So the new Deputy AG's father was instrumental in helping JFK during the election in West Virginia. JFK was Catholic and WV was mostly protestant so wasn't going over too well. But WV had the highest percentage of Gold Star mothers. Richard Donahue senior started stressing JFK's wartime service on PT109. The mothers were proud of their sons and this evidently warmed them over to JFK.
Gold Star indicates a son lost in the war - evidently, by percentage of Gold Stars, West Virginia paid the heaviest cost for victory in WW2.
So the new Deputy AG's father was instrumental in helping JFK during the election in West Virginia. JFK was Catholic and WV was mostly protestant so wasn't going over too well. But WV had the highest percentage of Gold Star mothers. Richard Donahue senior started stressing JFK's wartime service on PT109. The mothers were proud of their sons and this evidently warmed them over to JFK.
Gold Star indicates a son lost in the war - evidently, by percentage of Gold Stars, West Virginia paid the heaviest cost for victory in WW2.