Friday, November 3, 2006

Give 'em Hell, Harry

Weekend Assignment #137: Recount the first time you voted in a local, state or national election.

   How I happened to choose Democratic Party, having been raised in Republican family, I am not sure.  But Truman had integrity, was earthy and forthright.  He confronted the most popular general in the nation and was not aftraid to "fire his ass" when he expressed dangerous politics.

   But he was a sure loser.  Dewey was touted as "Next President of the United States".  But I voted Truman, my first vote.

   I listened to election returns on my car radio on way to a college class.  I was astounded.  I entered the classroom where my classmates sat unaware of run away election. 

   "Hi," I said, "Are you coming to my party?"

   "What party," they asked.

   "The Democratic Party," was my smug reply.

Extra credit:  Are you going to vote next Tuesday?  You bet.  My polling place is in the lobby of the old folks home.  I will have to roll ten feet to vote: Democratic, as usual.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

For eight years – nearly all of my life – the grandfatherly Dwight Eisenhower was president. In 1956, I cast my vote for him in our 3rd grade straw poll, largely because of his campaign slogan: “I like Ike.”

By 1960, elementary school was in my past. Eisenhower was ready to hand the presidency to a man young enough to be his son – or to be my father – and the Democratic challenger was another young man.

No matter who won, a transition was taking place –the torch was being passed to a new generation. And about seven million new voters cast ballots.

On election night, I set up my monitoring post in front of the family TV (black and white, of course). Spread out in front of me on a card table was an election tally sheet provided by a local gas station.

Constantly updating that sheet as the results unfolded that night was one of the most exciting experiences of my life.

Going into that evening, I was a somewhat interested 12-year-old who favored Kennedy because he had a better smile; by midnight, I had become a true fan of the democratic process.

Anonymous said...

That was a good start to your voting record!

Karen

Anonymous said...

My father was SO p.o.'d by that election -- I can still recall his ranting about it years later...

wil

P.S. I like that your Comic Sans came out in a nice 14 pt...