1952 — Kennedy Becomes a United States Senator
The seed for JFK’s intentions to run for the Senate in 1952 was planted as early as 1949, just three years into the eventual six years he would serve in the House of Representatives. And he would face not just a formidable opponent in Republican three-term incumbent Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. but a man who came from a political dynasty of his own as he could trace his ancestry back to the very first Puritans to settle in New England.
Lodge had been a senator since 1936 and was hugely popular not just because of the strength of his name, reputation, and the years of respect he commanded, but also the fact that he was the first senator since the Civil War to resign his seat to serve in the military.
However, this would not stop JFK, with the help of his younger brother Robert as campaign manager, from defeating Lodge by 70,000 votes. This victory would not only replace the 52 year old Republican senator but replace his political dynasty with his own. He was just 35 years old when he won this historic victory.
