General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Show me what a police state looks like! (Graphic! Dial-up warning!) Updated with livestream link [View all]Art_from_Ark
(27,247 posts)I was living in a very small, very sheltered town at the time, so there was undoubtedly a disconnect with a lot of those events that were far away. We had a family friend who often took us places, and she seemed to be always upbeat and never talked about politics or events outside of Arkansas. My friend's father would also take me to different places as well, and he always seemed to be cheerful as well and mainly discussed sports with us.
But I do remember a distinct change between the end of school in May and the beginning of school in late August. In late May, there was "Bobby fever", with just about every kid in my class saying that his/her parents were going to vote for Bobby Kennedy. In August, however, the mood had become quite somber, with some kids saying their parents were going to (grudgingly) vote for Humphrey. while others were saying their parents were voting for Wallace. There weren't too many Nixon supporters among my group. At any rate, the state ended up being one of 5 Southern states to vote for Wallace (Boo! Hiss!), but the state also re-elected its progressive Republican governor, Winthrop Rockefeller, and its liberal Democratic US Senator, J. William Fulbright. It was quite a schizophrenic year for Arkansas politics, to say the least.