The United States presidential election of 1960 marked the end of Dwight D. Eisenhower's two terms as President. Eisenhower's Vice President, Richard M. Nixon, who had transformed his office into a national political base, was the Republican (GOP) candidate.

The Democrats nominated Massachusetts Senator John F. Kennedy (JFK). He was only the second Roman Catholic to become a major-party presidential candidate (the previous one was Democrat Al Smith in 1928). During the campaign, Kennedy charged that under Eisenhower and the Republicans America was falling behind the Soviet Union in the Cold War, both militarily and economically, and that as President he would "get America moving again". Nixon responded that, if elected, he would continue the "peace and prosperity" Eisenhower had brought the nation, and that with the nation engaged in the Cold War, Kennedy was too young and inexperienced to be trusted with the Presidency. The electoral vote was the closest in any presidential election dating to 1916, and Kennedy's margin of victory in the popular vote is among the closest ever in American history. The 1960 election also remains a source of debate among some historians as to whether vote theft in selected states aided Kennedy's victory.