September 1960 and I was 7. We had just moved from Detroit (Pleasant Ridge) to Chicago (Highland Park). Just started 2nd grade. It’s all my parents and grandparents could talk about. The candidates. And the media flashlight. Everything had changed. Mom voted for Nixon. Dad for Kennedy. It was like a coin toss. On TV Nixon was smart but weirder than anyone had thought. Much classier than Nixon, and he knew it, Kennedy (he thought Nixon was a graceless nerd he could beat) was smarter than anyone had thought, and then there were the women and girls. Women and girls of all manner”” from Tufts to trailer parks””went nuts over JFK. All of them. H/T Mr. O’Hara.
