In the national popular vote, by most accounts, Kennedy led Nixon by just two-tenths of one percent (49.7% to 49.5%), while in the Electoral College, he won 303 votes to Nixon's 219 (269 were needed to win).[133] Fourteen electors from Mississippi and Alabama refused to support Kennedy because of his support for the civil rights movement; they voted for Senator Harry F. Byrd of Virginia, as did an elector from Oklahoma.[133] Forty-three years old, Kennedy was the youngest person ever elected to the presidency (though Theodore Roosevelt was a year younger when, as vice-president, he succeeded to the presidency after the assassination of William McKinley in 1901).[134]

Presidency (1961–1963)
Main article: Presidency of John F. Kennedy
For a chronological guide, see Timeline of the John F. Kennedy presidency.

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John F. Kennedy's Inaugural Address

Chief Justice Earl Warren administers the presidential oath of office to Kennedy at the Capitol, January 20, 1961.
John F. Kennedy was sworn in as the 35th president at noon on January 20, 1961. 