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Editor says, what if Gore Vidal had been elected to Congress? Please note that the opinions expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of the author(s). This story was published in the August 2012 edition of Changing the Times Magazine.
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In 2012, on this day celebrated writer and former Congressman Eugene Louis "Gore" Vidal, Jr. died in Hollywood Hills, CA. He was eighty-six years old.
Death of Congressman Gore Vidal
An alternate obituaryHe dropped his first two names and adopted his given name in association with his grandfather Thomas Gore, the Democrat Senator from Oklahoma. And like many artists, he turned from expression of political thought towards activitism and in 1960 ran for office on a popular slogan of "You'll get more with Gore". With the support of Eleanor Roosevelt, Paul Newman, and Joanne Woodward, he successfully campaigned for New York's 29th congressional district receiving more votes in that traditionally Republican district than any Democrat in half a century.
Although he personally considered himself a conservative, his radical opinions were a source of continuing controversy in the party. Nevertheless, in later years, he was considered something of an elder statesman, in no small part because of impeccable family connections to first lady Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy and of course his cousins, Presidents Al Gore and Jimmy Carter.
Entry posted by
Jeff Provine
© Alternate Historian, 2004-.Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Politicians Source: Jeff Provine’s Blog Labels: Gore Vidal, Congress, Writer, Politician, Obituary. Editor says, in reality he ran for office unsuccessful in 1960 and 1982. We have repurposed significant amounts of content from Wikipedia to author this post.
~ Yet another member of America's aristocracy...
~ I guess it comes down to what one means by "conservative." Today's claimants to that label include plenty of folks who'd count Gore Vidal as a liberal, if not a Communist, based on his family connections alone, never mind his political views, which as far as I understand them were closer to those of Wendell Willkie than to those of Newt Gingrich, John Boehner or Ronald Reagan.
Also, I suspect that had he remained in office long enough he'd have had to deal with some serious gay-baiting, like Rep. Barney Frank, who was once actually called "Barney Fag" by a Republican colleague.
~ As I recall, JFK did his best to disassociate himself from Gore Vidal, who was one of the first openly gay celebrities.His on-line obituary showed how far we have come, by mentioning his sexual orientation only towards the end, by giving the name of his partner.
~ That would be an interesting TL, but to echo the point of "American aristocracy", might not be so different.
~ "Today's conservativism is more closely aligned to National Socialism....."? Oh please. If anything, today's liberals are more closely aligned to National Socialism. Everything from gun control to punishing people who don't tow the part line, paging Mayor Emmanuel, liberals are the most fascistic.
~ In some ways, the liberals and conservatives have changed places on social issues completely. Just compare the treatment of homosexuality in Spartacus and Advise and Consent....written, respectively, by a Communist named Howard Fast and the conservative Allen Drury.
~ Yes, John...and I remember how the Tea Party started, with old people screaming down the Town Hall meetings on national health care...because they didn't want it adopted for anyone but THEM.
~ Maybe if Gore Vidal had been in the government, national health care would have been exposed earlier for the stupid idea it is.
~ Not at all, John! The Grey Panthers were a leftist group...their name was a play on the Black Panthers. And as for the AARP...Bill O'Reilly keeps attacking them, so they must be doing something right. Or, rather, something left. And, Eric, since Gore Vidal was a leftist, I doubt very much that he was against national health care.
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