SCVHistory.com | Newhall | Ted Kennedy Stumps for Brother JFK at Tex Williams' Village Nightclub, 11-2-1960.

Webmaster's note.

Neither an 11th hour appeal from brother Ted nor a healthy 1,229-vote Democratic lead in voter registration were enough to push John F. Kennedy to victory in the Santa Clarita Valley in 1960. Nixon took the valley by 345 votes, which broke down as follows: Newhall precincts, 1,265 for Nixon to 1,073 for Kennedy; Saugus precincts, 1,375 for Nixon to 1,222 for Kennedy. California went for its favorite son by a narrower margin (50.1-49.55 percent), contributing 32 electoral college votes to Nixon's total of 219 — against Kennedy's 303. (Third-party candidate Harry F. Byrd, running as a Southern Democrat with Strom Thurmond, tied down 15 electoral college votes.) Nationally, Kennedy's margin of victory in the popular vote was one of the narrowest in U.S. history at the time, 49.72 percent to 49.55 percent.

Down-ballot voting in the Santa Clarita Valley was mixed. For Congress, the SCV picked Edgar W. Hiestand, a member of the anti-communist John Birch Society, by an even greater number of votes than it gave Nixon (695). But the SCV went with Democrat Tom C. Carrell for Assembly by a similar margin (630 votes). It was the early 1970s before the Santa Clarita Valley turned solidly Republican.

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Packed House at Giant Demo Rally.

The Newhall Signal and Saugus Enterprise | Thursday, November 3, 1960.

The Citizens for Kennedy dinner and rally packed the Tex Williams Village Wednesday night as over 500 enthusiastic Democrats gathered from Newhall-Saugus, Antelope Valley and San Fernando to hear a host of speakers, including Ted Kennedy, youngest brother of Senator John Kennedy, hopefully predict victory for their party in the November elections.

Chairman of the San Fernando Valley Citizens for Kennedy Clubs, Burt Moffat, attended to the evening's formalities and then turned the speakers rostrum over to Attorney General Stanley Mosk.

Mosk called on the Democrats to stand on the party record in handling the depression, WWII and the Korean situation, and attacked the charges that Senator Kennedy is inexperienced by pointing out that other inexperienced men such as Franklin Roosevelt proved able enough leaders.

Mrs. Elizabeth Abernatty, National Director of the Program for Peace and a member of the Democrat National Committee, spoke of Senator Kennedy's policies for peace, and was followed to the rostrum by Dr. Frank Sullivan, Professor of English at Loyola University who lauded President Roosevelt's programs for handling the problems of the depression era.

The highlight speaker of the evening was young Tom [sic: Ted] Kennedy, the western regional director of his brother's campaign. Kennedy related tales of ski jumping and bronco riding in behalf of his brother's bid for the Presidency, and then as he turned his speech to key issues of the campaign in a manner surprisingly similar in diction, content and delivery to that of his brother, he was frequently interrupted by applause.

The Democratic candidate for the 21st District Congressman, Rudd Brown, and incumbent 41st District Assemblyman Tom Carrell arrived in time to address the rally.

Vice Chairman of the Newhall-Saugus and Antelope Valley Citizens for Kennedy Club Mrs. Kay Martell, who had welcomed the more than 500 Democrats that turned out, brought the meeting to a close by appealing to them to get out and work for victory in November.

News story courtesy of Bruce McFarland.