FILE - In this file photo dated Jan. 20, 1961, U.S. President John F. Kennedy delivers his inaugural address at Capitol Hill in Washington, after taking the oath of office. That rallying cry from his inaugural address - "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country" - is etched both in stone and in the minds of generations of Americans. Kennedy didn't make it even halfway to 100 - a milestone he might have celebrated May 29, 2017 - but the slain U.S. president's legacy is being lived out by his descendants. (AP Photo, File)

“Whether it happens in four years or eight or 20, there is something unfailingly stirring about the transfer of government from one party to another,” reads the first of several paragraphs printed on a yellowed, dog-eared snippet of newspaper I found at the bottom of a mildewed box the other day.

Mildly interested in where the message of this relatively brief essay was headed, I read ahead.

“All around the globe men still are seeking to win their goals by violent means … (however), they can find in our presidential inauguration a memorable example of the rule of law and order … .”

Hmm, interesting, I thought, especially held up against the goings-on these days. But it was the next few paragraphs that made me sit down on the box and pull the utility light closer.

“The essence of democracy, of course, is that the people have a choice, and that – once it is expressed – it be accepted by everyone. In too many (countries), the losers are not willing to abide by this fundamental (element) of free government.

Dean Shalhoup

“They have used riot and destruction to try to overturn peacefully taken decisions,” the paragraph concluded.

The writer went on to excoriate violence as “the first resort of tyranny,” but it should “be the last resort of a free people,” used “only when their government has become so twisted and warped as to no longer be a free government.”

Then came the paragraph that confirmed, as if there was any doubt given the obvious age of this scrap of newsprint, that this essay was written quite some time ago.

For one, it referred to Americans’ “gracious acceptance of the majority verdict,” which laid the foundation for “the grandeur … of the remarkable act of transferring great national power in a peaceful, orderly way.”

Any guesses as to when this essay was written?

True, it would have been appropriate for almost any presidential inauguration day or week – except, sorry to say, the current one.

It turns out my scrap of newspaper-turned portal into the past is dated Jan. 26, 1961 – some 60 years ago this month. The essay was one of numerous editorials, and dozens of articles, our predecessor the Nashua Telegraph ran in the weeks leading up to, during, and after the inauguration of president John F. Kennedy.

I read with great interest how the writer made a point of underscoring America’s proud legacy of free and fair elections: “Happily, Americans still understand the vital importance of this keystone in the democratic system,” he or she wrote, referring to free and fair elections.

Americans’ trust in the democratic system wavered not a bit in the 1960 election, a year in which their “gracious acceptance of the majority verdict was put to the supreme test … since Kennedy won by a slender 112,000 votes out of the 69 million votes cast.”

The Telegraph on Jan. 19, the eve of Kennedy’s inauguration, led with the headline “Capital Agog with Big Plans for Inauguration,” a term of the times that means “eager,” “enthusiastic,” but probably fit better in the headline.

An AP political reporter named Relman Morin wrote under the headline “Suspenseful Air in Washington” that “Republicans, noting Kennedy’s razor-thin margin of victory, are chagrined but by no means downhearted.”

It appears that as angry or disappointed as many Republicans got over Kennedy edging out vice president Richard Nixon was their decision to “take a wait-and-see position” on how Kennedy would fare as president, while “grudgingly conceding that Kennedy seems to be off to a good start.”

The Jan. 20 Telegraph in its day-of coverage announced under the main headline “Kennedy Takes Oath” such smaller headlines as “Big Inaugural Wingding Hit By Snow,” a reference to the blizzard that hit the Eastern seaboard and inundated New England with more than two feet of snow.

The storm didn’t miss Nashua, that’s for sure. Even worse, according to reports of the next couple of weeks, was the weather that set in on the heels of the blizzard.

It was notable enough to warrant its own essay.

Stay tuned.

Dean Shalhoup’s column appears weekly in The Sunday Telegraph. He may be reached at 594-1256 or dshalhoup@nashuatelegraph.com.

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