Abstract

While the March 15 election in 1960 was well-known for fraud on the day of the election, the Liberal Party’s election work, which was conducted meticulously and systematically even before the election, was not well known. This study analyzes in detail the activities of the Liberal Party’s Presidential Election Committee, which was organized in January 1960 and led the election campaign. To this end, documents compiled by the Society of 3·15 Democracy Movement were used. These are documents sent by the Liberal Party Masan City Party and contain “top secret documents” related to the election produced by the Liberal Party’s Presidential Election Committee ahead of the March 15th Presidential Election in 1960. The documents of the Liberal Party’s Presidential Election Committee provide data that can confirm the Liberal Party’s organizational reinforcement, propaganda strategies, and vote-gathering operations ahead of the 1960 presidential election, and show the Liberal Party’s election strategy and behavior. The Liberal Party’s election work stealthily and meticulously penetrated the community. Tyrannical election fraud with which we are familiar cannot be found in the document. The Liberal Party’s campaign was accompanied by blatant cheating as the election approached, and behind the scenes, conspiracy and cooperation with the government, including the police, was exposed. Based on the above facts, the universal factors for the near occurrence of March 15 can be identified.