John F. Kennedy in Toledo, 1960

CAPTION TEXT ON PRINT:

JFK, 1960

Toledo Express Airport

Finally in his motorcade after landing, Democratic Senator John F. Kennedy waves to about 1,200 onlookers. 

Kennedy was to give a speech at the Lucas Co. Courthouse, which would overflow with a reported 25,000 people. Women in fur coats and men in hats. Young ladies with red lips, “Let’s back Jack” sashes, and flower corsages. Judges, local politicians, reporters, vendors, bobby-soxers,  students, hecklers, and an accordian player — “a mass of humanity” — pressed up to the courthouse and filled every foot of ground, peered out of windows, and clogged Adams Street. 

When Mr. Kennedy arrived nearly two hours late for this scheduled campaign stop, the “roaring throngs” welcomed him, and the crowd barely parted to let the candidate through.

Just three days later, he would become the youngest man ever to be elected president, defeating the Republican hopeful, Vice President Richard Nixon.

Alert historians will note this image was reversed in editions of that day’s Blade. The original photograph was developed from film backward, but the error otherwise remains a newsroom aberration whose origins are lost. 

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