This project analyzes the opinions, interviews and editorials written about these emerging Mexican American leaders in the Spanish-Language Newspaper La Opinión, to account for their disappointment. However, Kennedy’s ambiguous electoral pledges were not fulfilled as expected by the leaders of the Viva Kennedy Clubs.

ambassadors in Latin American countries and most significantly: in the implementation of swiftly sweeping solutions to the problems faced by Latinos in the agricultural fields and barrios of the U.S. By believing that vague election promises truly represented future executive orders, the club leaders convinced themselves and the club members that Kennedy’s victory would bring about the following results: the immediate appointment of Latinos in prominent government positions, the naming of Latinos as U.S. A coalition was built around one single one goal: to assist a fellow Catholic and hyphenated American win the presidency. Hence, for a few fleeting and buoyant months, the Viva Kennedy Clubs brought together numerous political and civic groups, which were already active throughout the Southwest but that had previously espoused divergent agendas. Most significantly, these mostly middle-class Mexican Americans fervently assisted Kennedy’s campaign as an act of understated solidarity for a Catholic Irish-American candidate who shared both their same religion and whose ethnic origin, ––just as theirs–– was distinctive from the Anglo-Saxon dominant culture. The members and leaders of this group became enchanted by Kennedy’s youth.

Kennedy’s 1960 presidential campaign served as the catalysis for the formation of the first national Latino political organization, the Viva Kennedy Clubs.

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