John F. Kennedy in Roanoke
(WDBJ Television, Roanoke, VA)

(This speech is identical to the one delivered on WDBJ tape 02-36, but this segment contains a much longer portion of JFK's speech.)Presidential candidate John F. Kennedy came to Roanoke for a campaign speech in 1960. Kennedy acknowledged the presence of Governors Battle and Almond, and Congressmen Jennings, Downing, Gary, and Hardy. The theme of Kennedy's speech was straightforward: "Virginia should not vote Republican." Kennedy said Virginia is the home of Thomas Jefferson's Democratic Party, and thus, it could not afford to elect Richard Nixon as President of the United States. Kennedy chided his Republican opponent Richard Nixon for his reliance on "body guards" to escort him through the state New York. Kennedy scoffed at Nixon's Republican supporters who accompanied to him to New York and campaigned on his behalf, including Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., Nelson Rockefeller, and President Eisenhower. Kennedy said, "the people of Virginia and the people of the United States must decide" whether a person who dodged a fifth television debate, or who needed an "escort guard" in New York, was fit to lead the people of the United States. Kennedy's rhetoric of virility and strength was meant to make Nixon appear weak, too weak to stand up to the Soviets. Kennedy said nothing about civil rights in this speech, instead hinging his campaign on strong Democratic traditions in Virginia and on foreign policy differences with his opponent.