# Your first political memory? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 29, 2004, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-political-memory/236996 "2004-03-29T02:33:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![jacksen9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ce73a5/32.png) [@jacksen9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jacksen9)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2004, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-political-memory/236996/61 "2004-03-30T00:04:43Z")
I vaguely remember being on a swing set at a park in Jackson Misssissippi when hundreds of black men in white shirts with ties started gathering. I think we were at Smith Park in downtown Jackson. We had just seen a movie. I believe they were about to begin a protest march or sit-in. My mom was scared and wouldn’t let us continue to play in the park. I can remember more clearly hearing the announcement that MLK had been shot. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2004, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-political-memory/236996/62 "2004-03-30T02:26:48Z")
My first definite policial memory was JFK’s presidential campaign. I have an earlier memory from the 50s, but it’s very indistinct and I’m not really sure if it happened. My mother took me into a voting booth with her. It was curtained off and dimly lit by a candle! ---
**Author:** ![Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laughing_Lagomorph)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2004, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-political-memory/236996/63 "2004-03-30T02:49:42Z")
I remember when I must have been 3 or 4 and we lived in New York City in the late 1960s. There were always protests of some sort going on somewhere (anti Vietnam, presumably). The ones I saw were always peaceful, if spirited. I remember not really understanding what it was all about. My first purely political memory is of the Watergate scandal forcing Nixon’s resignation. I must have been around 9. I just remember that a lot of the grownups were really angry at the president, although again it was a long time before I understood why. ---
**Author:** ![Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laughing_Lagomorph)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2004, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-political-memory/236996/64 "2004-03-30T02:50:43Z")
…anti Vietnam WAR protests, of course… ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2004, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-political-memory/236996/65 "2004-03-30T02:57:09Z")
We got our first TV in January, 1953 – a black-and-white (of course) Zenith with about a 12" diameter round screen. My mother let me stay home from school to watch Eisenhower’s first inauguration. All I remember was that my parents didn’t like Eisenhower. Later that year, I also stayed home to watch Queen Elizabeth’s coronation. All I remember was the gold coach she was riding in, which I actually got to see last year in London. Come to think of it, being raised Jewish and having been born right after WWII, I think I was aware of the Holocaust from a \*\*very \*\*early age. I don’t remember \*\*not \*\*knowing about it. ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Tonya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/4491bb/32.png) [@Queen\_Tonya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Tonya)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2004, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-political-memory/236996/66 "2004-03-30T03:00:50Z")
I was six years old and asked my Dad why he wanted to elect Mr.Carter for president instead of Mr.Ford. He began this ginormous explanation that was entirely over my head and I just kept getting more upset, since Dad worked at Ford Motor Co. I presumed he’d lose his job if he didn’t vote for the boss. Somehow I failed to make that concern clear to him, so he’s yammering on about all sorts of Really Important Issues while I carefully start counting my piggybank contents as we were obviously going to be very poor soon. ---
**Author:** ![Crescent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e99b99/32.png) [@Crescent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crescent)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2004, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-political-memory/236996/67 "2004-03-30T03:05:20Z")
I only vaguely remember JFK’s death and funeral. What I do remember is going to a place where my mom was involved with Barry Goldwater’s run in '64. She got a pin: AuH2O and bumperstickers. My brother has the pin now and I remember we got our car windows soped because of the bumpersticker. I was five. ---
**Author:** ![Crescent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e99b99/32.png) [@Crescent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crescent)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2004, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-political-memory/236996/68 "2004-03-30T03:06:54Z")
grrrr… soaped. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2004, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-political-memory/236996/69 "2004-03-30T05:48:24Z")
> [@Innanna](#): > > I am convinced that I am a life-long democrat because of my first political memory. I was very young and I loved the muppets. And this horrible man would ALWAYS interrupt the muppets to talk and talk and talk (past the end of the muppets–everytime). And he caused my Daddy to swear at the TV and throw things, so I liked him even less. The man was Ronald Reagan. And I still haven’t forgiven him. : :mad: YES! I remember this too! Stupid Reagan interrupting the Muppets! I also remember in first grade our teachers asking us who we wanted to win. One kid in my class said Reagan, because “He’s an old man.” I thought that was funny, so I said the same thing, replacing Mondale. Also, kind of funny, my grandmother lives in Greensburg, and there is this building that’s the main utilities office-it’s a nice white building with a dome and a fountain on the front lawn. I always thought that was the White House when I was little and that was where the president lived. Oh, and when Bill Scranton and Bob Casey were both running for governor of Pennsylvania, I saw so many ads saying how bad Scranton would be, and how Casey should be elected. So naturally, I was for Casey. Then I saw an ad for Scranton, and it shocked me. How could that be-Casey was the good guy! Then when my grandmother told me she was probably going to vote for Scranton, I said, quoting verbatim from the commercial (paraphrased here because I don’t remember it totally), “But Gramma, Scranton will only continue with the failed policies of the past! Casey will bring us into the future!” Or something like that. HEhehe. ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2004, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-political-memory/236996/70 "2004-03-30T06:50:33Z")
The 1983 election, when Fraser was outed in favour of Hawke. I was hoping Malcolm Fraser would win because he looked like a nice man, but I didn’t like Bob Hawke at all because he looked like a nasty man. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2004, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-political-memory/236996/71 "2004-03-30T15:46:19Z")
The Nixon-McGovern election in 1972 which would have made me seven years old. I have vague memories before that of Vietnam/hippies/protests. For some reason I wanted Nixon to win. Shortly after that, (I am pretty sure it was after that) my parents did something for the first and only time. They put the TV in the kitchen for us to watch while we ate dinner. They told us to watch this because it was history. It was Nixon annoucing the Vietnam pullout. Haj ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2004, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-political-memory/236996/72 "2004-03-30T16:11:46Z")
Mine would be the 1980 elections, when I was four. I remember being a huge Reagan fan (much to my left-wing parents’ chagrin) and trying to feed him jelly beans through the little slots in the back of our TV. (Because of course all the candidates lived inside the TV – how else would we be able to see them on the screen?) I also remember there being a lot of stuff about IRA prisoners and hunger strikes on the news, but I’m not sure whether that was earlier or later. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2004, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-political-memory/236996/73 "2004-03-30T17:08:09Z")
The 1972 Nixon/McGovern election. I was 8. I remember that my 3rd-grade class had our own election, and I was the only one who voted for McGovern (my mom was so proud.) I know I’ve mentioned this once or twice before, but my parents took the family to Washington DC in '74 so that we were seated on the lawn outside the Whitehouse when Nixon resigned; we watched his speech on a tiny portable TV that someone had brought with them. ---
**Author:** ![AmericanMaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@AmericanMaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AmericanMaid)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2004, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-political-memory/236996/74 "2004-03-30T18:38:58Z")
My first political memory is walking home from elementary school debating politics with this boy. He thought Regan was great and I tried to convince him Mondale was better. I think I was basically parroting my parents plus I thought it was really cool having a woman VP. ---
**Author:** ![liirogue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dbc845/32.png) [@liirogue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/liirogue)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2004, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-political-memory/236996/75 "2004-03-30T18:56:47Z")
Just out of curiosity, **Eva** , why did you decide to ask this question? And where did you get the idea for it? ---
**Author:** ![divemaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/divemaster/32/78_2.png) [@divemaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/divemaster)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2004, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-political-memory/236996/76 "2004-03-30T19:05:19Z")
I remember when the Watergate hearings were on TV. They were pre-empting my normally-viewed shows. I don’t remember which ones (Mr. Rogers? Sesame Street?), but to my 4 or 5-year-old mind, I had a God-given right to watch MY shows and all this Watergate stuff was really mucking up my little world. I also remember the Carter/Ford election night and feeling _very_ disappointed that Ford had lost. I was 8 and already a “Young Republican.” I also remember, about that age or maybe a little younger, that grownups from time to time would ask me about the Civil War. As in, “Who were you rooting for?” (I’m from the Deep South and I guess this was a litmus test question). I distinctly remember my answer: “I was rooting for the South, but I’m glad the North won.” ---
**Author:** ![Master\_Wang-Ka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/master_wang-ka/32/3325_2.png) [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2004, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-political-memory/236996/77 "2004-03-30T19:08:15Z")
For some reason, I was watching the Democratic National Convention on television in 1968. I would have been something like four years old. The only thing I remember about it was that the police were fighting outside with hippies, and I was rather confused. Didn’t police only beat up bad people? Weren’t hippies supposed to be harmless? Meanwhile, inside, Walter Cronkite’s friend Dan Rather got attacked by government men in suits who knocked him down. He seemed kind of upset about that. What was the deal here? Had everyone gone crazy? Years later, upon learning what-all had actually happened, I concluded that yes, they had. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2004, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-political-memory/236996/78 "2004-03-30T19:12:27Z")
Early 1970s here - the power cuts brought on by the miners’ strike. The then Prime Minister, Edward Heath, lost the battle and eventually the premiership. ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2004, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-political-memory/236996/79 "2004-03-30T19:56:04Z")
> [@liirogue](#): > > Just out of curiosity, **Eva** , why did you decide to ask this question? And where did you get the idea for it? No particular reason; just idle curiosity. On Sunday I was just thinking about my dad and his quirky sense of humor, which brought to mind the whole goofy Nixon/ice cream thing I mentioned in the OP, and from there I started wondering whether other people had had similar experiences and what those were, and how they perceived them, both at the time and in retrospect. I have random thoughts like this all the time. (Side note, possibly related: my mom always swears that kids can’t possibly have memories like that at such an early age. Then again, she is the one who always complains that I mention seemingly unconnected ideas without explaining how I got from one idea to the next, which doesn’t make sense to her until I explain it. Just checking: am I confusing everyone, or just my mom?) ---
**Author:** ![35340](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/8baadc/32.png) [@35340](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/35340)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2004, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-political-memory/236996/80 "2004-03-30T20:28:18Z")
hostages taken, then my sister making a poster for school for Carter against Ronnie, then the hostages released. Kind of interesting on the hostage taking … I read a first person account of a young child (he would have been 6 or 7, wrote it in his twenties) being put on the last plane out of Iran when it all went down. Kept badgering him to get it published but he refused and we’ve fallen out of correspondence. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-political-memory/236996.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-political-memory/236996.md?page=5)