Thursday, January 3, 2008

My voting record



What happened on this day in 1959 (48 years ago) during Eisenhower's administration?
 (see end of article for answer)    I voted for the first time in 1956, during Eisenhower's 2nd term. You had to be 21 to vote then and I was almost 22. We were living in Kansas and toured his birthplace home in Dennison, TX in the summer of 1956. I remember Mamie's bangs (or "fringe" as they call bangs in England).

The next time we voted we were living in our first home on Country Lane in Atlanta, GA (near Decatur). It was cold and snowing election day 1960. We waited in line outside the school building and I remember how cold my feet were. We laughed when we got home and discovered that we had canceled each others vote, voting for different candidates! I was happy that my candidate won.


In subsequent years we voted in elections for LB Johnson, Richard Nixon in 2 elections, (succeeded by Gerald Ford). Then we voted for Jimmy Carter twice but he lost the second time to Ronald Reagan. We voted for Reagan the next election, followed by George Bush. Then we voted for Bill Clinton 2 times and twice for George W. Bush.


James votes
So we have voted in 13 presidential elections. Today Jim and I reminisced about each of these and where we were living, etc. We take voting very serious and have taught our children to do the same. Our son James listens to the candidates and decides who he wants to vote for and he gets up early on voting day to go cast his vote (with assistance from me or his dad). And when his candidate wins he is so excited. He has really been following the candidates the past few weeks and plans to watch the caucus reports from Iowa tonight. He keeps telling us that he is voting for Hillary! We haven't made up our minds yet.
      Answer to question at top of page: Alaska was admitted as a state on Jan. 3, 1956 by Pres. Dwight D. Eisenhower

1 comment:

Tony said...

I stumbled onto your blog and enjoyed your "my voting record" blog posting. It looks like you have been or are people who look each individual candidates before you vote. I also have voted each way depending on the person and in national and local elections. Here in Iowa we just upset the so-called front runner and sent the Democratic party into a small uproar. I think my feelings are this, I'm sort of sick of the last names of Bush or Clinton. I'd like a fresh start! However, I'm very concerned about keeping America strong and securing her southern border. So in this election I'm leaning to the Republican side. Good luck in making your decision.
Have a great 2008!!