The Issues and the Rhetoric.

As in most campaigns the important political issues of 1960 became lost in rhetoric and personality issues. Both candidates called for a strong defense against communism. Kennedy stressed the missile gap between the United States and the Soviet Union and pointed to incidents such as the U-2 affair and the collapse of the Eisenhower-Khrushchev summit to bolster his charge that the United States had lost international prestige. As he traveled the country he proclaimed over and over, "This is a great country. But I think it can be greater. I think we can do better. I think we can make this country move again." Defending Eisenhower's record and charging that Kennedy would be too soft on the Russians, Nixon made his campaign motto "Peace without Surrender." Kennedy scored points on the economy, warning that the United States was "slipping...