Photo from the Warren Times Mirror Calling someone an airhead in an editorial cartoon without calling them an airhead.

1960 appears to be where the Warren Times Mirror shifted from an independent approach to presidential elections.

The candidate they endorsed? Richard Nixon.

Nixon might not entirely deserve the reputation he has currently.

But the editors might want a redo on that one.

What stands out is the message they delivered after the election.

“Traditionally, in over sixty years of serving Warren County and Warren Borough, this paper has been independent politically,” the endorsing editorial, published on Oct. 26, 1960, said. “No matter what the politics of the publishers have been, the Times-Mirror has supported the candidates we felt best fitted for the job.”

They asserted that they devoted equal space to both major parties but still feel “that they must support Richard Nixon editorially for the Presidency of the United States.”

Right out of the gate, they felt that then-Sen. John F. Kennedy.

“We feel that John Kennedy does not measure up in statesmanship and leadership,” the Times Mirror editors concluded. “Kennedy is rash in judgment and immature in his outlook on world affairs.”

Some of the policy issues that editors were critical of should ring through to voters in 2024.

“Kennedy’s promises to the electorate as to medical help for the aged (Medicare), help for the farmer (the Farm Bill) and help for the worker (a social safety net) are unrealistic promises,” they concluded. (I added the parentheticals. “He promises to balance the budget without tax increases.

“He is committed to more government spending without inflation. The money to carry out his spending program must come from the people through taxation or inflation or both of them. The voters will certainly realize that Kennedy is fanciful in his approach to the economic issues of the campaign.”

Heard much about inflation over the last few years?

“People living on fixed incomes will find it harder to meet the rent, light, heat and grocery bills if Kennedy is elected,” they continued. “A larger tax bite will be taken from the earned income of workers and businesses either through higher income taxes or hidden sales taxes.”

Editors then shifted to calling Nixon a “statesman.”

“Nixon’s economic policies are more sensible. He is aware of the dangers of inflation and higher taxation and their causes,” the editorial states. “Nixon’s policies better reflect the free enterprise system as opposed to government subsidies proposed by Kennedy.

“Nixon’s background makes him better able to understand the problems (of) ordinary citizens. He comes from a working class family – as does his wife. The American people can be proud to elect to the highest office in our land a man like Richard Nixon, who runs as a candidate for the Presidency on a record of ability, honesty and hard work.”

Honesty. Watergate. Swing and a miss….

The election was close on the popular vote but Kennedy won both, including the Electoral College 330-219.

Nixon’s concession was the lead story the day after the election, though one story did claim that “GOP Holds Fort In County Against Democratic Sortie.”

“Traditionally Republican Warren County and the other six counties of the 23rd Congressional District held out like boulders in the Democratic torrent that swept across Pennsylvania yesterday,” the local story on the election said. “The Kennedy victory tide which overflowed the rural undertow of Republican votes, put control of the Pennsylvania General Assembly and State Senate in Democratic hands….

“The Democratic majority, particularly in Harrisburg, is expected to have repercussions in Warren County along lines of public projects, appointments and patronage….”

Local reporters included in a story that 85.4 percent of eligible voters in Warren County cast a ballot, up from the 1956 election which had set the record at 79.2 percent.

“As in other rural Republican strongholds, Warren County voted almost two to one in favor of GOP candidates,” the story said. “Nixon, according to unofficial county returns, beat out Kennedy 11,286 to 6,415 in the Presidential voting.

Kennedy only won 4 of 50 county precincts.

Another story was included that indicated that voters in Farmington and Mead townships approved a referendum to shift to using voting machines.

That day’s editorial was entitled “The People Make The Leader.”

“The people, a vast host of them, have spoken,” editors concluded. “Across this nation yesterday the climax to a Labor Day born campaign that outdid all others, the people went in record numbers to their polls. They elected a new president, John F. Kennedy.

“They must not leave it at that.”

“The new President will take over as the nation’s leader next January. But he cannot lead unless the people voice their beliefs and their hopes for their country. It is upon these that a President must base his leadership,” they argued. “If the beliefs and hopes are not of the highest principles and are not backed by sincerity, then the course the nation will follow, in its policies at home and abroad, will falter, it will be empty or half empty in purpose and the nation will fall by the wayside of world events.”

“It is the people who make a President after he is elected”

The editors were sure that Kennedy’s term was set to be “tumultuous, permanently decisive and troublesome years.”

From the emotionally charged atmosphere of the political campaign the people must slow down and consider the responsibilities of citizenship and of the role they must play in the nation’s welfare and the nation’s role in the face of world events. Such consideration cannot be based on emotions or snap judgments. It is based on education.

“The people wait for President-elect Kennedy to show his mettle. There is every reason for him to do so. Then the people themselves, no matter their politics, must show their true worth.

“If partisan politics among the citizens subdues their inherent nationalistic pride, the nation can well stand still or move forward at crippled pace. The majority spoke yesterday. Now more than a majority (must) be prepared to make the foundation upon which the new President can carry the nation into the year ahead.”