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Sunday, November 6, 2016

IF HE HAS A PLACE FOR ME, I BELIEVE WE ARE READY

JFK+50:  Volume 6, No. 2121

JFK SPEAKS IN CONNECTICUT TWO DAYS BEFORE ELECTION OF 1960

Waterbury, Connecticut (JFK+50) Fifty-six years ago today, November 6, 1960 the Democratic nominee for President of the United States, Senator John F. Kennedy, speaking to a crowd of supporters from a balcony of the Roger Smith Hotel here in Waterbury, said that New England had not had a Democratic president since Franklin Pierce.*

JFK, reminding the crowd that was 104 years ago, added...

"I think it is about time."

With Election Day just two days away, JFK spoke at 2:45 a.m. local time.  He said....

"On Tuesday night, the 1st state of the union to vote & have its results is the state of Connecticut.  This state is important.  You can have an effect here & across the country."**

Senator Kennedy quoted FDR, who said in 1936...

'Governments can err, presidents do make mistakes, but the immortal Dante tells us that Divine Justice weighs the sins of the coldblooded & the sins of the warmhearted in a different scale.  Better the occasional faults of a government living in the spirit of charity than the consistent omissions of a government frozen in the ice of its own indifference.'

JFK concluded his speech with words spoken by President Abraham Lincoln...

'I know there is a God, & I know He hates injustice.  We see the storm coming, & we know His hand is in it.  But if He has a place & a part for me, I believe that we are ready.'

*Waterbury is located 33 miles SW of Hartford, Connecticut.  The city, known for manufacturing brassware, is called 'Brass City.'  The Knights of Columbus was founded in the city in 1881 & the Waterbury Clock Company manufactured the Mickey Mouse watch.

**JFK won Connecticut (8 electoral votes) along with Rhode Island (4) and Massachusetts (16).  Nixon won Maine (5), New Hampshire (4) and Vermont (3).  So the President-elect won New England 28-12.




JFK Bumper Sticker 1960
JFK Library Image



The Elton Hotel
 The Roger Smith Hotel in 1960
 West Main Street
Waterbury, Connecticut