politics

When I was about 7 or 8, I started hearing people call JFK, "Jack," instead of, "John," like I'd always heard before. I knew he had a brother, but at the time I didn't know his name, so I just assumed that Jack was the brother. I think I even commented that it would have been funny if Jack had married Jackie. Little did I know...

XiuZan

Watching the news, during the 70's, my dad would always say, among other things, "goddamn communists!". I asked him what a communist was and he told me they think everyone should make the same wages and nobody can get rich. I couldn't see what the problem was.

holly

True story: When i was in first grade and the first Gulf War was going on, i thought Saddam Hussein's name was Saddam "Who's Sayin"
I'm like, Saying What?

Holly

I just assumed that the President was one of the richest people in the world when I was in elementary school. (At the time the president was Clinton) Cause money equals power over a nation, right?

Lucey

I haven't seen this variation on the Watergate theme yet:

Like a lot of the others here who were around six or seven years old during Watergate, I had a very literal interpretation about some kind of "Water Gate" that was broken, clogged or overflowing in some way. I put that together with all the "bugs" I kept hearing about and thought that if you turned on a sink faucet bugs would come pouring out. I only remember being afraid of the faucets for a day or two (it was probably only an hour, lol!) before my parents straightened it all out for me but I I still think about it every time I hear the word Watergate.

JS

I used to believe that all Republicans were Protestants and all Democrats were Catholic.

Cy Hilterman

When my brother (16 yrs my senior) went to vote in the General Election I asked him to put my vote in for Harold Wilson - on his return he confirmed that he'd done it. When he won I was delighted and told all my friends about how I had contributed to the victory. It was about 10 years later when my sister-in-law, in an argument, told me that you have to be 18 to vote. I couldn't believe that my brother had lied to me.

Ant

When I was in kindergarten I saw a picture on the news of George Washington on a one dollar bill, and from that point on (until I said so in class) I believed George Washington was president of the United States.

Jacob

I used to think that the President of the United States did the evening news because Ronald Reagan looked a lot like Dan Rather to me.

Andrea

When I was 3, in 1991, the priest at our church was named Father Bush. I thought he was President :-P I remember he came to the Senior Dinner the girl scouts ran (I was a girl scout) and I was so jealous because this girl I hated got to serve him his dinner and I really wanted to serve dinner to the president!!!

Anon

When I was 5 Jimmy Carter was running for reelction against Reagan. My parents were devoted Democrats, and somehow I got the idea in my head that if REagan won he would send all of the people who voted for Carter to Alaska to live with the Eskimos. I kept this to myself for a while, petrified, before finally breaking down and telling my mother, who assured me I would not need a parka no matter how the election turned out!

Anon

One time during the presidential race between George Bush and Al Gore, my friend's parents asked her, "who do you think will win the election?" She said, "I vote for George Washington! I vote for George Washington!" (she was five at the time)

Hannah

I used to believe the whitewater scandal meant a bad person polluted water to make it white. I was very cautious when I turned a faucet or drinking fountain.

J

Up Until 7yrs Old I used To Think President Regan Used To Be The President Of The World.

Staunt

I thought that the 'Patriot Act' was something to do with patriotism about America

Anon

When I was little I remember that my parents said the State of the Union would be on TV that night. We lived in Florida at the time, and I was really, really hoping we would win. I thought State of the Union was a title just like Man of the Year. We didn't win, did we?

anon

I thought the Government was a high-ranking politician who shared duties with the President (I'm American). The president mostly gave speeches, and the Government did the work.

Siobhan

When I was little and used to watch the world news, I thought that Peter Jennings was the President.

Kelly Grace

For ages I used to believe that Tony Blair was the government because evertime I heard Tony Blair, I heard government and everytime I heard government I'd hear Tony Blair

A Nony Mouse

I used to seriously misunderstand the concept of voting. I assumed whoever voted for one option would get it and whoever voted for the other option would get the other, instead of the option with more votes affecting everyone.

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