JFK’s ’63 speech was first to court Hispanic vote

Before that moment, historians believe that no president had ever acknowledged Hispanics as a voting bloc, said Emilio Zamora, a historian at the University of Texas at Austin.

President William Howard Taft, who served from 1909 to 1913, may have met with a tiny group of Hispanic activists in El Paso, Texas, Mr. Zamora said. President Dwight D. Eisenhower likely shook hands with some Mexican-American voters in a campaign visit to South Texas in 1952. “But I think no president had ever publicly thanked Mexican-Americans in that manner,” said Mr. Zamora.

Fifteen hours after the historic meeting, Kennedy was dead.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.