1960: Johnson/Lodge 263
Humphrey/Fulbright 225
Patterson/Byrd 49
After eight years of the Eisenhower administration Vice-President Nixon was the heavy favorite going into the primaries. However the young and energetic Governor of New Jersey John Fitzgerald Johnson had built up a solid campaign organization and base of support. He was able to pull off upsets in several key primary states and as a Catholic was able to pick up the endorsement of many GOP leaders who felt that he could bring many white ethnic voters into the Republican fold. At the Republican convention Johnson upset Nixon and was nominated on the first ballot.
The Democratic nominee Hubert Humphrey easily managed to make it through the nominating process with only token opposition from regional candidates. The election was highly close, on one hand Johnson ran in defense of the Eisenhower platform but was more hawkish, talking about the need to upset the Soviets in space. He had intense support among younger voters and as expected many solidly Democratic neighborhoods in New York, Boston and Chicago were trending Republican for the first time in history. On the other hand Humphrey attacked him as a royalist, and received solid support from the AFL-CIO which highlighted many of the horrendous union busting policies in the Johnson Hotels and Casinos in Atlantic City. This led to him having the strongest support among blue collar workers in the midwest. Both candidates were ardent champions of civil rights, however Johnson outmanuvered Humphrey running to his left by pointing out that he would not be beholden to the dixiecrats. Many African-Americans welcomed the opportunity to finally have a candidate in the party of Lincoln that they could enthusiastically support.
On election night Johnson narrowly won the popular vote and electoral college. The dixiecrat party had been reformed due to the region's strong hatred of Humphrey and won enough electoral votes to deny Johnson a clear majority in the electoral college. A constitutional crises ensued as balloting in the house began. Both candidates who had previously been champions of civil rights began suddenly playing to the worst of southern bigotries in an attempt to win over there support and swing the election. Ultimately Humphrey became president with no popular mandate which later led to the passage of a constitutional amendment outlawing the electoral college.
