I'm sure in the early sixties the naughtiness of Republicans was equally ignored. It was the Times we lived in, we didn't speak openly of 'such' things.
This is totally true, and not just for politicians; but for just about any person who was in the public eye. Back then , we thought our government leaders were doing their best and cared for this country and the people , and any indiscretions in behavior were totally kept secret. We thought that the news media were telling us the truth about everything, and back then, they probably were all trying harder to bring us actual information. I grew up in a small town, so our politicians at the local levels were well known to most people in town, since they had probably grown up there along with the rest of us. At least that was fairly true until we started getting in the mass invasion from Californians, and they all seemed to want to move in and take over our local government.
I remember three things about JFK. First was the debate with Nixon where he looked good but said nothing other than content-free, vacuous platitudes. Second was the fact that during the cold war, citizens of West Germany thought so highly of JFK (perhaps also due in part to his "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech) that Kennedy half dollars were like gold. Carrying around a pocket full of them was like carrying around a fortune. Third, I remember not being shocked to learn that JFK was a drug-addled lothario of questionable intelligence who came from a very dysfunction family that was a little short on values and ethics. I don't remember exactly where I was or what I was doing on the day he died.
I was. I grew up in a political home. We watched the TV news together; my dad read ALL the NY newspapers everyday, and there used to be many. I've heard politics discussed my whole life.
I know my dad was a Republican but he voted for JFK. I don't remember politics being a common topic for discussion. I don't even know if my mom voted. My first presidential election vote was for George McGovern, but I was young and foolish then. Then again, he ran against Nixon.
As for dirty dealings, one thing seems certain - Nixon's father didn't have the mob connections that old Joe Kennedy had. If I remember correctly, Joe got the Midwest mobs and Chicago machine to "get out the vote". I still wonder if JFK's shacking up with mob boss Giancana's girl, Judith Exner, (alleged) spy Ellen Rometsch et. al. didn't have something to do with his assassination.
Watergate wasn't a big deal. He didn't order it but he was loyal to those who he believed to have been working on his behalf and, thus, was part of the coverup. I didn't vote for him in 1972 because he had run as a peace candidate, yet he had greatly expanded the war. He did, however, end it shortly after his reelection and before he resigned.
Today is another anniversary of the assassination of President John F Kennedy, and still no one knows exactly why, or even how, he was killed that day, and by whom. We have heard all of the theories, which still abound, with everyone from Lyndon Johnson being responsible, to the CIA, the Mafia, and even that Jackie Kennedy did it, or the SS agent following Kennedy’s car. Then, we also have the alternate theories, that say Kennedy actually knew that something might happen, and wasn’t even there that day, which would mean that he was not killed, and a double died in his place. So many different stories… Not to venture too far off-topic, but apparently, President Nixon believed that the CIA was responsible for killing Kennedy, and soon after he came out with that statement , Watergate happened, and Nixon was forced to resign, and Gerald Ford was installed. Ford is the only president we have ever had who was not elected in some way. Even Johnson, who replaced Kennedy, was elected as VP along with Kennedy. Ford was simply installed as VP after Spirew Agnew was forced out of office; so he was already in place when the CIA also got rid of Nixon. I came across this video made by Tucker Carlson, and he explains the whole thing really well. (This video was put on youtube by a group that did not like Tucker, hence the ridiculous title for the video)
There are lots of articles on this anniversary about the emergency room doctors who were present breaking their silence on the lies that were told, and that they were forced to collude in. Search on "jfk assassination doctors" to get a bunch of search results.