On July 15, 1960, Senator John F. Kennedy accepted his party’s nomination for president at the Democratic National Convention at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. His chosen running mate was Texas Senator Lyndon Johnson, and his memorable speech became known as “The New Frontier.”
In his speech, he famously said “The New Frontier of which I speak is not a set of promises – it is a set of challenges. It sums up not what I intend to offer the American people, but what I intend to ask of them.”
Kennedy’s campaign was based on the separation of church and state, as well as regaining the support of Black voters for the Democratic party. The convention was one of many key moments in Coliseum history for the community to interact with political figures.