 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 County results Congressional district results
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The1960 United States presidential election in Tennessee took place on November 8, 1960, as part of the1960 United States presidential election. Tennessee voters chose 11[2] representatives, or electors, to theElectoral College, who voted forpresident andvice president.
Ever sincethe Civil War, Tennessee’s white citizenry had been divided according to political loyalties established in that war.Unionist regions covering almost all ofEast Tennessee,Kentucky Pennyroyal-alliedMacon County, and theWestern Highland Rim counties ofCarroll,Henderson,McNairy,Hardin andWayne[3] voted Republican — generally by landslide margins — as they saw the Democratic Party as the "war party" who had forced them into a war they did not wish to fight.[4] Contrariwise, the rest ofMiddle andWest Tennessee who had supported and driven the state's secession were equally fiercely Democratic as it associated the Republicans withReconstruction.[5] The Democratic Party was certain of winning statewide elections if united,[6] although unlike the Deep South Republicans would almost always gain thirty to forty percent of the statewide vote from mountain and Highland Rim support even after most blacks were disenfranchised around 1890 bya poll tax[7] and intimidation.
Between 1896 and 1948, the Republicans would win statewide contests three times but only in the second amidst the national anti-Wilson tide of 1920[8] did they receive down-ballot coattails (in that election, winning three congressional seats in addition to the rock-ribbed GOP1st and2nd districts).[9] After the beginning ofthe Great Depression, however, for the next third of a century the Republicans would rarely seriously contest statewide offices, despite ongoing dominance of East Tennessee and half a dozenUnionist counties in the middle and west of the state.[10] State GOP leaderB. Carroll Reece is widely believed to have had agreements with Democratic leadersE. H. Crump and laterFrank G. Clement andBuford 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 TennesseeDixiecrat vote of 1948 allowedDwight D. Eisenhower to narrowly carry the state for the GOP in both 1952[12] and 1956.
For 1960, the nomination of Irish CatholicJohn F. Kennedy by the Democratic Party — who had made major gains inthe 1958 midterm elections — led to severe questioning of how Tennessee’s heavilyfundamentalist electorate would react to Kennedy’s Catholicism.[13]
During the campaign, both Kennedy andRepublican nomineeincumbent Vice PresidentRichard Nixon visited Tennessee in the second week of October.[14] Kennedy focused on Nixon’s supposed opposition to theTennessee Valley Authority, whilst Nixon focused on how his platform was closer to that ofthe Founding Fathers andAndrew Jackson than Kennedy’s. Kennedy, for his part, noted that the Democratic Party was founded by Tennessean Jackson.[14]
| Source | Ranking | As of |
|---|---|---|
| The Philadelphia Inquirer[15] | Tossup | October 3, 1960 |
| Knoxville News Sentinel[16] | Lean R | October 23, 1960 |
| Daily News[17] | Lean D(flip) | October 28, 1960 |
| The Daily Item[18] | Tilt R | November 4, 1960 |
| Los Angeles Times[19] | Tossup | November 6, 1960 |
| 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% | ||
| County[20] | Richard Nixon Republican | John F. Kennedy Democratic | Orval Faubus National States’ Rights | Rutherford 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 | -25.51% | 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 | 55.71% | 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 | 5.80% | 2,106 |
| Cocke | 6,581 | 81.30% | 1,442 | 17.81% | 34 | 0.42% | 38 | 0.47% | 5,139 | 63.49% | 8,095 |
| Coffee | 3,058 | 39.79% | 4,555 | 59.26% | 66 | 0.86% | 7 | 0.09% | -1,497 | -19.47% | 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 | -6.73% | 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 | -3.53% | 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 | 2.80% | 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 | -50.37% | 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 | -45.85% | 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 | 12.93% | 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 | -3.06% | 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 | 41.08% | 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 | -51.15% | 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 | -18.58% | 2,636 |
| Jefferson | 6,141 | 78.79% | 1,620 | 20.79% | 28 | 0.36% | 5 | 0.06% | 4,521 | 58.00% | 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 | 22.60% | 83,300 |
| Lake | 732 | 34.03% | 1,346 | 62.58% | 62 | 2.88% | 11 | 0.51% | -614 | -28.55% | 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 | -49.43% | 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 | -7.97% | 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 | -22.82% | 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 | 13.09% | 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 | -46.33% | 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 | -13.13% | 4,252 |
| Perry | 645 | 37.13% | 1,076 | 61.95% | 8 | 0.46% | 8 | 0.46% | -431 | -24.82% | 1,737 |
| Pickett | 1,154 | 67.05% | 567 | 32.95% | 0 | 0.00% | 0 | 0.00% | 587 | 34.10% | 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 | 49.95% | 4,411 |
| Sequatchie | 703 | 42.48% | 930 | 56.19% | 18 | 1.09% | 4 | 0.24% | -227 | -13.71% | 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 | 51.95% | 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 | 40.34% | 21,236 |
| Wayne | 2,912 | 75.21% | 931 | 24.04% | 17 | 0.44% | 12 | 0.31% | 1,981 | 51.17% | 3,872 |
| Weakley | 3,543 | 43.69% | 4,488 | 55.35% | 78 | 0.96% | 0 | 0.00% | -945 | -11.66% | 8,109 |
| White | 1,725 | 43.15% | 2,207 | 55.20% | 35 | 0.88% | 31 | 0.78% | -482 | -12.05% | 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 | 7.15% | 1,051,792 |
Counties that flipped from States' Rights to Republican
Tennessee was, despite unclear predictions before the election, comfortably won by Nixon andUnited States Ambassador to the United NationsHenry Cabot Lodge Jr., with 52.92 percent of the popular vote. Kennedy and running mateTexas SenatorLyndon B. Johnson won 45.77 percent of the popular vote.[21][22]
Nixon was the first losing Republican to win Tennessee and the only one untilJohn McCain in2008. Kennedy was the first Democrat to win without the state since1852. Nixon’s win was due to general gains due to the strong anti-Catholicism of this “Bible Belt” state.[23] UnlikeHerbert Hoover’s 1928 victory against previous Catholic nomineeAl Smith, Nixon also made strong gains amongst white voters of theBlack Belt who had deserted the Democrats sinceHarry S. Truman’s firstcivil rights proclamations.[24] Tennessee was one of six states that swung towards Republicans compared to 1956, alongside Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and South Carolina.[25]
State and district results of the1960 United States presidential election | ||
|---|---|---|
|  | |
.jpg)
