Incumbent Vice President Richard Nixon faced little opposition for the 1960 Republican nomination . He easily won the party 's primaries and received the nearly-unanimous backing of the delegates at the 1960 Republican National Convention . Nixon chose Henry Cabot Lodge , Jr. , the chief U.S. delegate to the United Nations , as his running mate . Both presidential nominees traveled extensively during the course of the campaign . Not wanting to concede any state as " unwinnable , " Nixon undertook a fifty-state strategy , while Kennedy focused the states with the most electoral votes . Ideologically , Kennedy and Nixon agreed on the continuation of the New Deal and the Cold War containment policy . Major issues in the campaign included the economy , Kennedy 's Catholicism , Cuba , and whether the Soviet space and missile programs had surpassed those of the U.S
1960 Republican National Convention
1960 Republican National Convention
Presidency of John F. Kennedy