After Rockefeller 's withdrawal , Nixon faced no significant opposition for the Republican nomination . At the 1960 Republican National Convention in Chicago , Illinois , Nixon was the overwhelming choice of the delegates , with conservative Senator Barry Goldwater from Arizona receiving 10 votes from conservative delegates . In earning the nomination , Nixon became the first sitting vice president to run for president since John C. Breckinridge exactly a century prior . Nixon then chose former Massachusetts Senator and United Nations Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. , as his vice presidential running mate . Nixon chose Lodge because his foreign-policy credentials fit into Nixon 's strategy to campaign more on foreign policy than domestic policy , which he believed favored the Democrats . Nixon had previously sought Rockefeller as his running mate , but the governor had no ambitions to be vice president . However , he later served as Gerald Ford 's vice president from 1974 to 1977
1960 Republican National Convention
1960 Republican National Convention
1960 United States presidential election