2007.10.14: October 14, 2007: Headlines: Figures: Staff: COS - Ethiopia: Country Directors - Ethiopia: Presidents - Kennedy: Worcester Telegram: Harris Wofford helped win 1960 election for JFK
Peace Corps Online:
Directory:
Ethiopia:
Special Report: Ethiopia Country Director and Senator Harris Wofford:
February 9, 2005: Index: PCOL Exclusive: Staffer Harris Wofford :
2007.10.14: October 14, 2007: Headlines: Figures: Staff: COS - Ethiopia: Country Directors - Ethiopia: Presidents - Kennedy: Worcester Telegram: Harris Wofford helped win 1960 election for JFK
Harris Wofford helped win 1960 election for JFK
Fortunately for Kennedy, a young aide named Harris Wofford had the idea that if there was nothing specific the Democratic candidate could do for King, perhaps it wouldn’t hurt to at least call Mrs. King to offer his sympathy and moral support. When the idea of phoning Mrs. King was proposed to Kennedy by his brother-in-law, Sargent Shriver, Kennedy replied, “What the hell. It’s the decent thing to do.” Kennedy made the call, talked for about two minutes, and forgot about it soon after. But King’s family and friends did not forget. King’s father, “Daddy King,” who was one of the most powerful leaders in the black church community, promptly announced that he was switching his vote from Nixon to JFK, and other black leaders, especially black church leaders, followed suit. In addition, sensing a unique opportunity in this black church support, Kennedy’s campaign secretly distributed through a nationwide network of black churches a pamphlet that quoted black leaders praising Kennedy’s courage in phoning Coretta King. The goal was to influence the black vote — especially in the North — without alerting, and thereby jeopardizing, the mainstream white vote — especially in the South. Did it work? In 1956 Eisenhower and Nixon got 60 percent of the black vote. In 1960 Kennedy, without losing significant Southern support, got 70 percent of the black vote, a switch that more than accounted for his victory margins in Illinois, Pennsylvania, Michigan and New Jersey. Those states totaled 95 electoral votes. Kennedy beat Nixon by 84 electoral votes. Former Senator Harris Wofford of Pennsylvania, was the Country Director of Ethiopia.
Harris Wofford helped win 1960 election for JFK
JFK’s critical call
HISTORY LESSONS
By Bruce G. Kauffmann
Picture
Enlarge photo
Forty-three years on the planet and the only black man John F. Kennedy had ever spent any time with was his valet. Yet the two-minute phone call he made this week (Oct. 20) in 1960 to Coretta King, the wife of America’s most important black leader, Martin Luther King Jr., probably made Kennedy, and not Richard Nixon, president.
It all started when, in the middle of the 1960 presidential campaign, King was put in a hard-time Georgia prison on a trumped-up charge related to an old traffic violation. Worried about King’s safety, members of his entourage implored both the Kennedy and Nixon presidential campaigns to intervene with Georgia political leaders on King’s behalf.
For both candidates, such intervention posed a political risk, not only because it could cost them the South, which was still segregated and significantly racist, but also because — and this is not usually remembered — in those days blacks traditionally voted Republican. Thus Nixon’s camp declined to help, seeing little to gain (the black vote was already theirs) but plenty to lose by aiding the controversial civil rights leader. Ditto Kennedy’s camp. Why jeopardize Southern votes to help a member of an ethnic group that habitually supported the other party?
Fortunately for Kennedy, a young aide named Harris Wofford had the idea that if there was nothing specific the Democratic candidate could do for King, perhaps it wouldn’t hurt to at least call Mrs. King to offer his sympathy and moral support. When the idea of phoning Mrs. King was proposed to Kennedy by his brother-in-law, Sargent Shriver, Kennedy replied, “What the hell. It’s the decent thing to do.” Kennedy made the call, talked for about two minutes, and forgot about it soon after. But King’s family and friends did not forget. King’s father, “Daddy King,” who was one of the most powerful leaders in the black church community, promptly announced that he was switching his vote from Nixon to JFK, and other black leaders, especially black church leaders, followed suit. In addition, sensing a unique opportunity in this black church support, Kennedy’s campaign secretly distributed through a nationwide network of black churches a pamphlet that quoted black leaders praising Kennedy’s courage in phoning Coretta King. The goal was to influence the black vote — especially in the North — without alerting, and thereby jeopardizing, the mainstream white vote — especially in the South.
Did it work? In 1956 Eisenhower and Nixon got 60 percent of the black vote. In 1960 Kennedy, without losing significant Southern support, got 70 percent of the black vote, a switch that more than accounted for his victory margins in Illinois, Pennsylvania, Michigan and New Jersey. Those states totaled 95 electoral votes. Kennedy beat Nixon by 84 electoral votes.
Links to Related Topics (Tags):
Headlines: October, 2007; Staff Member Harris Wofford; Figures; Staff; Peace Corps Ethiopia; Directory of Ethiopia RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Ethiopia RPCVs; Country Directors - Ethiopia; Presidents - Kennedy
When this story was posted in November 2007, this was on the front page of PCOL:
Peace Corps Online The Independent News Forum serving Returned Peace Corps Volunteers
| Dodd vows to filibuster Surveillance Act Senator Chris Dodd vowed to filibuster the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that would grant retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies that helped this administration violate the civil liberties of Americans. "It is time to say: No more. No more trampling on our Constitution. No more excusing those who violate the rule of law. These are fundamental, basic, eternal principles. They have been around, some of them, for as long as the Magna Carta. They are enduring. What they are not is temporary. And what we do not do in a time where our country is at risk is abandon them." |
| What is the greatest threat facing us now? "People will say it's terrorism. But are there any terrorists in the world who can change the American way of life or our political system? No. Can they knock down a building? Yes. Can they kill somebody? Yes. But can they change us? No. Only we can change ourselves. So what is the great threat we are facing? I would approach this differently, in almost Marshall-like terms. What are the great opportunities out there - ones that we can take advantage of?" Read more. |
| Senator Dodd's Peace Corps Hearings Read PCOL's executive summary of Senator Chris Dodd's hearings on July 25 on the Peace Corps Volunteer Empowerment Act and why Peace Corps Director Ron Tschetter does not believe the bill would contribute to an improved Peace Corps while four other RPCV witnesses do. Highlights of the hearings included Dodd's questioning of Tschetter on political meetings at Peace Corps Headquarters and the Inspector General's testimony on the re-opening of the Walter Poirier III investigation. |
| Paul Theroux: Peace Corps Writer Paul Theroux began by writing about the life he knew in Africa as a Peace Corps Volunteer. His first first three novels are set in Africa and two of his later novels recast his Peace Corps tour as fiction. Read about how Theroux involved himself with rebel politicians, was expelled from Malawi, and how the Peace Corps tried to ruin him financially in John Coyne's analysis and appreciation of one of the greatest American writers of his generation (who also happens to be an RPCV). |
| Ambassador revokes clearance for PC Director A post made on PCOL from volunteers in Tanzania alleges that Ambassador Retzer has acted improperly in revoking the country clearance of Country Director Christine Djondo. A statement from Peace Corps' Press Office says that the Peace Corps strongly disagrees with the ambassador’s decision. On June 8 the White House announced that Retzer is being replaced as Ambassador. Latest: Senator Dodd has placed a hold on Mark Green's nomination to be Ambassador to Tanzania. |
| Suspect confesses in murder of PCV Search parties in the Philippines discovered the body of Peace Corps Volunteer Julia Campbell near Barangay Batad, Banaue town on April 17. Director Tschetter expressed his sorrow at learning the news. “Julia was a proud member of the Peace Corps family, and she contributed greatly to the lives of Filipino citizens in Donsol, Sorsogon, where she served,” he said. Latest: Suspect Juan Duntugan admits to killing Campbell. Leave your thoughts and condolences . |
| He served with honor One year ago, Staff Sgt. Robert J. Paul (RPCV Kenya) carried on an ongoing dialog on this website on the military and the peace corps and his role as a member of a Civil Affairs Team in Iraq and Afghanistan. We have just received a report that Sargeant Paul has been killed by a car bomb in Kabul. Words cannot express our feeling of loss for this tremendous injury to the entire RPCV community. Most of us didn't know him personally but we knew him from his words. Our thoughts go out to his family and friends. He was one of ours and he served with honor. |
Read the stories and leave your comments.
Some postings on Peace Corps Online are provided to the individual members of this group without permission of the copyright owner for the non-profit purposes of criticism, comment, education, scholarship, and research under the "Fair Use" provisions of U.S. Government copyright laws and they may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner. Peace Corps Online does not vouch for the accuracy of the content of the postings, which is the sole responsibility of the copyright holder.
Story Source: Worcester Telegram
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; Figures; Staff; COS - Ethiopia; Country Directors - Ethiopia; Presidents - Kennedy
PCOL39669
07