what is your earliest memory of something political?

[JitterbugPerfume]

mine is chanting

Vote for Dewey , he's our man

Throw ole Truman in the garbage can

It was 1948, and I was seven yr old

[redqueen]

My aunt's house on election night in 1980...

I remember how glad she was, and how distraught my mom was.

[JitterbugPerfume]

6. the 1980s was a bad time for me

trying to raise my kids alone , and to embarassed to ask for help because of all of the welfare mom shit they put out.

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. Carter dealing with the fuel shortages, the hostages in Iran, and then Reagan getting

voted in. (Man was my dad pissed!!)

[JitterbugPerfume]

3. I was pretty pissed about that myself!

[hyphenate]

2. Kennedy's assassination

Our school sent us home from school, and my friend's mom was crying. I was 7. I don't remember a lot more, but the crying sticks out in my mind even now.

[JitterbugPerfume]

4. I cried bitter tears over that

they killed our brightest and best and by doing it almost distroyed our party.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

81. I was 6. I still have vivid memories of that day and the following weeks.

[pokerfan]

88. I was about the same age as JFK, Jr...

I remember I had a JFK piggy bank that said "Ask not what your country can do for you..."

So yeah, my first memory of anything political was the assassination.

[arbusto_baboso]

5. The 1972 Presidential election.

I was 6 years old. My family were all die hard Dems, and were convinced that Nixon would be defeated. Somehow, I knew better....

[JitterbugPerfume]

8. I never thought anyone could make Nixon look acceptable

until Bush2.

[arbusto_baboso]

11. At least there was some public outcry and rage about Nixon's deeds.

Now, we either just aren't being heard, or most people are apathetic. Either way, it's not a good sign.

[Adsos Letter]

7. My grandmother saying something about Eisenhower

I can't remember exactly what it was, just her voice and the name. circa. 1958

[JitterbugPerfume]

9. I kind of remember Eisenhower

the catch phrase was I like Ike , and my grandfathers name was Ike. Everyone wanted to have Mamie "bangs"

[Ohio Joe]

10. Watching Nixon resign

At my grandmothers, she chuckled all the way through it :D

[JitterbugPerfume]

12. Good for Grandma

you wont have Nixon to kick around any more (or his little dog Checkers) LOL

[TommyPaine]

13. Mock presidential election in elementary school in 1984

I went to a fairly affluent public elementary school (K-5) in a Seattle suburb. Students in grades 4 and 5 voted in a mock presidential election a week or so before the real one. My parents were (and still are) strong Democrats, so it's no surprise I voted for Mondale. The tally was something like Reagan 65%/Mondale 35%, or thereabouts. I recall telling my parents of the results and trying to console them, saying that most kids vote the opposite of their parents, though I knew that wasn't really true for kids my age.

[JitterbugPerfume]

15. The Reagan years --

enough to make a sane person cry

[Oeditpus Rex]

14. The 1960 elections

Coming home from voting with my folks, my sister (6) and I (4) having a little debate in the back seat of the Oldsmobile.

"Kennedy!"

"Nixon!"

"Kennedy!"

"Nixon!"

"Kennedy!"

"Nixon!"





I won. :)



I also vagely remember falling asleep on the sofa that night while watching the returns.

[JitterbugPerfume]

16. Kennedy was young and exciting

I still remember the feeling of hope, and how it was dashed ,

and how long it took to get it back.

[Maccagirl]

83. We're the same age

I remember vaguely watching the Kennedy-Nixon debates and my mother claims I was infatuated with Kennedy and my dad saying "Oh, she'll be a good little Democrat when she grows up.". I also remember being very upset when the Kennedy baby, Patrick, died and then the assasination several months later.

[Forkboy]

17. I remember one night watching the news with my dad.

I didn't know a Republican from a firetruck at the time, yet I still asked my dad, "Why do the Republicans seem so mean?"

My dad still laughs over that one. :)

:loveya:

[JitterbugPerfume]

21. well, why do they?

I still haven't figured that one out:hi: :pals:

[Forkboy]

23. That makes two of us.

They were breast fed through a straw is my guess. :)

[noamnety]

18. As a passive observer:

watching watergate unfold on TV.

As an activist: punching my best friend in the nose for supporting nixon.

[JitterbugPerfume]

22. well , if he supported Nixon

he deserved it!

[rug]

19. A man wearing an I Like Ike button and my father yelling at him.

[JitterbugPerfume]

25. Stevenson was head and sholders above Ike

but everyone was hung up on the Military hero bull shit

[rug]

29. Absolutely. Imagine how different that decade would have been.

[The empressof all]

20. Crouching under my desk in Kindergarten

Being very still and quiet....waiting and listening for the Atom Bombs to fall....And you wonder why the Boomer Generation is a little screwy......

[JitterbugPerfume]

27. I remember that too

and along with the fundy church my parents attended telling me that Jesus was coming back for the GOOD children I am one fu@@'d up old woman :nuke:

[The empressof all]

36. Mine up'd that ante a bit

Not only would God only take the good kids, he kept track of everything you did and wrote it down in a big black book. I always was scared he was gonna tell Santa on me...:scared:

[Moondog]

24. Watching one of the

Kennedy - Nixon debates at my grandmother's house whilst I was visiting her as a child.

[JitterbugPerfume]

28. Kennedy was the first TV president

he completely out classed Nixon

[Moondog]

32. No question about that.

It was obvious even to a child (moi).

[Aqaba]

26. Carter and family on the Mississippi Queen...

...stopping by my little river town during th '76 campaign.

[JitterbugPerfume]

30. I loved Jimmy Carter then

and I love him now

[newcriminal]

31. 1984 holding up mondale signs in the back of my parents station wagon with my sister.

When people would give us a thumbs down or sometimes even worse, we would stick our tongues out at them.

[JitterbugPerfume]

34. budding activists!

Good for you!

[femmocrat]

33. I remember watching a political convention.... it must have been 1954?

I can remember a giant "snowball" being passed around the convention hall. Does anyone else remember this? I googled it, but couldn't find it.

The first election I can remember is Eisenhower in 1954.

[JitterbugPerfume]

38. I don't remember a snowball being passed around

but I do remember that convention. Estes Kevauver was Stevensons vice pres candidate, I remember him at the microphone challenging something. I have no idea why I remember Estes Kevauver.

[KamaAina]

35. Mom taking me to a McGovern rally on her shoulders

I was only 8. Or was it the mock election in class in which Nixon trounced McGovern 13-2 (thank you, Todd Emory!)?

Yes, the same Mom who married Republican Stepdad. :eyes:

[JitterbugPerfume]

39. I just don't understand that!

My sister , after she was widowed married a Republican. He is a nice guy but politically deaf.

[crim son]

37. I remember

joining my fourth-grade class the first day. I was asked about my family and told the class that my dad was from the U.S. Another kid in the class pointed a finger at me and said, "Nixon wants to bomb Canada." I knew that was stupid even then.

[JitterbugPerfume]

40. Bomb Canada ?

LOL Even Nixon wasn't that war mongering

[crim son]

48. Canadians are very suspicious of Americans!

Or at least, nine-year-old Canadians are very suspicious of Americans. :P

[Arugula Latte]

41. I cringe at this now, but: "McGovern is a nut. He has a rubber butt.

And everytime he turns around he goes putt, putt."

We used to sing that on the playground in an East Bay suburb of San Francisco.

*hangs head in shame*

By the time Reagan came around, I had realized the error of my ways and have been a staunch liberal since the age of 14.

[JitterbugPerfume]

47. right up there with

Throw ole Truman in the garbage can LOL. My dad was a republican , but I got over it as soon as I learned to think for myself

[Sisaruus]

42. Kennedy vs. Nixon

I got into an argument with my cousin at the school bus stop that ended up with us wrestling in the dirt. The idiot was pro-Nixon. I must have been in 2nd grade and he would have been in 3rd. We've never discussed politics with each other since then.

[JitterbugPerfume]

49. well sometimes

a tumble in the dirt is what it takes!

[Sky Masterson]

43. I noticed that any candybar with peanuts in it

went up in price during the Carter presidency..Coincidence? I think not! :hide:

[JitterbugPerfume]

51. it was a conspiracy I tell ya!

[many a good man]

44. It was on my second birthday

JFK was shot and so was my birthday party.

[JitterbugPerfume]

57. them we share a birthday!

Nov22

[many a good man]

59. That's great!

I never met anyone who shares that birthday. Every year my birthday is tinged with remembrances of that fateful day in Dallas. My little brother has the same sort of problem - he was born on the day Roe v. Wade was made law. His birthday is marred every year with parades of dancing tadpoles!

[JitterbugPerfume]

65. I will never forget Nov22,1963

It ruined my birthday too and since then I always remember what happened the day I turned 23.I had a two year old , my Melanie.

[Tikki]

45. My mother..a single mother in the 50's..took me to a....

community picnic where, then Congressman, Henry "Scoop' Jackson was attending.

I was probably 5 years old, maybe six. I can remember my mother shaking his
hand. I can remember some time later her telling me that Democrats will be the
only political force who will look out after single mothers.


Tikki

[JitterbugPerfume]

52. your mom is a smart woman!

always listen to her.

[johnnie]

46. I remember Nam, moon landing and a few others

But one that sticks out is the 1972 assassination attempt on George Wallace. I remember seeing it on the news and knew that it was politics.

[JitterbugPerfume]

54. that was a shocker

George Wallace changed his bigoted ways after that , or so I hear.

[trof]

50. Heard about FDR's death on the radio.

Recently visited Hyde Park.
The home, presidential library, and museum are fascinating.

[JitterbugPerfume]

55. I would love to see it someday

FDR is now, and always will be one of my heros.

[B3Nut]

53. My dad absconding with my Lite-Brite

and making "Carter For President" photo badges with it. :D I think it was 1975...I would have been 4 and change. My folks dragged me along to the Carter rally too, but I didn't care about the politics, I was enamored of the fact that there was someone up on the platform with an electric guitar. :D

Todd in Cheesecurdistan

[JitterbugPerfume]

56. electric guitars are cool!

[merh]

58. In 1971 when I was in the fourth grade I did my science report on

ecology.



I thought we had gotten the message back then. x(

[Tangerine LaBamba]

60. I'm a bit younger than you -

but I remember Truman firing MacArthur. I was little, and the idea that a general could be FIRED was beyond me.

Years later, I ended up working for the man who was Truman's White House Counsel at the time, and who was in the Oval Office when was decided, and Charles S. Murphy told me the whole story - from the inside.

One of the coolest things that ever happened to me..................

[Shell Beau]

61. I think I was in 1st grade and we had a mock election in my class.

Reagan vs. Mondale. I had no clue and I think I voted Reagan. :cry: :scared:

[applegrove]

62. I remember watergate. Friends of my family had just arrived up to the cottage from Washington, DC.

That is all the men talked about.

[mvd]

63. Ferraro rubbed my head during the 1984 campaign

My parents were working for the campaign and went to the headquarters in DC.

[Ikonoklast]

64. "I Like Ike!"

I remember his listening to his farewell speech, the warning about the military-industrial complex.

Dad never forgave him for giving us Nixon.

[rrneck]

66. My Lai Massacre nt

[Xipe Totec]

67. Brutus stabbing Caesar

but that was in another life, when we were both cats.






:evilgrin:

[surrealAmerican]

68. I mostly remember what seemed like years of my mother ranting to the radio ...

... about what Nixon had done THIS TIME. I thought it was strange because the radio couldn't hear her, and I didn't understand what she was talking about.

[mysuzuki2]

69. In 1952, I was 4. Howdy Doody was running for president

on his TV show against Eisenhower and Adlai Stevenson. I remember trying to talk my father. a life ;Long democrat, into voting for Howdy. He listened to me patiently and said that he liked Howdy too, but he thought he would vote for Stevenson. As it turned out, of course, Eisenhower won and both me and my dad were disappointed.

[mentalsolstice]

70. RFK's campaign and assassination

preceded by MLK's assassination. I was in the 2d grade. I had a big crush on Bobby!

[mwooldri]

71. Margaret Thatcher in 1979.

Then much more after that in the 80's of course.

[ashling]

72. The first thing I can remember

was my mom saying that she didn't agree with Eisenhoer or something like that, "but he is my president."

I was in second grade. I kind of remember the 1960 Dem convention on TV ... and then the debate (Kennedy/Schmixon)

[carpetbagger]

73. "Everyone does it, Nixon just got caught"

Then off to piano lessons from Henry Kissinger's niece (I'm not kidding).

[ThoughtCriminal]

74. George Wallace closing my brother's school

in an attempt to prevent it from being desegregated. I was 5, my brother was just starting 1st grade.

[RFKHumphreyObama]

75. The downfall of the Marcos regime in the Philippines

I had friends who were involved in the events there and who educated me about it from a young age

[ghostsofgiants]

76. When the provincial government eliminated public funding for religious schools.

I has in 5th grade and remember the protests and such the parents and teachers forced us into. I didn't know the difference at the time, but now I'm glad they amalgamated the school system.

[Pushed To The Left]

77. Probably my sister telling me Jimmy Carter was the President. I thought she meant the main character

from "Welcome Back Cotter"! (Carter, Cotter, I was 4 or 5 years old dagnabbit!)

[hibbing]

78. Vietnam War

Hi,
Remember sitting at the dinner table and having the Vietnam War on the news with Walter Conkrite. Remember my Dad saying something about how unjust it was and how it needed to end. Also recall being sick home from school and watching the Nixon hearings.

Interesting thread, thanks for posting this question.

Peace

[dana_b]

79. Nixon resigning

i didn't know what it meant, nor did I care, but I knew it was a big deal because there was nothng else on t.v.

[Kali]

80. protesting the Viet Nam war, in Berkley no less!

candlelight vigil on campus not only my earliest political memory, one of my earliest memories period. Must have been 4 or 5?

[rucky]

82. 1976: On the swings at recess with my friend:

I'm yelling "Carter!"

He's yelling "Ford!"

The one who swings the highest wins. Then the bell rang.

[enigmatic]

84. The night Bobby Kennedy was killed

My mother and father were watching the bulletins on TV in a hotel room were were in while on vacation; I was 5.

[Cant trust em]

85. It was my sister and me calling a Nickelodeon hotline to vote for Michael Dukakis.

[LSdemocrat]

86. Election-wise: Elementary school mock election in 1988, I "campaigned" for Dukakis

Me and a couple of other kids spread completely unfounded rumors about George Bush's physical appearance around at recess, little did we know how our machinations matched real political campaigns. Dukakis won our second grade class, but somehow won in our school wide electoral college, with Bush remarkably winning among the teachers and administrators who controlled California's electoral votes in my suburban public school. I actually cried at the result.

I also remember watching the 1988 conventions which somehow made me a Democrat at the age of seven. Even then I realized how intellectually bankrupt the combination of "no new taxes" and let's reduce the deficit was.

[Odin2005]

94. LOL at the rumor-mongering!

I did that during the 1996 election, spewing vicious ageist stuff about Bob Dole! :rofl:

[AllenVanAllen]

87. I remember Gerald Ford being sworn in.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_rNGHGDmZH2k/R9oHdqOGe6I/AAAAAAAAAq0/QltTKzc_oYA/s400/gerald+ford+chase.jpg

[Drunken Irishman]

89. Clinton winning in 1992 and my mom crying tears of joy.

And jumping up and down in the living room after they called it.

[snooper2]

90. when that crazy scary lady called Nancy

Came on the fucking tv when I was 7 and said ( JUST SAY NO )

Creepy shit

[jeff30997]

91. The Gettysburg Address young lady...

I was 3 and remember every words of it.

[Odin2005]

92. 1992 election. I was 6. Giant Sucking Sound...

My parents, both die-hard Dems, hated Poppy and thought Big Dawg was Da Man. :)

[Heidi]

93. My grandpa, 1968: "The goddamn knucklehead won it." (nt)

[UrbScotty]

95. My mom taking me along when she voted

I think it was 1992. I remember the place was packed.

[Tobin S.]

96. Carter and the Iran hostage situation. I was born in 1972.

[EFerrari]

97. My uncles sitting at the kitchen table at night after work

arguing with my grandmother about politics. It was great. Nobody noticed I was still up. My mom and my aunts were watching teevee in the other room but I wanted to be where the action was. I have no idea what the topic was and I think that was 1960 or so. They were probably arguing about John Kennedy. :)

[Arkansas Granny]

98. Watching parts of the Republican and Democratic conventions on tv during

the 1956 election. My dad was a Republican, my mom was a Democrat. They always joked about their votes cancelling each other out.

[JonLP24]

99. Went to an elementary school field trip to see Clinton speak at Arizona State

It had to be 93 or maybe 94. It may not of been a political event because I had no idea what the speech was about at the time.

[rurallib]

100. "I like Ike, you like Ike, everybody likes Ike for president"

That little jingle has stuck with me for ever. I think it was the '56 election and I was 6 or 7.
Oddly enough I do have some vague memories of the Army-McCarthy hearings. Just them being on and that they were something real important.
As a catholic kid in 1960 I can remember a WHOLE lot 1960 and Jack Kennedy.