Zielke Politics!

 

Amid all the crazy politics today, I had to stop and wonder what the political climate was in the house when the Zielke kids were growing up on the farm.  As I put the question to Aunt Grace she said that she didn't really know what "politics" was, because it didn't used to be "dirty." Then again, she recognizes the fact that without all the social media, the parties didn't have the immediate access to divert the attention of the public that they do today.

Undoubtedly, in the early years, the family was definitely aligned with the Democratic party. Republicans were seen as the party of the wealthy, while the Democrats were of the common people, like farmers! While not deeply involved in any political campaigns, Grandma and Grandpa Zielke always voted; they always voted for the Democratic candidate and they always waited for a ride to the polling place!

Franklin D Roosevelt, first elected in 1932, is the first president that Aunt Grace has clear memories of. She remembers the whole family going to attend a Democratic Rally at the Masonic Temple that was put on by other Democratic Candidates. With Roosevelt's defeat of Herbert Hoover, he became the president of the people. With the end of the Depression and his New Deal policy, Roosevelt took full advantage of new technology of the day, holding 30 Fireside Chats through the course of his presidency to enter the homes of the American people; confirming to the nation Happy Days were here again!

Aunt Grace has clear memories of the family sitting around the radio listening to President Roosevelt as he offered ideas and hope to bring America out of the Great Depression. He left them with feelings of hope as he talked about making the country better through plans like building the infrastructure and establishing national parks.

She remembers FDR as a man who was wealthy, but not snooty. Born in 1882, he was stricken with polio in 1921 and his legs were permanently paralyzed. His mother, Sarah Delano spoke publicly about Franklin's polio, earning a degree of sympathy for him, but there was always conflict between Sarah and Franklin's wife, Eleanor.

The family remained loyal to the Democratic party through the Roosevelt and Truman years, but some began to switch to the Republican party during the 1952 and 1956  elections when World War II hero and 5-star General Dwight D Eisenhower beat the democratic candidate from Illinois, Adlai Stevenson II in back-to-back elections.

Dedication to the Democratic party took another blow with the nomination of the first Catholic nominee, John F Kennedy. In addition to the blow of a Catholic nominee, he was a womanizer, known to have had an affair with movie star and sex symbol Marilyn Monroe! This was really hard for Ray to swallow and Grace recalls being disgusted that JFK left his wife Jackie sitting alone during the inaugural festivities.

With 2020 being the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, I wondered if Aunt Grace grew up with a feeling of how important the Women's Suffrage movement had been. While she knew her parents always voted and that someone from the campaign came to the farm to pick them up, she doesn't recall it being a major point of discussion or that election results had any particular impact on farm life.

She DOES recall the first time she got to vote in November, 1948! Voting age was 21 back then, so her first presidential election wasn't until she was 23. She was THRILLED  to vote for the first time where there were no lines to get into the little Town Hall on Routes 47 & 52. 

Aunt Grace did more to exercise her patriotism as she worked as an election judge for many years after her retirement. Some of her routine responsibilities as an election judge were training sessions, schedules, tallying votes and accounting for all the ballots. She had to verify that the number of ballots in hand matched the count of people who had voted and then before the end of the evening, ballots needed to be delivered to the county seat in Woodstock, IL. She recalls that one night, it had been snowing all day and the roads were terrible! They requested special permission to deliver them the following day, but were declined because all ballots needed to be turned in that day! 

Election days were long! Grace needed to report to work by 5:00 am to have everything ready for the polls to open at 6:00. Polls closed at 7:00 pm, but her day would typically go on until at least 11:00 pm to get all the counts in. One would think someone would provide the workers with food at some point between 5 am and 11 pm, but, no. If they wanted to have anything to eat through the day, they needed to be sure they brought it themselves!

She also worked early voting for 3-4 years. Early voting wasn't available during the early years of her work as an election judge. Responsibilities were basically the same for early voting as at the end of each day, she needed to verify that the number of ballots matched the number of voters that day. The difference came in the reporting process; results were faxed in daily.

Politics have changed over the years. Election processes have changed. One thing I think many of us would agree has stayed the same however. Our beloved patriarch, Grandpa Zielke, who was a quiet, calm man who didn't really get involved or say too much made one statement about politicians that Aunt Grace remembers to this day. Grandpa's words of wisdom regarding politicians was: "If they're not a crook when they go in, they're a crook when they come out."