Short Excerpt from CHAPTER ONE
John F. Kennedy’s 1960 Primary Election and a Culture of Corruption in
Southern West VirginiaWally Barron, then-Attorney General and later Governor, also weighed in on the 1960 election by assigning an Assistant Attorney General to investigate. The extent of Barron’s investigation is unknown given the fact that he was reported to have been heavily involved with slating during his own election for Attorney General. Barron’s credibility was further tainted in 1968 when he was charged and acquitted on bribery and conspiracy accusations involving kickbacks he and his aides had taken while Barron was Governor. However, a few years later Barron was sentenced to a five-year prison term for tampering with the jury that had earlier acquitted him of the corruption charges.Logan County was described as being like “hungry hogs going to the trough” with regard to the amount of money being spent buying votes. The day after the Primary, the Logan Banner described the election as a spree of “flagrant vote-buying, whiskey flowing like water, and coercion of voters . . . . You name it and we just about had it.” Soon after the Primary, John F. Kennedy joked that he had received a telegram from his father pleading, “Don’t buy another vote. I won’t pay for a landslide.” To read Chapter One in its entirety, get your copy of "Don't Buy Another Vote. I Won't Pay for a Landslide." today!
