On November 8, 1960, Senator John F. Kennedy (D-Ma.) defeated Vice President Richard M. Nixon in the presidential election. President Dwight D. Eisenhower took the defeat of his Vice President personally,
feeling it was a rejection by the public of all the Administration had accomplished in its 8 years. Nevertheless, he maintained cordial relations with the incoming President through the freezing temperatures of Inauguration Day, January 20, 1961.
They were from different generations and political parties, but President Kennedy-the first President born in the 20th century-shared President Eisenhower’s concern about the future of the National System of Interstate and Defense Highways.
Even as construction moved forward at a record pace, a looming fiscal crisis threatened to derail the schedule, if not the program. Controversy was making construction in urban areas more difficult.
And the press regularly repeated tales of alleged corruption and bungling that the former President considered “almost hair-raising.” A sympathetic article in The Cincinnati Enquirer for July 3, 1960, summarized the criticism:
