d to run against functioning Republican Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. Kennedy was little known outside his congressional district therefore he began his campaign two years before the election, meeting with hundreds of thousands of people in Massachusetts. "Kennedy defeated Lodge by 70,000"1 votes despite the fact that Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Republican Presidential candidate, carried the state by just over 200,000 votes.As a candidate for the Senate, Kennedy promised the voters that he would do more for Massachusetts than Lodge had ever done. During his first two years as senator he backed legislation beneficial to the Massachusetts textile, fishing, watch, and transportation industries. In 1953, however, he defied regional interests and supported the Saint Lawrence Seaway project and later in 1955 he was the only New England senator to support renewal of the Reciprocal Trade Agreement Act that gave the President the power to lower U. S. tariffs, or taxes on import goods, in exchange for similar concessions from other countries. In 1957 Kennedy became a member of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and he later won a place on the Senate Committee on Improper Activities in the Labor Management Field. In 1958 he spent many of his weekends campaigning for reelection in Massachusetts senatorial contest. Kennedy wanted the 1960 Democratic presidential nomination, and almost as soon as the 1956 election was over, he began working toward it.Kennedy announced his candidacy early in 1960 and by the time the Democratic National Convention opened in July, he had won seven primary victories. When the convention opened, it appeared that Kennedy’s only serious challenge for the nomination would come from the Senate majority leader, Lyndon B. Johnson of Texas. However, Johnson was strong only among Southern delegates and Kennedy won the nomination on the first ballot and then persuaded Johnson to become his running...
