Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John F. Kennedy rode down Lexington’s Main Street during a campaign parade on Oct. 8, 1960. Approximately 20,000 people lined downtown streets to get a glimpse of the 43-year-old U.S. senator from Massachusetts. Kennedy, with Kentucky Gov. Bert T. Combs seated by his side, waved to the crowd, which was comparatively quiet. There was some hand-clapping, shouted greetings and waving, but little cheering. Flanking Kennedy’s car were three police motorcycles keeping the crowd on the sidewalks. The motorcade took more than a half-hour to arrive at the University of Kentucky, where Kennedy gave a 15-minute speech. He told the audience that students of the 1960s will be living in “the most hazardous time of the country.” An estimated 5,000 people heard Kennedy speak from a platform in front of the Administration Building. He tore into one of his favorite themes, saying, “American frontiers extend throughout the world. … Any candidate or any voter must think of any action he may take in relation to the rest of the world.” Less than an hour later, he boarded a plane at Blue Grass Field, bound for Bowling Green. Click here to see another image from our archives of Kennedy’s visit. Kennedy won the presidential election over Vice President Richard Nixon a month later. Three years after this photo was taken, he was assassinated in Dallas. Click here to see the front page of The Lexington Herald on Nov. 23, 1963, the day after he was shot. May 29, 2017 would have been his 100th birthday. Herald-Leader Archive Photo