JFK Was First to Acknowledge Latino Voting Bloc, Hours Before He was Killed
The night before President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, the president visited with Mexican American civil rights leaders at a League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) gala in Houston, Texas. Historians believe this was the first time a sitting president ever met with or acknowledged Latinos as a new voting block.
Russell Contreras, an Associated Press reporter based in Albuquerque, N.M., recently published a story that includes interviews with historians and Latinos who were at the LULAC gala.
On Election Day in 1960, Kennedy won 85 percent of the Mexican-American vote.But during Kennedy’s first months in office, Latino leaders expressed dismay that the president had failed to appoint Hispanics in his administration. Chavez even openly criticized Kennedy for