FDR Jr. (left) and JFK
May 10, 1960: West Virginia holds its Presidential Primary election. The results surprise a lot of people.
Senator John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts knew that only one Roman Catholic before him had a serious shot at the Presidency, and he had lost badly: Governor Alfred E. Smith of New York, the Democratic Party's nominee in 1928. He and the people around him -- including his father, Joseph P. Kennedy -- thought maybe the nation was ready to accept a Catholic President.
"Old Joe" had been U.S. Ambassador to Britain going into the 1940 election, and thought he could be the 1st Catholic President. But President Franklin D. Roosevelt chose to run for a 3rd term, in the face of World War II raging through Europe and representing a threat to America; and Joe's response to that war made him look like a defeatist, and even, in the eyes of many people, favorable to the Nazis.
So Joe knew it wouldn't be him. He turned his attention to his eldest son, Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Joe Sr. made a deal with FDR: He would resign as Ambassador and give a close-to-Election Day radio speech endorsing FDR, and FDR would support Joe Jr. for the office of Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts in 1942.
But the attack on Pearl Harbor meant that Joe Jr. would enlist in the U.S. Navy, followed by his brothers John and Robert, and would be unavailable for public office for the duration of The War. Joe Jr. was killed in a plane accident in 1944, and Joe Sr. never forgave FDR for this.
Joe Sr. turned his attention to John, or "Jack." Jack followed the path that Joe Jr. would have followed had he survived: Elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1946, then to the U.S. Senate in 1952, then stand as a candidate for Vice President at the 1956 Democratic Convention.
JFK led on the 1st ballot, but didn't have a majority of the Delegates. He knew that if it wasn't going to happen then, it wasn't going to happen later: He would lose support. So he dropped out, and endorsed the 2nd-place candidate, Senator Estes Kefauver of Tennessee, who was nominated along with former Governor Adlai Stevenson of Illinois, who was again clobbered in November by Dwight D. Eisenhower.
JFK told a fundraising dinner that if it had been his brother Joe, he wouldn't have dropped out, he would have been nominated, and Stevenson's loss would have been blamed on Joe's religion. (It wouldn't have been: Stevenson's only chance was for Ike to drop out due to his health, or die, and run against Vice President Richard Nixon.)
But the Kennedys -- Jack as candidate, Bobby as campaign manager, and Old Joe as funder, with Jack telling people to make every cent count, because his father said, "I'll be damned if I'll pay for a landslide!" -- prepared for 1960. As the only New Englander in the race, nobody seriously challenged JFK in New Hampshire on March 8. But on April 5, JFK beat Senator Hubert Humphrey of neighboring Minnesota, 56 percent to 43 percent.
But Wisconsin's Democratic vote was overwhelmingly Catholic: Polish and German, and to a lesser extent Irish and Italian. The next Primary, on April 26, would also be in a heavily Catholic State: Pennsylvania. JFK won that, easily, too.
The true tests would be in 2 overwhelmingly Protestant States on May 10: West Virginia and Nebraska. If Kennedy could do well in those, maybe he would do well in the general election. Fortunately, JFK had a secret weapon: Franklin Delano Roosevelt Jr., the son of a President who, 15 years after his death, was still beloved in that State.
FDR Jr. had served New York's Hudson Valley in Congress from 1949 to 1955. But because he was born at the family’s vacation home at Campobello Island, New Brunswick, Canada, he could not become President of the United States like his father went on to do.
But, despite the rift between their fathers, FDR Jr. had no problem campaigning for JFK in West Virginia. Poor people -- mostly farmers and coal miners -- saw them together, and presumed that the younger Kennedy would govern like the elder Roosevelt.
Not all of them. At one point, in his Harvard accent, JFK asked in a speech, "What wrong with the American farmer?" It came out "fah-mah?" And someone yelled out, "He's stah-ving!" But someone else walked up to JFK, and said, "Somebody told me you've never worked a day in your life. Well, let me tell you something: You ain't missed much!" JFK won 60 percent of the vote, Humphrey just 39 percent.
JFK won the nomination, and the general election. In 1963, he appointed FDR Jr. to be Under Secretary of Commerce. In 1965, the new President Lyndon B. Johnson, appointed FDR Jr. to be the 1st Chairman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. He resigned the next year, to run for Governor of New York. He won the Democratic nomination, but lost to another political scion, incumbent Nelson Rockefeller.
FDR Jr. died in 1988. His son, Franklin Delano Roosevelt III, is a retired economist and a professor at Sarah Lawrence College, and successfully led a drive to get a memorial to Eleanor Roosevelt in Riverside Park, not far from Grant's Tomb. He had 3 children, 1 son, but named him Nicholas rather than Franklin Delano Roosevelt IV. Through his mother, FDR III is also related to the du Pont family.
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May 10, 1960 was a Tuesday. In Dublin, another famous Irishman was born: Paul David Hewson, later to become Bono, the lead singer of U2.
And these baseball games were played:
* The New York Yankees lost to the Cleveland Indians, 5-1 at Yankee Stadium. Yankee reliever Ryne Duren, knowing for being alternately very effective and very wild with a blazing fastball, was wild in the top of the 10th inning, allowing 4 runs, including a home run by Jimmy Piersall. The Yankee run came on a home run by Elston Howard. Mickey Mantle went 0-for-3 with 2 walks, Yogi Berra went 0-for-4, and Roger Maris went 0-for-3 with 1 walk.
* The Boston Red Sox beat the Chicago White Sox, 9-7 at Fenway Park in Boston. Ted Williams, in his final season, appeared as a pinch-hitter, and drew a walk.
* The Kansas City Athletics beat the Baltimore Orioles, 10-0 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Brooks Robinson went 1-for-3. Dick Hall pitched a 6-hit shutout for the A's. The O's were impressed, and traded for him right before the next season started, and he helped their rise to contention, helping them win the 1966 World Series.
* The Detroit Tigers beat the Washington Senators, 1-0 at Griffith Stadium in Washington. Don Mossi pitched a 3-hit shutout. Al Kaline went 0-for-4.
* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 3-2 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Vernon Law outpitched Johnny Podres. Hal Smith and Bill Mazeroski hit home runs, a combination that would prove glorious for the Pirates on October 13. Roberto Clemente went 2-for-4. Duke Snider went 0-for-4.
* The San Francisco Giants beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 4-2 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Willie Mays went 0-for-4, but Willie Kirkland went 3-for-4 with an RBI.
* A cold snap and rain forced the Chicago Cubs to postpone an entire week's worth of games. On this day, they were scheduled to play the Cincinnati Reds at Wrigley Field in Chicago. The game was postponed to August 22, and the Cubs won, 6-3. Ernie Banks went 2-for-4. Frank Robinson went 2-for-3 with a solo home run and a walk.
* The Milwaukee Braves also postponed a few games due to rain and cold. But, on this day, they and the St. Louis Cardinals were not scheduled to play.
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