Viva Kennedy

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Viva Kennedy clubs were formed during the 1960 United States Presidential election campaign by Latino supporters of John F. Kennedy and his running mate Lyndon B. Johnson. The Viva Kennedy clubs began in Texas as civil-rights forums for Mexican-American veterans to rally support for equal rights, and eventually spread to swing states with large Latino populations like Arizona, California, and Illinois. While one of the primary goals of the clubs was the election of Kennedy and Johnson, they also promoted increased overall voter registration and political organization for Latinos in the United States. The clubs were technically nonpartisan, and received no financial support from the Kennedy campaign. The grassroots work of the Viva Kennedy clubs proved successful, as Kennedy received 85% of the Latino vote in the 1960 election.