Video: 'TNC:27 (excerpt) Truman Criticism of JFK'

(Saturday, July 2, 1960; during the 1960 Democratic Party presidential primaries) — Former U.S. President Harry S. Truman said at a news conference today in Independence, Missouri, that Democratic Party front-runner John F. Kennedy lacked the maturity to be President, and that Kennedy should “put aside” his personal ambitions and decline the nomination.

Video: '"THE MAKING OF THE PRESIDENT 1960" (1963)' (July 2, 1960, at 16:39)

Truman, who had endorsed Senator Stuart Symington of Missouri for the presidential nomination, also said the upcoming Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles had been “fixed” to guarantee Kennedy’s nomination.

Kennedy responded two days later, saying “I have encountered and survived every kind of hazard and opposition, and I do not intend to withdraw my name now, on the eve of the convention.”

Video: 'TNC:28 (excerpt) JFK Response to Truman Criticism'