Memories of talking with my late father about the 1960 election - American Thinker https://t.co/ZNZZ8XjXl6
— Silvio Canto. Jr. (@silvio_canto) November 9, 2024
It happens every four years and we post about election results. For me, election day brings back memories of talking with my late father about one specific election that impacted our lives like no other.
Many years ago, Senator John F. Kennedy defeated Vice President Richard Nixon to win the 1960 election.
Down in Cuba, this election was followed closely by my father’s generation because of the communist radicalization of the Castro regime. I recall my father telling me stories of sitting around his Phillips short wave radio and listening to the debate. I can add that there was a lot of cigar smoke in our living room that night. Talking politics over my mother’s Cuban coffee and big Cuban cigar must have been a charm.
VP Nixon conceded the next day despite this election being very close. Wonder how many people know how close that JFK-Nixon election was? The two men were separated by about 113,000 votes, or 49.72% to 49.55%!
The Kennedy “mystique” is such that many people assume that he was elected by a landslide. On the contrary, it was a very close election and one wonders what would have happened if Nixon had insisted on a recount.
Down in Cuba, the election was followed with great interest, especially the second debate when they spoke about the situation in the island.
In less than six months, now-president Kennedy dropped the ball at the the Bay of Pigs. It changed Cuban history forever. Of course, it gave me a memory of talking to my father. He left us in 2015 and I remember him every election night as we catch results on TV. That election meant a lot to him.
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