1962 Massachusetts gubernatorial election

1962 Massachusetts gubernatorial election

← 1960 November 6, 1962 1964 →
 
Nominee Endicott Peabody John Volpe
Party Democratic Republican
Popular vote 1,052,322 1,047,891
Percentage 49.92% 49.71%

Peabody:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%
Volpe:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90%

Governor before election

John Volpe
Republican

Elected Governor

Endicott Peabody
Democratic

The 1962 Massachusetts gubernatorial election was held on November 6, 1962. Former Executive Councilor Endicott Peabody defeated incumbent Governor John A. Volpe in the general election.[1]

The election is notable as a demonstration of the political individualism of Italian Americans and historic lack of ethnic bloc voting among Americans of Italian descent, instead preferring to vote based on individual candidates and issues. John Volpe, just the second Massachusetts governor of Italian ancestry, lost his 1962 re-election campaign by a razor-thin 0.21%—a final margin that could be more than sufficiently explained by Volpe polling only 51% among the state's significant population of Italian Americans, roughly half of whom voted for the old-line Anglo-Saxon Protestant Endicott Peabody over a fellow ethnic.[2]

  1. ^ Election statistics : The Commonwealth of Massachusetts (1962). Office of Secretary of the Commonwealth. 1962. Retrieved June 23, 2022.
  2. ^ Sowell, Thomas (1981). Ethnic America: A History. New York: Basic Books. p. 128. ISBN 0465020755.