On July 15, 1960, John F. Kennedy accepted the Democratic nomination for president. While the Democrats held their convention at the Los Angeles Sports Arena, Kennedy gave his acceptance speech in front of some 80,000 at the nearby Los Angeles Coliseum.

In Kennedy’s Presidential Nomination acceptance speech, he said:

I am fully aware of the fact that the Democratic Party, by nominating someone of my faith, has taken on what many regard as a new and hazardous risk – new, at least since 1928. But I look at it this way: the Democratic Party has once again placed its confidence in the American people, and in their ability to render a free, fair judgment – to uphold the Constitution and my oath of office – and to reject any kind of religious pressure or obligation that might directly or indirectly interfere with my conduct of the Presidency in the national interest.

Barack Obama joins Kennedy in breaking the mold of traditional national conventions. The Democratic National Committee recently announced that Democratic hopeful Obama will accept his party’s presidential nomination at the football stadium used by the Denver Broncos, which like Kennedy’s speech, is at a different location from the convention site.

Read more about Kennedy’s legacy, browse a gallery of Kennedy family photographs, and read an excerpt from an essay by Richard Reeves: Character Above All.