The 1960 United States presidential election in Iowa took place on November 8, 1960, as part of the 1960 United States presidential election. Voters chose ten[2] representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.
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Iowa was won by incumbent Vice President Richard Nixon (R–California), running with United States Ambassador to the United Nations Henry Cabot Lodge Jr., with 56.71% of the popular vote, against Senator John F. Kennedy (D–Massachusetts), running with Senator Lyndon B. Johnson, with 43.22% of the popular vote.[3][4] As of the 2020 presidential election[update], this is the last election in which Johnson County, home to Iowa City and the University of Iowa, voted for a Republican presidential candidate.[5]
Kennedy became the fourth American president to have ever held office without carrying Iowa in an election.
Primaries
Democratic precinct caucuses
While no statewide vote was held, a system of precinct caucuses were used to select delegates.[6] Edward A. McDermott led a, first-of-its-kind- coordinated effort for the Kennedy campaign which sought to shape the results of Iowa's precinct caucuses in order to secure an Iowa delegation which favored Kennedy's candidacy.[6] These precinct caucuses had been largely ignored by most political circles, providing an opportunity for Kennedy.[6] His campaign had been targeting Iowa as a top priority state in its delegate strategy since, at latest, 1959, setting a goal to secure the support of 18 of the state's 26 delegates.[6]
For years, Kennedy had been seeking to curry favor with Iowa's Democratic governor, Herschel Loveless, who had fiercely opposed Kennedy's effort to secure the vice-presidential nomination at the 1956 Democratic National Convention.[6] Kennedy hoped to persuade Loveless against putting himself forward in 1960 as a favorite son (carrying the support of his state's delegation for himself in order to leave it united and unbound to any top contender).[6] Loveless had been neutral for a long time, and continued to remain open to a multitude of candidates as well as a prospect of running as a favorite son (perhaps leveraging that as a means of securing the vice-presidential nomination).[6] However, Kennedy began to secure more and more grassroots support in Iowa.[6]
McDermott heavily organized in Iowa, more than compensating for the potential disadvantage Kennedy held due to the fact that a number of possible opponents (such as Hubert Humphrey, Stuart Symington, and Adlai Stevenson II) came from states which directly neighbored Iowa.[6] In the Spring of 1959, McDermott founded the "Iowans for Kennedy" political club and appointed Lumond F. Wilcox, a leading Medodist figure in the state, as its co-chairman in an effort to alleviate the concerns many Iowans still held about Kennedy's Catholic faith.[6]
McDermott also recruited Iowan Democrats to run at local precinct caucuses.[6]
By late autumn, a Des Moines Register poll of the Iowa Democratic Party's 99 county party chairmen showed that the county leaders had come to favor Kennedy 3 to 2 over Symington and 3 to 1 over either Stevenson of Humphrey.[6]
Results
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Richard Nixon | 722,381 | 56.71% | |
| Democratic | John F. Kennedy | 550,565 | 43.22% | |
| No Party Listed | Farrell Dobbs | 634 | 0.05% | |
| Socialist Labor | Eric Hass | 230 | 0.02% | |
| Total votes | 1,273,810 | 100% | ||
Results by county
| County[7] | Richard Milhous Nixon Republican | John Fitzgerald Kennedy Democratic | Farrell Dobbs No Party Listed | Eric Hass Socialist Labor | Margin | Total votes cast | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | % | # | % | # | % | # | % | # | % | ||
| Adair | 3,383 | 60.09% | 2,245 | 39.88% | 1 | 0.02% | 1 | 0.02% | 1,138 | 20.21% | 5,630 |
| Adams | 2,185 | 57.08% | 1,643 | 42.92% | 0 | 0.00% | 0 | 0.00% | 542 | 14.16% | 3,828 |
| Allamakee | 4,970 | 62.78% | 2,933 | 37.05% | 7 | 0.09% | 6 | 0.08% | 2,037 | 25.73% | 7,916 |
| Appanoose | 5,040 | 59.43% | 3,422 | 40.35% | 15 | 0.18% | 3 | 0.04% | 1,618 | 19.08% | 8,480 |
| Audubon | 2,935 | 53.05% | 2,595 | 46.91% | 2 | 0.04% | 0 | 0.00% | 340 | 6.15% | 5,532 |
| Benton | 5,972 | 56.33% | 4,620 | 43.58% | 6 | 0.06% | 3 | 0.03% | 1,352 | 12.75% | 10,601 |
| Black Hawk | 28,435 | 54.11% | 24,078 | 45.82% | 26 | 0.05% | 12 | 0.02% | 4,357 | 8.29% | 52,551 |
| Boone | 6,761 | 53.97% | 5,759 | 45.97% | 6 | 0.05% | 1 | 0.01% | 1,002 | 8.00% | 12,527 |
| Bremer | 6,504 | 66.76% | 3,234 | 33.20% | 4 | 0.04% | 0 | 0.00% | 3,270 | 33.57% | 9,742 |
| Buchanan | 5,179 | 54.90% | 4,251 | 45.07% | 3 | 0.03% | 0 | 0.00% | 928 | 9.84% | 9,433 |
| Buena Vista | 6,351 | 63.54% | 3,637 | 36.38% | 5 | 0.05% | 3 | 0.03% | 2,714 | 27.15% | 9,996 |
| Butler | 5,345 | 70.18% | 2,268 | 29.78% | 1 | 0.01% | 2 | 0.03% | 3,077 | 40.40% | 7,616 |
| Calhoun | 4,485 | 58.90% | 3,123 | 41.01% | 4 | 0.05% | 3 | 0.04% | 1,362 | 17.89% | 7,615 |
| Carroll | 4,648 | 39.66% | 7,064 | 60.27% | 6 | 0.05% | 3 | 0.03% | -2,416 | -20.61% | 11,721 |
| Cass | 6,290 | 67.24% | 3,059 | 32.70% | 5 | 0.05% | 0 | 0.00% | 3,231 | 34.54% | 9,354 |
| Cedar | 5,217 | 61.92% | 3,203 | 38.02% | 5 | 0.06% | 0 | 0.00% | 2,014 | 23.91% | 8,425 |
| Cerro Gordo | 12,830 | 56.05% | 10,044 | 43.88% | 15 | 0.07% | 0 | 0.00% | 2,786 | 12.17% | 22,889 |
| Cherokee | 4,791 | 59.10% | 3,309 | 40.82% | 5 | 0.06% | 1 | 0.01% | 1,482 | 18.28% | 8,106 |
| Chickasaw | 3,822 | 48.45% | 4,063 | 51.50% | 4 | 0.05% | 0 | 0.00% | -241 | -3.05% | 7,889 |
| Clarke | 2,631 | 57.82% | 1,906 | 41.89% | 12 | 0.26% | 1 | 0.02% | 725 | 15.93% | 4,550 |
| Clay | 5,165 | 60.03% | 3,437 | 39.95% | 2 | 0.02% | 0 | 0.00% | 1,728 | 20.08% | 8,604 |
| Clayton | 6,441 | 58.25% | 4,612 | 41.71% | 4 | 0.04% | 0 | 0.00% | 1,829 | 16.54% | 11,057 |
| Clinton | 13,797 | 56.71% | 10,508 | 43.19% | 11 | 0.05% | 14 | 0.06% | 3,289 | 13.52% | 24,330 |
| Crawford | 4,791 | 56.25% | 3,720 | 43.67% | 3 | 0.04% | 4 | 0.05% | 1,071 | 12.57% | 8,518 |
| Dallas | 6,566 | 53.93% | 5,597 | 45.97% | 11 | 0.09% | 2 | 0.02% | 969 | 7.96% | 12,176 |
| Davis | 2,641 | 53.36% | 2,303 | 46.53% | 4 | 0.08% | 1 | 0.02% | 338 | 6.83% | 4,949 |
| Decatur | 3,039 | 55.69% | 2,411 | 44.18% | 7 | 0.13% | 0 | 0.00% | 628 | 11.51% | 5,457 |
| Delaware | 5,015 | 57.62% | 3,688 | 42.38% | 0 | 0.00% | 0 | 0.00% | 1,327 | 15.25% | 8,703 |
| Des Moines | 10,678 | 51.86% | 9,872 | 47.94% | 36 | 0.17% | 5 | 0.02% | 806 | 3.91% | 20,591 |
| Dickinson | 3,575 | 56.99% | 2,696 | 42.98% | 2 | 0.03% | 0 | 0.00% | 879 | 14.01% | 6,273 |
| Dubuque | 12,740 | 36.64% | 22,007 | 63.30% | 10 | 0.03% | 9 | 0.03% | -9,267 | -26.66% | 34,766 |
| Emmet | 4,284 | 62.51% | 2,563 | 37.40% | 3 | 0.04% | 3 | 0.04% | 1,721 | 25.11% | 6,853 |
| Fayette | 8,330 | 61.20% | 5,256 | 38.62% | 21 | 0.15% | 4 | 0.03% | 3,074 | 22.58% | 13,611 |
| Floyd | 5,774 | 59.24% | 3,970 | 40.73% | 1 | 0.01% | 1 | 0.01% | 1,804 | 18.51% | 9,746 |
| Franklin | 4,514 | 64.52% | 2,476 | 35.39% | 3 | 0.04% | 3 | 0.04% | 2,038 | 29.13% | 6,996 |
| Fremont | 3,027 | 56.73% | 2,307 | 43.23% | 2 | 0.04% | 0 | 0.00% | 720 | 13.49% | 5,336 |
| Greene | 4,063 | 58.43% | 2,879 | 41.40% | 7 | 0.10% | 5 | 0.07% | 1,184 | 17.03% | 6,954 |
| Grundy | 4,989 | 69.62% | 2,174 | 30.34% | 3 | 0.04% | 0 | 0.00% | 2,815 | 39.28% | 7,166 |
| Guthrie | 4,046 | 58.22% | 2,896 | 41.68% | 6 | 0.09% | 1 | 0.01% | 1,150 | 16.55% | 6,949 |
| Hamilton | 5,265 | 57.39% | 3,905 | 42.57% | 4 | 0.04% | 0 | 0.00% | 1,360 | 14.82% | 9,174 |
| Hancock | 4,179 | 60.24% | 2,757 | 39.74% | 1 | 0.01% | 0 | 0.00% | 1,422 | 20.50% | 6,937 |
| Hardin | 6,438 | 62.32% | 3,888 | 37.64% | 2 | 0.02% | 2 | 0.02% | 2,550 | 24.69% | 10,330 |
| Harrison | 4,940 | 57.70% | 3,613 | 42.20% | 8 | 0.09% | 1 | 0.01% | 1,327 | 15.50% | 8,562 |
| Henry | 5,531 | 66.03% | 2,839 | 33.89% | 7 | 0.08% | 0 | 0.00% | 2,692 | 32.14% | 8,377 |
| Howard | 3,378 | 49.79% | 3,406 | 50.21% | 0 | 0.00% | 0 | 0.00% | -28 | -0.41% | 6,784 |
| Humboldt | 3,537 | 56.66% | 2,706 | 43.34% | 0 | 0.00% | 0 | 0.00% | 831 | 13.31% | 6,243 |
| Ida | 3,290 | 62.77% | 1,949 | 37.19% | 2 | 0.04% | 0 | 0.00% | 1,341 | 25.59% | 5,241 |
| Iowa | 4,944 | 63.47% | 2,828 | 36.30% | 12 | 0.15% | 6 | 0.08% | 2,116 | 27.16% | 7,790 |
| Jackson | 5,084 | 53.89% | 4,345 | 46.06% | 4 | 0.04% | 1 | 0.01% | 739 | 7.83% | 9,434 |
| Jasper | 9,332 | 56.27% | 7,242 | 43.67% | 8 | 0.05% | 3 | 0.02% | 2,090 | 12.60% | 16,585 |
| Jefferson | 4,942 | 64.00% | 2,780 | 36.00% | 0 | 0.00% | 0 | 0.00% | 2,162 | 28.00% | 7,722 |
| Johnson | 10,927 | 50.80% | 10,563 | 49.11% | 15 | 0.07% | 3 | 0.01% | 364 | 1.69% | 21,508 |
| Jones | 5,541 | 58.52% | 3,924 | 41.44% | 3 | 0.03% | 1 | 0.01% | 1,617 | 17.08% | 9,469 |
| Keokuk | 4,697 | 57.88% | 3,408 | 42.00% | 10 | 0.12% | 0 | 0.00% | 1,289 | 15.88% | 8,115 |
| Kossuth | 6,278 | 51.95% | 5,806 | 48.05% | 0 | 0.00% | 0 | 0.00% | 472 | 3.91% | 12,084 |
| Lee | 10,765 | 52.00% | 9,936 | 48.00% | 0 | 0.00% | 0 | 0.00% | 829 | 4.00% | 20,701 |
| Linn | 34,200 | 55.30% | 27,614 | 44.65% | 17 | 0.03% | 8 | 0.01% | 6,586 | 10.65% | 61,839 |
| Louisa | 3,036 | 60.67% | 1,966 | 39.29% | 2 | 0.04% | 0 | 0.00% | 1,070 | 21.38% | 5,004 |
| Lucas | 3,512 | 59.88% | 2,344 | 39.97% | 9 | 0.15% | 0 | 0.00% | 1,168 | 19.91% | 5,865 |
| Lyon | 4,917 | 73.65% | 1,752 | 26.24% | 4 | 0.06% | 3 | 0.04% | 3,165 | 47.41% | 6,676 |
| Madison | 3,804 | 58.26% | 2,722 | 41.69% | 2 | 0.03% | 1 | 0.02% | 1,082 | 16.57% | 6,529 |
| Mahaska | 7,129 | 65.40% | 3,746 | 34.36% | 18 | 0.17% | 8 | 0.07% | 3,383 | 31.03% | 10,901 |
| Marion | 7,444 | 61.99% | 4,547 | 37.87% | 15 | 0.12% | 2 | 0.02% | 2,897 | 24.13% | 12,008 |
| Marshall | 10,265 | 60.23% | 6,761 | 39.67% | 13 | 0.08% | 3 | 0.02% | 3,504 | 20.56% | 17,042 |
| Mills | 3,436 | 65.37% | 1,820 | 34.63% | 0 | 0.00% | 0 | 0.00% | 1,616 | 30.75% | 5,256 |
| Mitchell | 3,915 | 57.59% | 2,873 | 42.26% | 9 | 0.13% | 1 | 0.01% | 1,042 | 15.33% | 6,798 |
| Monona | 3,863 | 54.64% | 3,207 | 45.36% | 0 | 0.00% | 0 | 0.00% | 656 | 9.28% | 7,070 |
| Monroe | 2,922 | 54.20% | 2,459 | 45.61% | 8 | 0.15% | 2 | 0.04% | 463 | 8.59% | 5,391 |
| Montgomery | 4,974 | 65.19% | 2,655 | 34.80% | 1 | 0.01% | 0 | 0.00% | 2,319 | 30.39% | 7,630 |
| Muscatine | 8,555 | 58.21% | 6,135 | 41.74% | 3 | 0.02% | 5 | 0.03% | 2,420 | 16.46% | 14,698 |
| O'Brien | 6,509 | 68.66% | 2,967 | 31.30% | 4 | 0.04% | 0 | 0.00% | 3,542 | 37.36% | 9,480 |
| Osceola | 2,965 | 62.00% | 1,814 | 37.93% | 3 | 0.06% | 0 | 0.00% | 1,151 | 24.07% | 4,782 |
| Page | 7,089 | 69.69% | 3,075 | 30.23% | 6 | 0.06% | 2 | 0.02% | 4,014 | 39.46% | 10,172 |
| Palo Alto | 3,551 | 48.99% | 3,695 | 50.97% | 1 | 0.01% | 2 | 0.03% | -144 | -1.99% | 7,249 |
| Plymouth | 6,432 | 57.93% | 4,671 | 42.07% | 0 | 0.00% | 0 | 0.00% | 1,761 | 15.86% | 11,103 |
| Pocahontas | 3,445 | 50.23% | 3,408 | 49.69% | 5 | 0.07% | 1 | 0.01% | 37 | 0.54% | 6,859 |
| Polk | 64,077 | 53.74% | 55,091 | 46.20% | 37 | 0.03% | 29 | 0.02% | 8,986 | 7.54% | 119,234 |
| Pottawattamie | 19,223 | 57.79% | 14,025 | 42.17% | 8 | 0.02% | 5 | 0.02% | 5,198 | 15.63% | 33,261 |
| Poweshiek | 5,232 | 58.76% | 3,671 | 41.23% | 1 | 0.01% | 0 | 0.00% | 1,561 | 17.53% | 8,904 |
| Ringgold | 2,538 | 58.74% | 1,781 | 41.22% | 1 | 0.02% | 1 | 0.02% | 757 | 17.52% | 4,321 |
| Sac | 4,850 | 61.36% | 3,054 | 38.64% | 0 | 0.00% | 0 | 0.00% | 1,796 | 22.72% | 7,904 |
| Scott | 27,617 | 54.50% | 23,004 | 45.40% | 34 | 0.07% | 16 | 0.03% | 4,613 | 9.10% | 50,671 |
| Shelby | 4,210 | 55.08% | 3,427 | 44.83% | 5 | 0.07% | 2 | 0.03% | 783 | 10.24% | 7,644 |
| Sioux | 10,284 | 79.51% | 2,643 | 20.43% | 5 | 0.04% | 2 | 0.02% | 7,641 | 59.08% | 12,934 |
| Story | 13,708 | 65.26% | 7,281 | 34.66% | 10 | 0.05% | 5 | 0.02% | 6,427 | 30.60% | 21,004 |
| Tama | 5,535 | 52.78% | 4,950 | 47.21% | 1 | 0.01% | 0 | 0.00% | 585 | 5.58% | 10,486 |
| Taylor | 3,452 | 61.85% | 2,126 | 38.09% | 3 | 0.05% | 0 | 0.00% | 1,326 | 23.76% | 5,581 |
| Union | 4,417 | 61.85% | 2,720 | 38.08% | 3 | 0.04% | 2 | 0.03% | 1,697 | 23.76% | 7,142 |
| Van Buren | 3,129 | 63.94% | 1,760 | 35.96% | 3 | 0.06% | 2 | 0.04% | 1,369 | 27.97% | 4,894 |
| Wapello | 11,036 | 49.79% | 11,116 | 50.15% | 8 | 0.04% | 7 | 0.03% | -80 | -0.36% | 22,167 |
| Warren | 6,013 | 59.25% | 4,136 | 40.75% | 0 | 0.00% | 0 | 0.00% | 1,877 | 18.49% | 10,149 |
| Washington | 5,861 | 64.48% | 3,222 | 35.45% | 5 | 0.06% | 1 | 0.01% | 2,639 | 29.04% | 9,089 |
| Wayne | 3,401 | 59.51% | 2,307 | 40.37% | 5 | 0.09% | 2 | 0.03% | 1,094 | 19.14% | 5,715 |
| Webster | 10,741 | 50.11% | 10,680 | 49.83% | 12 | 0.06% | 2 | 0.01% | 61 | 0.28% | 21,435 |
| Winnebago | 4,082 | 62.33% | 2,463 | 37.61% | 4 | 0.06% | 0 | 0.00% | 1,619 | 24.72% | 6,549 |
| Winneshiek | 5,737 | 54.48% | 4,786 | 45.45% | 5 | 0.05% | 2 | 0.02% | 951 | 9.03% | 10,530 |
| Woodbury | 26,832 | 55.05% | 21,906 | 44.94% | 4 | 0.01% | 2 | 0.00% | 4,926 | 10.11% | 48,744 |
| Worth | 2,740 | 54.28% | 2,303 | 45.62% | 5 | 0.10% | 0 | 0.00% | 437 | 8.66% | 5,048 |
| Wright | 5,386 | 56.34% | 4,159 | 43.50% | 15 | 0.16% | 0 | 0.00% | 1,227 | 12.83% | 9,560 |
| Totals | 722,381 | 56.71% | 550,565 | 43.22% | 634 | 0.05% | 230 | 0.02% | 171,816 | 13.49% | 1,273,810 |