Watch the birth of the Latino vote 50 years ago tonight in Houston. A rarely seen full video of JFK’s last night will be played at an anniversary event tonight at a special LULAC reception in the same room where Kennedy addressed Latino civil rights leaders. The band here is singing ‘Kennedy, Kennedy,’ song written for JFK for his 1962 visit to Mexico.
According to NPR:
On the evening of Nov. 21, 1963, President John F. Kennedy, his wife Jacqueline, Vice President Lyndon Johnson and his wife, Lady Bird, walked through a wall of applause to take their place as honored guests in a Houston ballroom. They were making a brief stop at a formal dinner held by LULAC — the League of United Latin American Citizens — to show their appreciation for the Mexican-American votes that had helped the young president carry Texas in the 1960 election.
The crowd eventually settled down to hear the President tell them that Latin America was not just a friend, but a partner in the peace and prosperity he hoped the entire hemisphere would come to enjoy.
… After years of being regarded as second-class citizens, denied access to some places and sent to the back door of others (often helpfully guided by not-uncommon signs that declared “no dogs, Negroes or Mexicans”), here was the respect LULAC’s members long had been striving for. For the first time, a sitting president of the United States had chosen to visit a Hispanic group. Of the deluge of invitations that flooded the White House when the whirlwind trip through Texas had been announced, he had chosen them. After the Kennedys’ brief remarks, the room rang with cries of “Viva Kennedy! And viva Jackie!” FULL STORY >>>
See a rarely seen video below: