In the final days of the 1960 campaign, Senate Majority Leader Lyndon Johnson and his wife Lady Bird were accosted by demonstrators while visiting Dallas. This incident gained national media attention at the time, and it would return immediately after the assassination in 1963 as a powerful example of the city’s volatile political atmosphere. Through …

In 1960: LBJ vs. JFK vs. Nixon, award-winning presidential historian David Pietrusza crafted a revealing, electrifying portrait of the first modern-day presidential campaign, the epic battle between Sen. John F. Kennedy and Vice President Richard Nixon. It was the first campaign to utilize the power of television, the first in which all fifty states would participate and …

Photographs and artifacts tell unique and sometimes surprising stories. This new temporary exhibit highlighted the Museum’s favorite—and most interesting—objects and images from the 1960 campaign, including materials from Senator Kennedy’s visit to the Dallas-Fort Worth area in September 1960.

Cuba, often at center stage in international affairs, is again the focus of global attention. After Fidel Castro stepped down after nearly fifty years as Cuba's leader, his brother, Raúl Castro, embarked upon a series of reforms that are gradually but fundamentally changing the country. The 2014 announcement to normalize Cuba-U.S. relations after over five …

Mrs. Nixon and Mrs. Kennedy both supported their husbands as they campaigned for president but did so in very different ways. Mrs. Nixon accompanied her husband everywhere, and he referred to her in almost every speech. Mrs. Kennedy hated campaigning and avoided it when possible – aided in part by her pregnancy. This exploration of …