BY WENDY MIGDAL
FOR THE FREE LANCE-STAR
In January 1961, America prepared to inaugurate John F. Kennedy as the 35th president, and the White House shifted from Republican to Democrat. Though Kennedy won by the slimmest of margins in the popular vote, Virginia cast its 12 electoral votes for Richard Nixon.
Nonetheless, the immediate area reflected the closeness of the race: While the city of Fredericksburg voted for Nixon, Spotsylvania, Stafford, King George and a large swath of southern Virginia went for Kennedy.
An ad from the Nu-Way Rug Cleaners on William Street thanked Dwight Eisenhower for his years of service to our country and wished him well, while also congratulating John F. Kennedy and hoping for his success. But before one becomes too wistful for the bygone days of harmony, a journalist observed that the transition from Truman to Eisenhower eight years earlier had not gone nearly as well. The journalist felt that âthe atmosphere in Washington today is