John F. Kennedy made five visits to Utah as a Massachusetts senator, presidential candidate and president of the United States. Amateur historian Ron Fox found 399 images of those visits in the archives of the Deseret News. The newspaper's photographers captured the faces of thousands of Utahns who clamored to see an American icon. For the next five days, the newspaper will post a photo gallery from a JFK visit on its Web site to remember the 45th anniversary of Kennedy's assassination in Dallas, Texas, on Nov. 22, 1963.

Jan. 30, 1960

Just 28 days after announcing as the Democratic candidate for the presidency of the United States, John F. Kennedy made his third trip to Utah to deliver two speeches.

Kennedy delivered a speech titled "A Program for Victory in 1960" at a luncheon in Salt Lake City. He also spoke at the Roosevelt Birthday Ball honoring the birth of the late President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The address touched on the topics of overpopulation, farm policy; emerging nations and national security.

Deseret News photographs show Kennedy at the airport with reporters and with his Utah point man, Oscar McConkie. He was also pictured visiting with LDS Church President David O. McKay and speaking at the Roosevelt Birthday Ball.