With The Soon To Be President

 

On this date in 1960 I stood with my mother a few feet from Senator John F Kennedy as he gave a campaign speech at the train station in Bridgeport CT to an estimated 6,000 people two days before the presidential election.  At the time my mother was very active in Democratic Party politics in the state and so we were able to get close to the candidate.  The tall man to the right of JFK in the photo is Governor Abe Ribicoff.  We were just a few feet further to Ribicoff's right.

I distinctly remember JFK making that pointing gesture.  Don't remember much of the substance of his speech, other than he spoke about the missile gap (which it turned out didn't exist) and the need to be tough on the commies.  Things have changed.

It was a beautiful fall day.  Because we were standing in the group next to JFK, I had a clear view of the crowd which was very enthusiastic and I remember being puzzled about the teenage girls in front jumping up and down screaming when JFK came to the podium.  The next time I saw something like that was in February 1964 when the Beatles appeared on Ed Sullivan.  

I didn't know what "charisma" meant at the time but realized JFK had that "thing", cutting a very impressive figure to the nine year old me.

The reason JFK was in Bridgeport only two days before the election was Connecticut's status as a swing state back in those days (another thing that's changed). Kennedy carried the state with nearly 54% of the vote, the first time a Democratic presidential candidate had done so since 1944, though he lost Fairfield County, where we lived and where Bridgeport was located, receiving only 47% of the vote.  My parents were invited to the Inaugural Ball but did not attend.