Renegade: The Life and Times of Senator David MacKenzie (R-VT)

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Campaign 1960: Settling the New Frontier

During the early months of the 1960 presidential campaign, Dave MacKenzie was in somewhat of a quandary.  The 18-year old was not yet old enough to vote (as the voting age at this time was 21),  but, due to the influence of his parents, was very interested in politics.  Mom and Dad raised me well, Dave would reflect in his later years.  But for now, his attention was primarily focused on the presidential election.  Orville and Nancy MacKenzie were active with the Republican party in southern Vermont, and during the GOP nomination contests, remained relatively neutral.  Like his parents, Dave was noncommittal on a candidate, just as long as it was a Republican.  However, the clear frontrunner for the Reupublican nomination was incumbent Vice President Richard Nixon.  Dave and his parents all expressed strong admiration for the dynamic Californian due to his support for civil rights and anti-communist stance.  On the other hand, each of them also liked Nelson Rockefeller, the first-term governor of New York.  Rocky, as he was affectionately called, was also a strong supporter of civil rights but took a more moderate stance toward the preservation of New Deal programs, something that made the governor attractive to the MacKenzies.  The other major contender, Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater, was seen as a rising star in the conservative wing of the GOP, supporting a number of libertarian policies and the scaling back of the New Deal.  While neither Dave nor his parents were particularly supportive of his positions, they nonetheless admired his courage and conviction.

The Republican nomination turned out to be a cakewalk for Nixon, who chose former Massachusetts senator Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. as his running mate.  In the general election, Nixon faced another Massachusetts senator, the young, charismatic John F. Kennedy, who had won the Democratic nomination after a hard-fought contest and had defeated Lodge for the Senate eight years earlier.  As soon as it became clear that Nixon would be the GOP nominee, Dave joined the Vice President's campaign while he prepared to begin his freshman year at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the fall.  During the campaign, Kennedy, a Catholic, faced much questioning about his religious beliefs and how it would affect his decisions as president.  The MacKenzies were Protestant but nonetheless had no qualms with Kennedy's religion.  Orville MacKenzie, though a Nixon supporter himself, expressed much admiration for Kennedy's youth, charisma, and charm.  However, he feared that the senator lacked the necessary experience for the presidency.  As the fall campaign heated up, Dave packed his bags and headed for MIT, while his parents were left to work on the Nixon campaign by themselves back in Vermont.  One of the more exciting twists was the first televised presidential debates.  As Dave's parents watched the debates at home, Dave, who lacked access to a television set in his dorm, was forced to listen on the radio.  Meanwhile, in Vermont's at-large congressional election, incumbent Democrat William Meyer was running for a second term against Republican governor Robert Stafford.  Two years earlier, Meyer had broken over a century of GOP control on every statewide office in Vermont, a fact that caused much chagrin for Orville MacKenzie.  With a presidential year suggesting a higher Republican turnout in Vermont, the elder MacKenzie was outspoken in his opposition to Meyer and his enthusiasm to see him defeated. 

On Election Day, November 8, 1960, Orville and Nancy MacKenzie enthusiastically cast their votes for Vice President Nixon, while Dave met with his coworkers on the Nixon campaign to watch the results on TV at one of the volunteers' homes.  The election turned out to be one of the closest in American history, but when all the votes were counted, Kennedy emerged victorious, taking 309 of 537 electoral votes and winning the popular vote by a scant 0.2 percent.  In the Vermont congressional election, Governor Stafford successfully knocked off Congressman Meyer.  After the election, Dave called his father.  Though the MacKenzie patriarch was disappointed by Nixon's loss, he stated that the new president-elect had his full support and was also overjoyed to see the GOP regain the state's lone House seat from Meyer. 

President

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Sen. John F. Kennedy (D-MA)/Sen. Lyndon B. Johnson (D-TX): 309
Vice Pres. Richard Nixon (R-CA)/Fmr. Sen. Henry Cabot Lodge (R-MA): 220
Unpledged Democratic Electors: 8

Senate

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Democrats: 65 (-1)
Republicans: 35 (+1)

House

Democrats: 262 (-21)
Republicans: 175 (+22)

You didn't bold right.