The 1960 Democratic National Convention was held in Los Angeles , California . In the week before the convention opened , Kennedy received two new challengers when Lyndon B. Johnson , the powerful Senate Majority Leader from Texas , and Adlai Stevenson , the party 's nominee in 1952 and 1956 , officially announced their candidacies ( they had both privately been working for the nomination for some time ) . However , neither Johnson nor Stevenson was a match for the talented and highly efficient Kennedy campaign team led by Robert F. Kennedy . Johnson challenged Kennedy to a televised debate before a joint meeting of the Texas and Massachusetts delegations , to which Kennedy accepted . Most observers believed that Kennedy won the debate , and Johnson was unable to expand his delegate support beyond the South . Johnson received all 33 of Georgia 's votes at the Democratic National Convention and was chosen by Georgia . Stevenson 's failure to launch his candidacy publicly until the week of the convention meant that many liberal delegates who might have supported him were already pledged to Kennedy , and Stevenson — despite the energetic support of former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt — could not break their allegiance . Kennedy won the nomination on the first ballot
1960 Democratic National Convention
1960 Democratic National Convention
1960 United States presidential election