JFK Election Still Controversial 50 Years Later

Today marks the 50th anniversary of the election of John F. Kennedy as president of the United States, in one of that country’s most hard-fought and controversial elections.

The look of defeat was on the faces of all his supporters gathered at the family estate in Hyannis Port on the night of Tuesday the 8th. The next day at 3:30 a.m., the defeated candidate, tired from the campaign that was ending and doped up by the amount of drugs he had taken for his frequent ailments — mostly his back — went to bed. At 8:45 on Wednesday morning, his brother Robert woke him up to tell him he was the nation’s new president. The difference in popular votes with Nixon was 112,000 (49.7 versus 45.5 percent), and in the Electoral College, it was 303 delegates to 219.

The country up north had just elected the youngest president in its history, but there was speculation that still remains — that there was fraud involved, as if it were a banana republic. Since then the results in Illinois, the last state to reveal its tally, have been in debate. Illinois’ Tigrillo Noriega* was the mayor, Richard Daley, from whom came, it is maintained, the increased number of votes in Chicago. Is that why things were messed up? But it was also electorally beneficial to him in 10 other states, where he led by between 1,000 and 2,000 votes in each of them.

In any event, Kennedy was elected, and by and large he received good press. But now he has taken on another image. His romantic flings from when he was a Massachusetts senator have come to light. He was known by motels for his escapades. He was quite fortunate, beyond having such a beautiful wife as Jackie; he also swam with Marilyn in the White House pool — and not exactly to talk about the Monroe Doctrine. He was an expert in installing missiles, among other things.

Perhaps if he were alive today, he would have defended himself, saying that the fraud from which he benefited was carried out behind his back … and that is why it hurt him so much.

*Translator’s Note: Tigrillo Noriega is the name of a Colombian politician who was accused of altering voting numbers in favor of the winner in the 1970 Colombian presidential election.