Kammala wannan jumla: Sanata Kennedy ya gama na biyu a kuri'ar mataimakin shugaban kasa na
Babban Taron Jam'iyyar Democrat na 1956. Bayan da aka sake zabar shugaban kasa Dwight D. Eisenhower a kan Adlai Stevenson a zaben shugaban kasa na shekarar 1956, Kennedy ya fara shirya neman takarar shugaban kasa a zaben 1960. A watan Janairun 1960, Kennedy ya sanar da takararsa a zaben shugaban kasa na wannan shekarar. Sanata Hubert Humphrey na Minnesota ya fito a matsayin babban mai kalubalantar Kennedy a zaben fidda gwani na 1960 na Jam'iyyar Democrat, amma nasarar Kennedy a jihar West Virginia mai yawan Furotesta ta sa Humphrey ya janye daga tseren. A taron kasa na jam'iyyar Democrat na 1960, Kennedy ya yi watsi da kalubalen da Stevenson da Sanata Lyndon B. Johnson na Texas suka yi don lashe zaben shugaban kasa a kuri'ar farko ta taron. Kennedy ya zaɓi Johnson ya zama mataimakinsa na mataimakin shugaban kasa, duk da adawa daga wakilai masu sassaucin ra'ayi da kuma ma'aikatan Kennedy, ciki har da ɗan'uwansa Robert F. Kennedy. Kennedy ya yi imanin cewa kasancewar Johnson a kan tikitin zai yi kira ga masu jefa kuri'a na Kudu, kuma ya yi tunanin cewa Johnson zai iya zama mai haɗin kai ga Majalisar Dattijai.