Hail to the chief: Henry County’s presidential politics More often than not, county supports GOP nominee

By DARREL RADFORD [email protected]John F. Kennedy couldn’t do it. Franklin D. Roosevelt tried – and failed – three times. The famous 1948 headlines were right here in Henry County. Dewey did indeed beat Truman. Even the dramatic rise of Barack Obama – which resulted in him becoming the first Democrat to win Indiana since Lyndon Johnson in 1964 – didn’t sway enough local voters for him to win our county. Where presidential elections are concerned, Henry County has almost always supported the Republican. Statistics compiled by historian Richard Ratcliff shed some interesting light on local voting tendencies. In his book “Henry County at the Millennium,” Ratcliff lists the local presidential vote totals for every year from 1832 through 1996. Ratcliff notes that Henry County residents first had the opportunity to vote for president in 1824, just two years after the city of New Castle was platted. That year John Quincy Adams defeated Andrew Jackson in an election that was ultimately decided in the U.S. House of Representatives, because neither received a majority of electoral votes. Ratcliff notes that, unfortunately, no records of the local vote totals exist for that year or for 1828. The records which are available are interesting, however. So are newspaper clippings detailing former presidential visits. n Henry County loved Abraham Lincoln. That was especially true in Spiceland Township. In 1864, 344 residents there voted for Lincoln. Only five chose his opponent – George B. McClellan. n In 1964, Lyndon Johnson received 12,374 votes, over 2,000 more than Republican Barry Goldwater and almost 3,000 more than John F. Kennedy had received here in 1960. It was only the second time a Democrat had carried the county. Franklin D. Roosevelt won here over Alfred M. Landon in 1936. But Roosevelt lost to Wendell Willkie and Thomas Dewey (twice) in the following three presidential elections. n In 1972, 14,538 county residents voted for Richard Nixon, the highest vote total any president has ever received here. n In 1992, Ross Perot received 4,416 votes in Henry County, the most ever for an independent candidate. Former Alabama Gov. George Wallace garnered 2,366 votes in 1968. In 1980, John Anderson received 562 votes. While presidential elections come to Henry County every four years, visits by former or sitting presidents are rare, indeed. Herbert L. Heller, who wrote an “Historic Henry County” column for The Courier-Times in the 1970s, reported on two such occasions. In 1844, former Democrat president Martin Van Buren – who was defeated soundly here in 1836 and 1840 by William Henry Harrision – paid a visit to Knightstown on the National Road. A newspaper report indicated the public there for this occasion seemed afraid to approach him. Elisha Scovell, a local resident and political friend, recalled in that story that Van Buren looked “a little annoyed at their backwardness.” Heller wrote that the ice was broken when Scovell took his son up to shake hands with the ex-president and said, “Allow me to present my son, Martin Van Buren Scovell!” In 1871, President Ulysses S. Grant – who had won here by more than 2,000 votes – passed through New Castle with his family, according to the Heller column. He said the president greeted such local dignitaries as Gen. William Grose, Simon T. Powell and other personal friends. Heller pointed out another newspaper account of Grant’s visit said that the Civil War hero had not learned to make speeches and for this reason had nothing to say. The New Castle Courier, for this reason, had represented Grant’s speech by leaving a half-column in the newspaper blank. Heller said local Democrats made hay over Grant’s silence. The following summer, they announced a meeting that invited “all persons opposed to granting a further lease on power to the rotten and corrupt gang of political bummers, thieving adventurers and gold-laced flunkies who are destroying the liberties of our country.” The ad ended with an obvious dig at Grant. “Good speakers will be on hand.” Of course, both Barack Obama and former president Bill Clinton were here in 2008 but it appears Grant was the last sitting president to pay Henry County a visit. Another chapter will be written in Henry County’s presidential voting history Tuesday. Will President Obama be the first Democrat since Lyndon B. Johnson to carry the county? Or will Mitt Romney keep the county’s Republican dominance going? Thankfully, we won’t have to wait much longer for that answer. Darrel Radford is executive director of The Henry County Historical Society and writer for The Courier-Times. Check out the society’s new and improved website at www.henry countyhs.org.