Salt Lake among stops during '60 presidential bid

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. The newspaper has been posting photo galleries from JFK visits on its Web site to remember the 45th anniversary of Kennedy's assassination in Dallas, Texas, on Nov. 22, 1963.

Sept. 23, 1960

Three days before his first presidential debate with Richard Nixon, John F. Kennedy was running hard. He delivered speeches in Salt Lake City, Cheyenne, Wyo., and Denver, Colo., all on the same day.

In Utah, Kennedy spoke at the Salt Lake Tabernacle on Temple Square. He addressed religious freedom and foreign policy. At the Hotel Utah he delivered a speech on "The Importance of the 1960 Presidential Election" and foreign policy.

Deseret News photographs also show him speaking at the airport on a temporary platform and gripping a podium decorated with the logo of United Air Lines.

Kennedy also visited with President David O. McKay of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Newspaper photographs show Kennedy and President McKay laughing together and President McKay leaning far to his left in his chair at the Tabernacle in an attempt to get a better look at Kennedy during his speech.