1960 United States presidential election in Mississippi
November 8, 1960
 
Nominee Harry F. Byrd
(by unpledged electors)		 John F. Kennedy Richard Nixon
Party Southern Democrat Democratic Republican
Home state Virginia Massachusetts California
Running mate Strom Thurmond Lyndon B. Johnson Henry Cabot Lodge Jr.
Electoral vote 8 0 0
Popular vote 116,248 108,362 73,561
Percentage 38.99% 36.34% 24.67%

The 1960 United States presidential election in Mississippi took place on November 8, 1960, as part of the 1960 United States presidential election. Voters chose eight representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president. This was the last election in which Mississippi had eight electoral votes: the Great Migration caused the state to lose congressional districts for the third time in four censuses before the next election.

The election saw the only case of a state being carried by a slate of unpledged electors. The Magnolia State voted narrowly for this slate, who voted unanimously for long-time Virginia Senator and political machine director Harry Flood Byrd, over the national Democratic nominee John F. Kennedy. Republican nominee and outgoing vice-President Richard Nixon came in third, with his percentage of the vote practically unchanged from what President Dwight D. Eisenhower recorded in 1956.

Governor Ross Barnett, a segregationist, was faced with a severe dilemma upon becoming governor at the beginning of the year owing to the rigid opposition of Mississippi’s limited and almost exclusively white electorate[1] to the active Civil Rights Movement. Pressured by the "Citizens' Council" who wished to unite the South behind a white-supremacist Democratic candidate,[2] Governor Barnett repeated James P. Coleman’s strategy from 1956 and nominated two sets of Democratic Party electors for the presidential ballot.[3] The first slate was pledged to Kennedy, while the other was not pledged to any candidate. The aim of placing unpledged electors on the ballot was to gain leverage from either major party in a close election,[3] with the possibility of the House of Representatives electing a candidate more favourable to opponents of Brown v. Board of Education than either national major party nominee.[4]

Because Kennedy’s record on civil rights was considered poor by the movement’s supporters, Senators John C. Stennis and James Eastland supported his candidacy, although state-level politicians were not at all supportive.[5] The state’s media saw a vigorous debate between the loyalist and unpledged Democrats in the week before the election.[6] Outside heavily French-settled Hancock County, which has greater cultural ties with Louisiana than with most of the rest of Mississippi, Kennedy’s Catholic faith was also considered suspect.[7]

Polls

Source Ranking As of
The Philadelphia Inquirer[8] Tilt I (Flip) October 3, 1960
Knoxville News Sentinel[9] Tossup October 23, 1960
Daily News[10] Likely D October 28, 1960
The Daily Item[11] Tilt D November 4, 1960
The Clarion-Ledger[12] Tilt D November 7, 1960
Hattiesburg American[13] Lean D November 7, 1960

Results

1960 United States presidential election in Mississippi[14]
Party Candidate Votes Percentage Electoral votes
Unpledged Electors — 116,248 38.99% 8
Democratic John F. Kennedy 108,362 36.34% 0
Republican Richard Nixon 73,561 24.67% 0
Totals 298,171 100.00% 8

Results by county

1960 United States presidential election in Mississippi by county[15]
County John Fitzgerald Kennedy
Democratic		 Richard Milhous Nixon
Republican		 Unpledged Electors
Democratic		 Margin[lower-alpha 1] Total votes cast
#  % #  % #  % #  %
Adams 1,452 27.90% 1,227 23.57% 2,526 48.53% -1,074 -20.63% 5,205
Alcorn 3,054 68.25% 820 18.32% 601 13.43% 2,234[lower-alpha 2] 49.93% 4,475
Amite 338 14.85% 283 12.43% 1,655 72.72% -1,317 -57.87% 2,276
Attala 1,337 40.91% 650 19.89% 1,281 39.20% 56 1.71% 3,268
Benton 568 52.06% 175 16.04% 348 31.90% 220 20.16% 1,091
Bolivar 1,119 29.69% 1,012 26.85% 1,638 43.46% -519 -13.77% 3,769
Calhoun 765 31.26% 383 15.65% 1,299 53.09% -534 -21.83% 2,447
Carroll 425 28.87% 207 14.06% 840 57.07% -415 -28.20% 1,472
Chickasaw 791 31.17% 385 15.17% 1,362 53.66% -571 -22.49% 2,538
Choctaw 817 49.64% 245 14.88% 584 35.48% 233 14.16% 1,646
Claiborne 205 19.79% 180 17.37% 651 62.84% -446 -43.05% 1,036
Clarke 1,244 37.61% 586 17.71% 1,478 44.68% -234 -7.07% 3,308
Clay 626 26.39% 451 19.01% 1,295 54.60% -669 -28.21% 2,372
Coahoma 1,386 35.84% 1,096 28.34% 1,385 35.82% 1 0.02% 3,867
Copiah 896 24.79% 761 21.06% 1,957 54.15% -1,061 -29.36% 3,614
Covington 842 38.31% 371 16.88% 985 44.81% -143 -6.50% 2,198
DeSoto 795 38.18% 553 26.56% 734 35.25% 61 2.93% 2,082
Forrest 2,068 23.96% 3,412 39.53% 3,152 36.52% 260[lower-alpha 3] 3.01% 8,632
Franklin 441 26.25% 124 7.38% 1,115 66.37% -674 -40.12% 1,680
George 844 40.75% 310 14.97% 917 44.28% -73 -3.53% 2,071
Greene 550 34.85% 247 15.65% 781 49.49% -231 -14.64% 1,578
Grenada 529 22.58% 682 29.11% 1,132 48.31% -450[lower-alpha 3] -19.20% 2,343
Hancock 2,132 63.58% 719 21.44% 502 14.97% 1,413[lower-alpha 2] 42.14% 3,353
Harrison 8,961 53.47% 5,177 30.89% 2,621 15.64% 3,784[lower-alpha 2] 22.58% 16,759
Hinds 5,811 20.05% 11,083 38.23% 12,094 41.72% -1,011[lower-alpha 3] -3.49% 28,988
Holmes 628 24.46% 455 17.72% 1,484 57.81% -856 -33.35% 2,567
Humphreys 459 32.28% 231 16.24% 732 51.48% -273 -19.20% 1,422
Issaquena 178 42.08% 64 15.13% 181 42.79% -3 -0.71% 423
Itawamba 1,752 63.23% 366 13.21% 653 23.57% 1,099 39.66% 2,771
Jackson 5,000 54.50% 2,266 24.70% 1,908 20.80% 2,734[lower-alpha 2] 29.80% 9,174
Jasper 1,147 47.10% 362 14.87% 926 38.03% 221 9.07% 2,435
Jefferson 229 20.93% 137 12.52% 728 66.54% -499 -45.61% 1,094
Jefferson Davis 510 29.60% 225 13.06% 988 57.34% -478 -27.74% 1,723
Jones 4,871 46.27% 2,729 25.92% 2,928 27.81% 1,943 18.46% 10,528
Kemper 931 54.41% 193 11.28% 587 34.31% 344 20.10% 1,711
Lafayette 1,308 44.76% 705 24.13% 909 31.11% 399 13.65% 2,922
Lamar 651 27.90% 636 27.26% 1,046 44.83% -395 -16.93% 2,333
Lauderdale 3,755 34.95% 2,836 26.39% 4,154 38.66% -399 -3.71% 10,745
Lawrence 469 28.41% 259 15.69% 923 55.91% -454 -27.50% 1,651
Leake 953 29.32% 286 8.80% 2,011 61.88% -1,058 -32.56% 3,250
Lee 3,653 55.01% 1,550 23.34% 1,438 21.65% 2,103[lower-alpha 2] 31.67% 6,641
Leflore 1,212 26.12% 1,317 28.38% 2,112 45.51% -795[lower-alpha 3] -17.13% 4,641
Lincoln 1,449 29.66% 1,251 25.61% 2,185 44.73% -736 -15.07% 4,885
Lowndes 1,240 26.50% 2,010 42.95% 1,430 30.56% 580[lower-alpha 3] 12.39% 4,680
Madison 753 26.32% 525 18.35% 1,583 55.33% -830 -29.01% 2,861
Marion 1,082 35.53% 698 22.92% 1,265 41.54% -183 -6.01% 3,045
Marshall 681 38.15% 404 22.63% 700 39.22% -19 -1.07% 1,785
Monroe 1,901 39.12% 1,400 28.81% 1,559 32.08% 342 7.04% 4,860
Montgomery 623 31.64% 585 29.71% 761 38.65% -138 -7.01% 1,969
Neshoba 1,840 44.49% 580 14.02% 1,716 41.49% 124 3.00% 4,136
Newton 912 27.01% 508 15.05% 1,956 57.94% -1,044 -30.93% 3,376
Noxubee 277 18.60% 342 22.97% 870 58.43% -528[lower-alpha 3] -35.46% 1,489
Oktibbeha 915 26.79% 829 24.27% 1,672 48.95% -757 -22.16% 3,416
Panola 841 29.12% 643 22.26% 1,404 48.61% -563 -19.49% 2,888
Pearl River 1,276 36.64% 651 18.69% 1,556 44.67% -280 -8.03% 3,483
Perry 514 38.24% 274 20.39% 556 41.37% -42 -3.13% 1,344
Pike 1,258 23.48% 1,467 27.38% 2,632 49.13% -1,165[lower-alpha 3] -21.75% 5,357
Pontotoc 1,584 58.58% 328 12.13% 792 29.29% 792 29.29% 2,704
Prentiss 1,777 59.53% 740 24.79% 468 15.68% 1,037[lower-alpha 2] 34.74% 2,985
Quitman 583 37.47% 299 19.22% 674 43.32% -91 -5.85% 1,556
Rankin 850 17.77% 818 17.11% 3,114 65.12% -2,264 -47.35% 4,782
Scott 1,024 29.49% 607 17.48% 1,841 53.02% -817 -23.53% 3,472
Sharkey 263 26.12% 313 31.08% 431 42.80% -118[lower-alpha 3] -11.72% 1,007
Simpson 1,034 32.23% 606 18.89% 1,568 48.88% -534 -16.65% 3,208
Smith 1,568 53.22% 353 11.98% 1,025 34.79% 543 18.43% 2,946
Stone 343 23.89% 275 19.15% 818 56.96% -475 -33.07% 1,436
Sunflower 1,033 29.93% 1,177 34.11% 1,241 35.96% -64[lower-alpha 3] -1.85% 3,451
Tallahatchie 830 31.96% 346 13.32% 1,421 54.72% -591 -22.76% 2,597
Tate 686 38.71% 241 13.60% 845 47.69% -159 -8.98% 1,772
Tippah 1,939 67.05% 486 16.80% 467 16.15% 1,453[lower-alpha 2] 50.25% 2,892
Tishomingo 1,222 50.35% 536 22.08% 669 27.56% 553 22.79% 2,427
Tunica 323 36.01% 334 37.24% 240 26.76% -11[lower-alpha 2] -1.23% 897
Union 2,001 60.73% 605 18.36% 689 20.91% 1,312 39.82% 3,295
Walthall 747 34.92% 310 14.49% 1,082 50.58% -335 -15.66% 2,139
Warren 2,289 34.75% 2,277 34.57% 2,021 30.68% 12[lower-alpha 2] 0.18% 6,587
Washington 3,105 46.66% 2,292 34.44% 1,258 18.90% 813[lower-alpha 2] 12.22% 6,655
Wayne 707 31.66% 490 21.94% 1,036 46.39% -329 -14.73% 2,233
Webster 553 27.30% 299 14.76% 1,174 57.95% -621 -30.65% 2,026
Wilkinson 216 17.68% 174 14.24% 832 68.09% -616 -50.41% 1,222
Winston 1,056 35.60% 405 13.65% 1,505 50.74% -449 -15.14% 2,966
Yalobusha 650 34.16% 549 28.85% 704 36.99% -54 -2.83% 1,903
Yazoo 715 21.41% 778 23.29% 1,847 55.30% -1,069[lower-alpha 3] -32.01% 3,340
Totals108,36236.34%73,56124.67%116,24838.99%-7.886-2.65%298,171

Analysis

In the coastal counties, Kennedy improved considerably upon what Adlai Stevenson II achieved in 1956, but except for those counties around the cities of Natchez and Vicksburg, Kennedy otherwise showed a major decline from the Democratic result in 1956.[7] Kennedy held up best in the poor white upcountry counties that had historically been much more anti-Catholic than the Black Belt,[16] suggesting that voters throughout the state had become more suspicious of the Democrats’ civil rights policies. Since the Republican percentage of the vote essentially failed to change – Nixon lost Hancock to Kennedy and Adams and Warren to the unpledged slate but picked up Tunica and Lowndes Counties – the unpledged slate took almost all of Kennedy’s lost votes and thus shaded him for the state overall.

Despite Kennedy’s statewide defeat being only the second for a national Democrat in Mississippi since Reconstruction, this remains the last election when the coastal, French-influenced counties of Harrison and Jackson have voted for a Democratic presidential nominee.[17] The following landlocked counties have also never voted Democratic since: Choctaw, Jones and Smith.[17] Warren County would not vote Democratic again until Barack Obama won it in 2012.[18]

Tunica County voted Republican for the first time since 1888.[19]

Notes

  1. ↑ Because the unpledged slate won Mississippi and Kennedy finished second behind the unpledged slate in Mississippi as a whole, all margins given are Kennedy vote minus unpledged vote and percentage margins Kennedy percentage minus unpledged percentage unless otherwise noted for the county in question
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 In this county where the unpledged slate did finish third behind both Kennedy and Nixon, margin given is Kennedy vote minus Nixon vote and percentage margin Kennedy percentage minus Nixon percentage.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 In this county where Kennedy ran third behind both Nixon and the unpledged slate, margin given is Nixon vote minus unpledged vote and percentage margin Nixon percentage minus unpledged percentage.

References

  1. ↑ See Bullock, Charles S.; Gaddie, Ronald Keith. The Triumph of Voting Rights in the South. pp. 31–33. ISBN 0806185309.
  2. ↑ McMillen, Neil R. The Citizens' Council: Organized Resistance to the Second Reconstruction, 1954-64. p. 333. ISBN 0252064410.
  3. 1 2 Crespino, Joseph. In Search of Another Country: Mississippi and the Conservative Counterrevolution. pp. 35–36. ISBN 0691122091.
  4. ↑ Hills, Charles M. (October 11, 1960). "Barnett's Colonels Hear Elector Plan". Clarion-Ledger. Jackson, Mississippi. pp. 1, 6.
  5. ↑ Bolton, Charles C. William F. Winter and the New Mississippi: A Biography. p. 113. ISBN 1617037877.
  6. ↑ "Loyalist, Unpledged Slug Away on Television". Enterprise-Journal. McComb, Mississippi. November 3, 1960. p. 7.
  7. 1 2 Menendez, Albert J. The Religious Factor in the 1960 Presidential Election: An Analysis of the Kennedy Victory over Anti-Catholic Prejudice. pp. 132–133. ISBN 0786484934.
  8. ↑ Hoffman, Fred S. (October 3, 1960). "How Election Looks Today". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Philadelphia. pp. 1, 3.
  9. ↑ "Populous States Are Key: Both Parties Claim Enough Votes To Win". Knoxville News Sentinel. Knoxville, Tennessee. October 23, 1960. p. A-4.
  10. ↑ Lewis, Ted (October 28, 1960). "Campaign Circus". Daily News. Jersey City, New Jersey. p. 4C.
  11. ↑ "Poll of Editors Predicts Victory for Nixon-Lodge: Republican Ticket Seen Winning in 28 States and Democrats in 19". The Daily Item. November 4, 1960. p. 3.
  12. ↑ Hoffman, Fred S. (November 7, 1960). "AP Poll Puts Jack Ahead in Electors". The Clarion-Ledger. Jackson, Mississippi. pp. 1–2.
  13. ↑ Gould, Geoffrey (November 7, 1960). "Final Survey Shows Race a Tossup to the Finish". Hattiesburg American. Hattiesburg, Mississippi. p. 16.
  14. ↑ Dave Leip’s Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections; 1960 Presidential General Election Results – Mississippi
  15. ↑ Scammon, Richard M. (compiler); America at the Polls: A Handbook of Presidential Election Statistics 1920-1964; pp. 253-254 ISBN 0405077114
  16. ↑ Phillips, Kevin P. (1969). The Emerging Republican Majority. New Rochelle, New York: Arlington House. pp. 220, 234–237. ISBN 0870000586.
  17. 1 2 Sullivan, Robert David; ‘How the Red and Blue Map Evolved Over the Past Century’; America Magazine in The National Catholic Review; June 29, 2016
  18. ↑ "Warren County, Mississippi Votes". The Political Graveyard.
  19. ↑ Menendez, Albert J. (2005). The Geography of Presidential Elections in the United States, 1868-2004. pp. 236–238. ISBN 0786422173.
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