John Allen Tucker

John F. Kennedy's North Carolina Campaign John Allen Tucker

On September 17, 1960, Sen. John F. Kennedy, the Democratic
nominee for president, flew to Greenville for a campaign rally
on the campus of East Carolina College. Kennedy's ECC rally was
part of a marathon daylong blitz that continued statewide through
Greensboro and Charlotte. The campaign intended to go as far west
as Asheville but due to inclement weather concluded with dinner at
the governor's mansion in Raleigh and a rally at Reynolds Coliseum.
With photographs as key primary sources, John F. Kennedy's North
Carolina Campaign explores what happened that day, why it happened,
and its significance in North Carolina's political history. While the
book focuses on the East Carolina College rally, which was the first
of the day, Kennedy's subsequent rallies ultimately bore statewide and
national significance, making it impossible to examine only one stop
without contextualizing it in relation to the remainder.