By Camille Taylor
Although a retired educator, I maintain my curiosity about many things. I’ve been following the political campaigning with interest and “disturbed” mildly describes my feelings. So, I decided to watch the series, “Race for the White House” on CNN. The promotional ads showed mayhem, corruption, and bizarre events surrounding the presidential political campaigns of the past. To my surprise, I’m discovering that as unpredictable and “disturbing” as this political season has been, there have been past campaigns that make the current ones look like a “picnic in the park!”
Did you know that “dirty politics” in the election of 1800 led to a duel three years later in which Vice President Aaron Burr killed our nation’s first treasury secretary, Alexander Hamilton, in a duel? Or how honest do you think Honest Abe was? Abraham Lincoln told his campaign workers to do what they needed to do for him to win. That said, a number of dirty tricks were played, such as taking one admission ticket to the convention and making 5000 copies of it to fill the convention hall with Lincoln supporters to stack the vote. Another was promising a cabinet position to a very unqualified man to get his help to deliver the Indiana vote.
Then there were Nixon’s White House plumbers. These men worked in for President Nixon and their job was to stop leaks of classified information(thus the name “plumbers”). Their numerous covert ops led to the infamous Watergate burglary which eventually led to Nixon’s resignation. President John F. Kennedy had a reputation for supporting minorities and being their advocate. Ironically, when he ran against Nixon in 1960, he personally didn’t care that much about civil rights. However, when Dr. Martin L.King Jr. was arrested and jailed in a Georgia prison, both Nixon and Kennedy deliberated on whether to call King’s wife, Coretta to express concern. Kennedy decided to do it, and Nixon chose not to, even though he was actually concerned. As a result, Kennedy got the black vote in the election and won, because he appeared to be a champion for black causes.
I’ve seen horrible political ads about Lincoln at the museum in Springfield, and read about the dirtiest of politics to gain the most powerful seat in the land. So where does that leave us today? What does it say about one’s quest for power? As nasty, distasteful, and hateful as politics appears to be today, it reveals one thing. Some things never change.
Camille Taylor, a retired Counselor from Normal Community High School, has been an educator in this community for 34 years. She is active in the community currently serving as a church elder and board member for both the Baby Fold and the YWCA. She has been recognized by the YWCA as a Woman of Distinction for education, a Martin Luther King Jr. award winner for the City of Bloomington, a Distinguished Alumni by the College of Education at Illinois State University, a Human and Civil Rights award winner for the Illinois Education Association, and the H.Councill Trenholm Award recipient from the National Education Association for her work with diversity. She lives in Bloomington with her husband, Arthur, and is a mother and grandmother.
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