{"id":615,"date":"2018-11-04T16:02:43","date_gmt":"2018-11-04T20:02:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rufusyoungblood.com\/blog\/?p=615"},"modified":"2019-03-23T07:18:00","modified_gmt":"2019-03-23T11:18:00","slug":"midterm-elections-then-and-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rufusyoungblood.com\/blog\/midterm-elections-then-and-now\/","title":{"rendered":"Midterm Elections – Then and Now\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

When I discuss my father\u2019s story, I try to add\u00a0relatable material for the audience. Often I procure a historical photograph featuring one of the five presidents in the town in which I am speaking. Since my father traveled to so many places protecting presidents or vice presidents, I can often find a relevant picture in which he is included.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Independence, Missouri, July 30, 1965, Okamoto, WHPO, LBJ Library.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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For a presentation I recently gave in Twin Falls, ID, instead of a photo, I found an entry in former Vice President Johnson\u2019s diary of a campaign stop there on October 19, 1962, shortly before the midterm elections (coincidentally on the same month and day I was visiting there). LBJ was traveling across the country to support his party\u2019s candidates at that time.<\/p>\n

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LBJ Diary, Oct, 19, 1962, Courtesy of LBJ Library<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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The diary entries of that week in October have been thought-provoking to me. I am amazed that the vice president traveled with only two Secret Service agents protecting him (one of whom was my father), and that they flew on commercial air flights. I also have a greater appreciation of how much my father traveled. He was away from us for days on end during his career.<\/p>\n

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LBJ Diary, Oct, 20, 1962, Courtesy of LBJ Library<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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In addition, I realized that election day for the 1962 midterm elections took place just over a week after the Cuban Missile Crisis ended. I wonder if the relief of averting a nuclear disaster diverted some of the bad behavior\u00a0and barrage of mud-slinging which is so prevalent in the current elections. The polar discord within our country seems to have magnified over the years and has been very concerning to me.<\/p>\n

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RYV photo.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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I was slightly relieved to hear a recent lecture at the Atlanta History Center given by historian and author Doris Kearns Goodwin. While discussing her new book, Leadership in Turbulent Times<\/em>, she reassured the audience that our country has endured and overcome even more significant internal conflicts throughout its past.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Doris Kearns Goodwin and me, Atlanta, GA, Oct. 2018, RYV photo.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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So, as I stood in line to vote last week, I reflected on some of these thoughts while forcing myself not to be annoyed by the 2-hour wait. I focused on how fortunate I am to live in a country where we can express our opinions so openly. I am forever grateful to our veterans and members of the armed forces for protecting this freedom for us. I will continue to pray that the extremes of opinions will not weaken our society but instead help us shape a better one. Moreover, I am thankful for the opportunity to cast my vote.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Oct. 2018, RYV photo.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

__________________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n

Sources:<\/p>\n

I appreciate the historians and archivists who have made these primary sources of history available. The Vice-President’s Daily Diary entries for 10\/19\/1962 and 10\/20\/1962 can be found in:<\/p>\n

Pre-Presidential Daily Diary Collection, LBJ Presidential Library, accessed November 02, 2018, https:\/\/www.discoverlbj.org\/item\/vpdd-19621019<\/p>\n

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“The Twins” statue citation, RYV photo.<\/p>\n

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When I discuss my father\u2019s story, I try to add\u00a0relatable material for the audience. Often I procure a historical photograph featuring one of the five presidents in the town in which I am speaking. Since my father traveled to so many places protecting presidents or vice presidents, I can often find a relevant picture in … Continue reading Midterm Elections – Then and Now\u00a0<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":619,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[132,192,199,75,198,195,196,188,191,200,194,123,103,197,189,67,46,10,193,42,190],"class_list":["post-615","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-20-years-in-the-secret-service","tag-20-years-in-the-secret-service","tag-agents","tag-archivist","tag-atlanta","tag-atlanta-history-center","tag-campaign","tag-david-clemons-statue","tag-doris-kearns-goodwin","tag-freedom","tag-historians","tag-idaho","tag-lbj","tag-lbj-library","tag-leadership-in-turbulent-times","tag-midterm-elections","tag-rebecca-youngblood","tag-rufus-w-youngblood","tag-secret-service","tag-twin-falls","tag-vice-president-johnson","tag-vote"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rufusyoungblood.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/615","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rufusyoungblood.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rufusyoungblood.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rufusyoungblood.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rufusyoungblood.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=615"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.rufusyoungblood.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/615\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":658,"href":"https:\/\/www.rufusyoungblood.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/615\/revisions\/658"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rufusyoungblood.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rufusyoungblood.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=615"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rufusyoungblood.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=615"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rufusyoungblood.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=615"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}