#tbt - ON THIS DATE IN 1960 -- THE VERY, VERY LATE (OR VERY, VERY EARLY) MIDDLETOWN VISIT BY PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE JOHN F. KENNEDY
It was an historic event that became a memory passed down through generations of local Democrats.
Fifty-nine years ago today, October 17, 1960, “the [United States] Presidential campaign – the Democratic half of it – was ushered into Middletown at 1:03 a.m... to the loud roar of an enthusiastic crowd of 500 outside the Manchester Hotel...”
Democratic Presidential Candidate John F. Kennedy had arrived during a campaign stop.
“...At 1 a.m. the tension [of the crowd] had grown to a high pitch,” the Journal’s Jim Mills reported in a front-page article. “Two cruisers pulled down the street to block off Verity Parkway. The crowd saw the flashing red lights and broke through police lines toward the front of the hotel. Lights went on in the YMCA across the street as boarders craned their necks for a look....
“This was it. Kennedy’s car, plainly marked with fluttering flags, eased into the crowd and pulled to a stop. Immediately the crowd let loose with a roar and swarmed around the car...” The candidate “slowly moved through the crowd, shaking hands, waving and smiling...”
“...The weary Kennedy finally made it to the [hotel] elevator, where he relaxed against the wall with [Ohio] Gov. Michael DiSalle at his side. He was hurried to his suite” on an upper-level floor.
“Kennedy showed only slight strain of his vigorous campaigning,” Mills wrote. “The real fatigue showed on the corps of newsmen who trooped into the hotel after the crowd dispersed...”
We remember well how events unfolded. Kennedy defeated then-incumbent Vice President, Republican Richard Nixon, to become President of the United States.
A little over three years from the day he stopped by Middletown, Kennedy would be killed in Dallas, Texas -- the victim of an assassin’s bullet.
Nixon would eventually become President and ultimately resign from office amid scandal.
Want to read the entire Middletown Journal article about JFK’s October 17, 1960, visit to Middletown? Choose one or both of the following methods:
On microfilm at MidPointe’s Middletown location, 125 S. Broad Street. Look for the October 17, 1960 edition
Or online via MidPointe’s website: www.midpointelibrary.org > eLibrary > Research Databases > Magazines and Newspapers > Newspaper Archive > Middletown Journal October 17 1960
Directly below is an image of the entire front page of the October 17, 1960, Middletown Journal that is referenced above.
Readers are encouraged to click on the mini-photo gallery (directly below this image) to see Middletown Journal articles from November 9, 1960 : “Nation Chooses Kennedy By Hairline Popular Vote Count” and “Mrs. Kennedy Nation’s 3rd Youngest First Lady”
Sources:
The black-and-white newspaper photo at the top of this blog is from the October 17, 1960, Middletown Journal. The complete front page from that date is also displayed.
The red, white and blue campaign button featuring JFK is from Google Images.
The photo of the massive crowd gathered to hear Presidential Candidate John F. Kennedy in downtown Middletown in October 1960 can be found in the book, “Middletown, Ohio,” part of the “Images of America” series. The book was written by Roger L. Miller and George C. Crout and published in 1998 by Arcadia. It’s available for checkout in the Local History and Genealogy Gallery of MidPointe Library -Middletown, 125 S. Broad Street.