JFK DEFEATS LODGE, WINS U.S. SENATE CAMPAIGN
Boston, Massachusetts (JFK+50) On November 4, 1952, Congressman John F. Kennedy (D-Massachusetts) defeated Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. (R-Massachusetts) in the race for United States Senate.
Senator Lodge, running as the incumbent, lost by 70,000 votes out of 2.3 million cast.
Robert F. Kennedy, JFK's brother, was manager for the winning campaign while Cousin "Polly" Pauline Fitzgerald* organized tea parties** for women voters.
The final vote tally was...
JFK 1,211,984 LODGE 1,141,247
Mr. Kennedy became only the third Democrat to be elected to the United States Senate representing Massachusetts.
When Senator Lodge was asked why he had lost, he said...
"It was those damn tea parties!"
*Pauline "Polly" (McNamara) Fitzgerald (1920-2008) was born in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts & graduated from Trinity College of Washington, D.C. Her husband, Edward J. Fitzgerald, was a Kennedy cousin & nephew of Honey Fitz.
**Thirty-three tea parties were hosted by Rose Kennedy & her daughters in private homes & hotels during the 1952 Senate campaign. The first, held at the Bancroft Hotel in Worcester, had an attendance of 5000 women.
SOURCE
"Pauline Fitzgerald; the force behind famed JFK tea parties," by Gloria Negri, The Boston Globe, February 18, 2008.
