Since 1796, political parties have been a large factor in our political system. From elections of government officials, to deciding one way or another on a bill, political parties have been a vital part of the way the United States is run. However, political parties have not always been favored by everyone. Political leaders and United States citizens alike have disagreed with political parties throughout the ages, finding the answer to the nations problems not to be found within parties but within responsibility.
The 1950s were a time in the United States' history full of much conflict, turmoil, and a large amount of arrest. As a nation amidst the Cold War, working through space exploration, with a clear racial divide growing wider, the political viewpoints as to how to go about the future began to grow further apart as well. The political left became the far left, and the right became the far right, with no real middle. This extremist approach disallowed any agreement on solutions, and exaggerated any previous tension between social status and racial profiles. With this initial anguish towards opposing parties, come the end of President Eisenhower's second term, the nation began to question the party system and turned towards finding the solution to the problem instead of the solution that best fit political parties. This solution came in the form of Presidential Candidate Senator John F. Kennedy.
Although Senator Kennedy declared himself a Democrat, he was a big proponent of focusing on the task at hand and how to fix it rather than leaning towards his political party and the views of his fellow politicians. As he campaigned throughout the mid to late fifties, 71% of citizens disagreed with the way the nation was being run. This distrust of the government caused people to move away from parties towards preferring a leader who was putting the past and parties behind him while looking towards the future.