1960

 

Presidential Nominee John F. Kennedy's Visit to the Alamo

On September 12, 1960, Democratic presidential nominee John F. Kennedy, his running mate Lyndon B. Johnson, and Senator Ralph Yarborough stopped at the Alamo during Kennedy’s campaign. Less than two months later he defeated Republican candidate Richard Nixon.

This visit, however, was not Kennedy’s only visit to San Antonio; he and his wife, Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy, were in the Alamo City on November 21, 1963, the day before he was assassinated in Dallas. San Antonio was the first stop of a planned two-day, five-city tour of Texas, which was held in preparation for Kennedy’s 1964 presidential campaign. While in the city, the President spoke at the dedication of four buildings in the complex that housed the United States Air Force Aerospace Medical Division at Brooks Air Force Base. According to the Handbook of Texas and other sources, Kennedy’s speech at this event was his final official act as president. 

This photo from 1960 is part of the DRT Library’s Octavia West collection.