In 1960, in one of the closest presidential elections in U.S. history, Massachusetts senator John F. Kennedy defeats Vice-President Richard M. Nixon. Kennedy, whose campaign slogan is 'Let's get this country moving again,' has spent the month since Leonov's suborbital flight suggesting (very carefully, as President Eisenhower remains hugely popular) that 'lethargy' on the part of Ike's administration has allowed the 'Reds' to outrun the U.S. in the space race despite the fact that America was the first to place a satellite, the famous Mickey, in orbit back in November of 1954..