A LITTLE REBELLION NOW & THEN IS A GOOD THING

JFK+50:  Volume 7, No. 2124

DONALD TRUMP SHOCKS THE WORLD: HE IS PRESIDENT-ELECT

Washington, D.C.  (JFK+50) In a letter to James Madison dated January 30, 1787, Thomas Jefferson, commenting on Shay's Rebellion in Massachusetts, wrote "a little rebellion now and then is a good thing...as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical.  It is a medicine necessary for the sound health of government."

Early this morning, November 9, 2016, Donald J. Trump of New York was declared the winner of the presidential election of 2016 and on January 20, 2017 will be sworn in as the 45th President of the United States.*

Mr. Trump's election represents widespread dissatisfaction among many voters with the performance of the Federal Government.  Exit polls showed that 69% of voters were either dissatisfied with or angry at the current state of the government.  

Donald Trump's election came in the wake of polling which predicted that Hillary Clinton would become the first woman POTUS by a considerable margin.  Prognosticators said that Trump's path to the White House was narrow at best.  His victory not only shocked the Clinton campaign, and the Democratic Party, it shocked the Nation and the World.

As CNN political reporter Dana Bash expressed it, "people are fed up with the way things don't work in this town."  They want change, and now they have it, or at least beginning on the 20th of January next year.

Unlike Shay's Rebellion, this election, for the most part, was a peaceful protest, but it represents the spirit of Thomas Jefferson's sentiments.  Mr. Trump has promised change to make this country better and to make the government more responsive to the wishes of the people.  Whether or not he will succeed is yet to be seen, but the American people have expressed their willingness to give him that chance.

*Returns are still being counted but as of 4 o'clock Eastern time today, CNN has the electoral count as TRUMP 290, CLINTON 228 with 21 votes still in the balance.  The popular vote totals are TRUMP 59,230,029, CLINTON 59,427,870.  Third & fourth party candidates combined for 5,233,428.

This marks the 5th election out of 58 in which the winning candidate lost the popular vote.  The others include 1824 (John Quincy Adams over Andrew Jackson), 1876 (Rutherford B. Hayes over Samuel J. Tiliden), 1888 (Benjamin Harrison over Grover Cleveland), and 2000 (George W. Bush over Al Gore, Jr.

SOURCES

"Jefferson's letter to Madison, A Little Rebellion Now and Then is a Good Thing," www.varsitytutors.com/

"Presidents Winning Without Popular Vote," by D'Angelo Gore, Fact Check, www.factcheck.org/

THE HISTORIC ELECTIONS OF 1960 & 2016

JFK+50:  Volume 6, No. 2123

ELECTIONS OF 1960 & 2016:  
A COMPARISON

Washington, D.C.  (JFK+50) Today, November 8, 2016, voters go to the polls to cast their ballots for their choice for the 45th President of the United States. Fifty-six years ago today, November 8, 1960, voters did the same for the 35th President of the United States.  Both elections are historic.  Let's compare them.

In 1960, the incumbent POTUS, Dwight D. Eisenhower, was completing his second term and was ineligible for re-election.  In 2016, the incumbent POTUS, Barack H. Obama, is completing his second term and is ineligible for re-election.

1960 saw the election of the youngest-elected president in history, John F. Kennedy, at age 43.*  2016 could see the election of the first woman president in history, Hillary R. Clinton.  If Secretary Clinton is elected, however, she would continue Democratic control of the Executive Branch for a third term, while JFK's election in 1960 changed control from the Republicans to the Democrats.

The Election of 1960 was the closest presidential contest of the 20th century. We shall have to wait until tonight or perhaps even into tomorrow morning to find out if the Election of 2016 will also be close.

In 1960, third party candidate Harry F. Byrd, a segregationist senator from Virginia,  won 15 electoral votes.  Although there are third and fourth party candidates in 2016, it is not expected that either will win any electoral votes.  

The two major party nominees of 1960 represented two different coasts of the United States.  Vice-President Nixon of California watched returns from his suite at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles while Senator Kennedy of Massachusetts watched them from the Kennedy Compound in Hyannis Port. 

The two major party nominees of 2016 represent not only the same coast but also the same state.  Mr. Trump and Mrs. Clinton are both New Yorkers.

As far as the electoral maps, the two elections are likely to have some different outcomes.  In 1960, the Republicans carried California, Oregon & Washington. In 2016, those three Western states will go to the Democrats.  In 1960, the Democrats won Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, and South Carolina.  Those Southern states will switch to the Republicans in 2016.

The state of Ohio has chosen the winner in every presidential election since 1964, but in 1960 it went to the loser, Richard Nixon.  If pre-election polls are correct, Mr. Trump will win Ohio but lose the election.  That, of course, remains to be seen.

*John F. Kennedy, although the youngest elected POTUS, is not the youngest.  That distinction belongs to Theodore Roosevelt who was 42 years old when he assumed the presidency on the death of President William McKinley."

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CAROLINE!

JFK+50:  Volume 6, No. 1779

CAROLINE CELEBRATES BIRTHDAY

New York City (JFK+50) Fifty-eight years ago today, November 27, 1957, Caroline Bouvier Kennedy, the daughter of Senator and Mrs. John F. Kennedy, was born at the Cornell Medical Center here in New York.  

Caroline, who was born at 8:15 a.m. local time, weighed 7 pounds, 2 ounces.Caroline was three years old when her father was inaugurated President of the United States and almost six when he died.  

She graduated from Radcliffe College and received the  J.D. degree from Columbia Law School.  Caroline married Edwin Scholossberg on July 19, 1986.  The couple have three children:  Rose, Tatiana and John.

Caroline was appointed Ambassador to Japan by President Barack Obama on July 24, 2013.  She appeared before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on September 19 where she said that her focus in the position would be military ties, trade and student exchange.

Ambassador Kennedy was confirmed by the United States Senate on October 16 and sworn in by Secretary of State John Kerry as the first woman to hold the office on November 12, 2013.

According to Clark Mindock, writing on the International Business Times website, 2015 Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has not been so impressed with Caroline's appointment.

In Trump's view, Caroline Kennedy "only really got her ambassador gig because she was a wealthy, connected woman."  If given the opportunity to respond directly to Mr. Trump, JFK+50 would argue that perhaps the only reason he is a presidential candidate is because he is a "wealthy, connected" man.

SOURCE

"Trump Attacks Caroline Kennedy, US Ambassador And Daughter of JFK In First Speech Since GOP Debates," by Clark Mindock, International Business Times, August 11, 2015, www.ibtimes.com/

Caroline Kennedy

George Washington University

September 26, 2011

Photo by John White