John F. Kennedy photo

Remarks by Senator John F. Kennedy, New Castle County Airport, Wilmington, DE - (Advance Release Text)

October 16, 1960

Yesterday in the setting of Barry Goldwater Republicanism in Arizona, Vice President Nixon finally confessed to the Nation that he is a Republican and backs Republican candidates throughout the Nation.

The 1960's leading proponent of the theory that it is the man, not the party, let his hair down and said he was for every Republican candidate in the Nation and that any time he found one he couldn't support he would get out of the party. In this statement the Vice President frankly associated himself with the policies of Goldwater and Dirksen, Mundt and Curtis.

We welcome Mr. Nixon's candid confession at this late hour that he is a Republican. This is something we have been saying all along. The Nation should take this confession at its face value or it is Mr. Nixon and his party who have steadfastly opposed measures needed by the people of this country - who have fought raising the minimum wage to $1.25, who have vetoed adequate measures for housing and education, who have opposed the raising of teachers' salaries, who have fought the setting up of an adequate medical care plan under social security, who have twice vetoed bills destined to give America's depressed areas a chance. Mr. Nixon's statement in Phoenix is just another example of how he talks out of both sides of his mouth. One way in Goldwater land, another way in Rockefeller land, one way in the North, another way in the South, one way to bankers, and another way to the labor unions. The rainbowlike spectrum of his political beliefs defies description in either color or breadth. For an examination of Mr. Nixon's record reveals his special ability to stand on almost every issue during the 14 years of his career. The latest and most serious example being his trigger-happy stand on Quemoy and Matsu, on the one hand, and his fanatical clutching of President Eisenhower's position on Quemoy and Matsu, on the other.

John F. Kennedy, Remarks by Senator John F. Kennedy, New Castle County Airport, Wilmington, DE - (Advance Release Text) Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/274751

Simple Search of Our Archives