Bit by the Politics Bug
The four of us – from four political generations – fell into talking about when we first got hooked on politics.
The oldest, in his 80s, remembered his father letting him stay up and watch the national conventions in 1952, when Dwight Eisenhower and Robert Taft battled for the Republican nomination and Adlai Stevenson and Estes Kefauver, for the Democratic nomination.
He went on to serve in the General Assembly and Governor Jim Hunt’s Cabinet.
The bug bit me at age 11, in 1960, when John F. Kennedy ran for President and Terry Sanford, for Governor.
They were World War II vets, both wounded in combat and decorated for bravery. They were young, idealistic and energetic – not like the boring, balding old men who ran things then.
They even had hair.
JFK came to Raleigh that fall with Sanford. My mother took me and my two younger brothers to Glenwood Village, where the motorcade made a brief stop. Somehow, she pushed us up to the cars. Suddenly, Kennedy climbed into the convertible in front of us. My mother shoved me forward, I stuck out my hand and Kennedy shook it.
I’ve been a Kennedy-Sanford man ever since.
The third person on our Zoom was 10 when he got interested in Illinois Congressman John Anderson (photo), who ran as an Independent for President in 1980.
His mother took him into the voting booth in Massachusetts on Election Day. She even let him cast the vote. He put his hand on the Anderson lever, but decided that was wasted. He cast her vote for Jimmy Carter.
Carter lost, though. He even lost Massachusetts.
That 10-year-old has since worked for Democratic candidates and progressive causes all over the country.
The Millennial on our call, who’s 36, grew up in Raleigh and got caught up in the excitement when former Senator John Edwards ran for President in 2004.
Her first semester in college, she volunteered for Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign.
Today, she makes ads and videos for Democratic candidates around the country.
For the four of us, the political bug bit early.
We never got over it.
I wonder about young people coming of age amid today’s politics.
Will they be inspired – or repelled?
Bit by the Politics Bug
The four of us – from four political generations – fell into talking about when we first got hooked on politics.
The oldest, in his 80s, remembered his father letting him stay up and watch the national conventions in 1952, when Dwight Eisenhower and Robert Taft battled for the Republican nomination and Adlai Stevenson and Estes Kefauver, for the Democratic nomination.
He went on to serve in the General Assembly and Governor Jim Hunt’s Cabinet.
The bug bit me at age 11, in 1960, when John F. Kennedy ran for President and Terry Sanford, for Governor.
They were World War II vets, both wounded in combat and decorated for bravery. They were young, idealistic and energetic – not like the boring, balding old men who ran things then.
They even had hair.
JFK came to Raleigh that fall with Sanford. My mother took me and my two younger brothers to Glenwood Village, where the motorcade made a brief stop. Somehow, she pushed us up to the cars. Suddenly, Kennedy climbed into the convertible in front of us. My mother shoved me forward, I stuck out my hand and Kennedy shook it.
I’ve been a Kennedy-Sanford man ever since.
The third person on our Zoom was 10 when he got interested in Illinois Congressman John Anderson (photo), who ran as an Independent for President in 1980.
His mother took him into the voting booth in Massachusetts on Election Day. She even let him cast the vote. He put his hand on the Anderson lever, but decided that was wasted. He cast her vote for Jimmy Carter.
Carter lost, though. He even lost Massachusetts.
That 10-year-old has since worked for Democratic candidates and progressive causes all over the country.
The Millennial on our call, who’s 36, grew up in Raleigh and got caught up in the excitement when former Senator John Edwards ran for President in 2004.
Her first semester in college, she volunteered for Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign.
Today, she makes ads and videos for Democratic candidates around the country.
For the four of us, the political bug bit early.
We never got over it.
I wonder about young people coming of age amid today’s politics.
Will they be inspired – or repelled?