How to Lose a Presidential Election in the 20th Century

Presidential Election
United Press International, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

1. Turn Up The Heat

In 1960 the second term of President Eisenhower came to an end as the ratification of the 22nd Amendment in 1951 prevented him from serving a third term, making him the first president to be constitutionally denied another four years in office. For a Republican successor, all eyes turned to his then Vice President, Richard Milhouse Nixon.

Unfortunately for Nixon, an practically unknown junior Democratic senator for Massachusetts was gaining a lot of traction not only for his youth and exuberance, but the now legendary John Fitzgerald Kennedy had some serious clout backing in the shape of a rich father and his siblings forming a powerful election campaign organization.

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