Fifty Years Ago Today: The New Hampshire Primary

Fifty years ago today, on March 8, 1960, Richard Nixon and John Kennedy won their parties’ New Hampshire presidential primaries.  The anniversary is an occasion to ponder how the presidential nomination process has changed.  In 1960, there were only 16 primaries.  In other states, as we can read in The Making of the President 1960, party organizations or leaders picked delegates.  In 2008, most states had primaries while the remainder had caucuses open to rank-and-file party voters.  Fifty years ago, the primaries were just starting in early March.  In 2008, most had already taken place, with New Hampshire voting on January 8.