Election Coverage of Old

A number of folks commented that they enjoyed seeing the front page of that 1924 issue of The Fayette County Record in Tuesday’s issue.

It’s the oldest known copy of the current incarnation of The Record, as we approach our 100th year of continuous publication. But readers wanted more. Some told me they wished we had run it larger so they could have read the content themselves or wanted to know what stories were being covered back then.

I’m not sure it would reproduce well enough in print to be able to read well, but I will tell you that edition of the newspaper appeared to be in the aftermath of the election of President Calvin Coolidge that year.

And I know people claim they’ve never seen such a divided political climate as things are today.

I would say they are wrong as this one story from that 1924 issue shows.

Under the headline “Now that the election is over” it states:

“.... It behooves all good Americans to lay aside all ill feeling which might have been created over the candidate, or policies in the campaign, and to work harmoniously with the selected officials to make the administration of the people’s affairs both efficient and economical ... In one instance at least the people of Fayette county selected a man who is incompetent to discharge the duties of his office. But the people have spoken and we submit to the will of the majority”

The story then goes on to quote a line from the competing newspaper of the day, The La Grange Journal, “Another election has become history. It is now in order for some of the newspaper to state in glaring headlines that they were responsible for the victory that had come to their advocated choice .... —La Grange Journal Nov. 6, 1924.”

Boy, did this fire up the folks at the Record because they go on to respond, “Doesn’t that sound like admitting that we were responsible for the success of certain candidates? ... We would be lacking in any true patriotism and courage should we claim any special credit for doing what we considered our duty. As we saw it there was only one thing to do — to take the side of Democracy against ku kluxism. We did it and feel satisfied in our own conscience, and we care for no glory.”

Wow!

That really makes me wish there were more surviving copies of the Record from that era, to further look into their coverage of those times.

I was looking through some old front pages of The Record from right after presidential elections and I came across the one from Nov. 5 1976.

On the front page was a column by then-publisher Dick Barton.

He is the late father of our current publisher Regina Keilers.

He wrote a semi-regular column in the Record in the 70s and 80s (called This That and Otherwise) that even I remember reading as a kid.

They were always short, to the point, and usually funny.

Here’s his column from that issue, 44 years ago.

“We have a new President.

That means that inflation will stop, everyone will have a job, there will be no more wars and taxes will be lowered That’s what I understand Mr. Carter to say would happen if he got elected.

That’s not exactly what he said but it comes pretty close plus many other things that can only happen in Utopia.

I guess this sounds like I lost my vote and that I have sour grapes. Both things may be so.

What is true is that Mr. Carter is our President and that he was elected with a large turnout. That means that more people wanted him than wanted Mr. Ford. He is our President and is due our support.

I hope he can be successful in all those areas he promised. I think no one could be so. I hope he will be sincere in his attempts to correct as many of our problems as possible.

I confess I lost my vote but I wasn’t too disappointed. I only made up my mind in the final days and even then it was almost a toss of a coin that decided.

I’ve spent most of my life being wrong and admitting it later so one more time won’t hurt. I hope Mr. Carter becomes such a good president that I can say I’m glad I lost my vote.”

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this slice of Record history and we’ll try to keep doing it semi-regularly over the next year as we approach the start of our 100th year of continuous publication. I’d love to include special memories you have of The Record. Email them to me at jeff@fayettecountyrecord.com or drop them by the office.