4,991 | 59.05% | 3,375 | 39.93% | 36 | 0.43% | 50 | 0.59% | 1,616 | 19.12% | 8,452 |
Montgomery | 2,550 | 24.83% | 7,635 | 74.34% | 61 | 0.59% | 24 | 0.23% | -5,085 | -49.51% | 10,270 |
Moore | 313 | 26.37% | 863 | 72.70% | 9 | 0.76% | 2 | 0.17% | -550 | -46.34% | 1,187 |
Morgan | 2,241 | 58.13% | 1,576 | 40.88% | 38 | 0.99% | 0 | 0.00% | 665 | 17.25% | 3,855 |
Obion | 3,800 | 46.36% | 4,244 | 51.78% | 122 | 1.49% | 30 | 0.37% | -444 | -5.42% | 8,196 |
Overton | 1,831 | 43.06% | 2,389 | 56.19% | 23 | 0.54% | 9 | 0.21% | -558 | -13.12% | 4,252 |
Perry | 645 | 37.13% | 1,076 | 61.95% | 8 | 0.46% | 8 | 0.46% | -431 | -24.81% | 1,737 |
Pickett | 1,154 | 67.05% | 567 | 32.95% | 0 | 0.00% | 0 | 0.00% | 587 | 34.11% | 1,721 |
Polk | 2,187 | 58.30% | 1,532 | 40.84% | 23 | 0.61% | 9 | 0.24% | 655 | 17.46% | 3,751 |
Putnam | 4,240 | 48.65% | 4,443 | 50.98% | 32 | 0.37% | 0 | 0.00% | -203 | -2.33% | 8,715 |
Rhea | 2,721 | 59.78% | 1,761 | 38.69% | 52 | 1.14% | 18 | 0.40% | 960 | 21.09% | 4,552 |
Roane | 6,540 | 56.25% | 4,953 | 42.60% | 108 | 0.93% | 25 | 0.22% | 1,587 | 13.65% | 11,626 |
Robertson | 1,776 | 30.15% | 4,053 | 68.80% | 46 | 0.78% | 16 | 0.27% | -2,277 | -38.65% | 5,891 |
Rutherford | 4,526 | 40.95% | 6,410 | 58.00% | 91 | 0.82% | 25 | 0.23% | -1,884 | -17.05% | 11,052 |
Scott | 3,301 | 74.84% | 1,098 | 24.89% | 3 | 0.07% | 9 | 0.20% | 2,203 | 49.94% | 4,411 |
Sequatchie | 703 | 42.48% | 930 | 56.19% | 18 | 1.09% | 4 | 0.24% | -227 | -13.72% | 1,655 |
Sevier | 7,818 | 85.05% | 1,341 | 14.59% | 27 | 0.29% | 6 | 0.07% | 6,477 | 70.46% | 9,192 |
Shelby | 87,191 | 49.37% | 86,270 | 48.85% | 2,956 | 1.67% | 190 | 0.11% | 921 | 0.52% | 176,607 |
Smith | 1,601 | 39.43% | 2,411 | 59.38% | 36 | 0.89% | 12 | 0.30% | -810 | -19.95% | 4,060 |
Stewart | 539 | 22.59% | 1,810 | 75.86% | 31 | 1.30% | 6 | 0.25% | -1,271 | -53.27% | 2,386 |
Sullivan | 22,354 | 59.46% | 14,731 | 39.18% | 139 | 0.37% | 374 | 0.99% | 7,623 | 20.28% | 37,598 |
Sumner | 3,491 | 34.02% | 6,687 | 65.17% | 58 | 0.57% | 25 | 0.24% | -3,196 | -31.15% | 10,261 |
Tipton | 1,829 | 30.91% | 3,853 | 65.12% | 211 | 3.57% | 24 | 0.41% | -2,024 | -34.21% | 5,917 |
Trousdale | 308 | 22.71% | 1,036 | 76.40% | 9 | 0.66% | 3 | 0.22% | -728 | -53.69% | 1,356 |
Unicoi | 4,004 | 75.04% | 1,322 | 24.78% | 7 | 0.13% | 3 | 0.06% | 2,682 | 50.26% | 5,336 |
Union | 2,082 | 75.63% | 652 | 23.68% | 11 | 0.40% | 8 | 0.29% | 1,430 | 51.94% | 2,753 |
Van Buren | 401 | 40.30% | 577 | 57.99% | 7 | 0.70% | 10 | 1.01% | -176 | -17.69% | 995 |
Warren | 2,682 | 45.92% | 3,119 | 53.40% | 32 | 0.55% | 8 | 0.14% | -437 | -7.48% | 5,841 |
Washington | 14,851 | 69.93% | 6,283 | 29.59% | 63 | 0.30% | 39 | 0.18% | 8,568 | 40.35% | 21,236 |
Wayne | 2,912 | 75.21% | 931 | 24.04% | 17 | 0.44% | 12 | 0.31% | 1,981 | 51.16% | 3,872 |
Weakley | 3,543 | 43.69% | 4,488 | 55.35% | 78 | 0.96% | 0 | 0.00% | -945 | -11.65% | 8,109 |
White | 1,725 | 43.15% | 2,207 | 55.20% | 35 | 0.88% | 31 | 0.78% | -482 | -12.06% | 3,998 |
Williamson | 2,699 | 37.34% | 4,471 | 61.86% | 49 | 0.68% | 9 | 0.12% | -1,772 | -24.52% | 7,228 |
Wilson | 3,383 | 40.77% | 4,857 | 58.54% | 49 | 0.59% | 8 | 0.10% | -1,474 | -17.77% | 8,297 |
Totals | 556,577 | 52.92% | 481,453 | 45.77% | 11,304 | 1.07% | 2,458 | 0.23% | 75,124 | 7.14% | 1,051,792 |
Analysis
Nixon was the first losing Republican to win Tennessee, and the only one until John McCain in 2008. Kennedy was the first Democrat to win without the state since 1852. Nixon’s win was due to general gains due to the strong anti-Catholicism of this “Bible Belt” state.[23] Unlike Herbert Hoover’s 1928 victory against previous Catholic nominee Al Smith, Nixon also made strong gains amongst white voters of the Black Belt who had deserted the Democrats since Harry S. Truman’s first civil rights proclamations.[24]
Nixon was the first-ever Republican victor in Dyer County, the first to carry Madison County since Ulysses S. Grant in 1868, the first GOP candidate to win heavily Dixiecrat Fayette County since James G. Blaine in 1884, and the first to carry Clay County, Crockett County and Decatur County since Warren G. Harding in 1920.[25]
References
- ^ "United States Presidential election of 1960 – Encyclopædia Britannica". Retrieved June 7, 2017.
- ^ "1960 Election for the Forty-Fourth Term (1961-65)". Retrieved June 7, 2017.
- JSTOR 208821.
- Key (Jr.), Valdimer Orlando; Southern Politics in State and Nation (New York, 1949), pp. 282-283
- ISBN 1572331410.
- ^ Grantham, Dewey W. (Fall 1995). "Tennessee and Twentieth-Century American Politics". Tennessee Historical Quarterly. 54 (3): 210–229.
- ISBN 9780691163246
- JSTOR 2206601.
- ^ Phillips; The Emerging Republican Majority, p. 287
- ISBN 9780865542099.
- ISBN 0826513093.
- S2CID 154634842.
- ^ Phillips; The Emerging Republican Majority, p. 221
- ^ a b Scott, Gavin (October 9, 1960). "Both received Warm Welcomes: Many Sized Up Kennedy, Nixon on Tennessee Visits". The Knoxville News-Sentinel. p. A-6.
- ^ Hoffman, Fred S. (October 3, 1960). "How Election Looks Today". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Philadelphia. pp. 1, 3.
- ^ "Populous States Are Key: Both Parties Claim Enough Votes To Win". Knoxville News Sentinel. Knoxville, Tennessee. October 23, 1960. p. A-4.
- ^ Lewis, Ted (October 28, 1960). "Campaign Circus". Daily News. Jersey City, New Jersey. p. 4C.
- ^ "Poll of Editors Predicts Victory for Nixon—Lodge: Republican Ticket Seen Winning in 28 States and Democrats in 19". The Daily Evening Item. November 4, 1960. p. 3.
- ^ ""Poll of Polls" Sums Up Major Opinion Surveys". Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles, California. November 6, 1960. p. 27.
- ^ "TN US President, November 08, 1960". Our Campaigns.
- ^ "1960 Presidential General Election Results – Tennessee". Retrieved June 7, 2017.
- ^ "The American Presidency Project – Election of 1960". Retrieved June 7, 2017.
- ISBN 9780465075102.
- ^ Phillips; The Emerging Republican Majority, pp. 357-361
- ISBN 0786422173.