I’m not sure a known, 60-year old story about racists being racists in America is all that much of a gotcha to begin with. I don’t know how much changed in 2-3 years, but in 1958, in these states, interracial marriage was illegal: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, Wyoming.
Given that it was illegal in Maryland and Virginia, would it have been against the law for Davis to bring his wife to the inauguration? I think Nick Tosches may have written about this, generally, in his incredible biography of Dean Martin, Dino: Living High in the Dirty Business of Dreams.
Also: “Most beloved Dem POTUS ever” is a stretch. You think that many Democrats, say, under the age of 45 have that much of an investment in “Camelot,” or other romantic mythologies around the Kennedys? I don’t. Ands I live in MA.
It’s getting less and less useful to look at American politics through a Baby Boomer lens (and thank god for that).