I was five years old, in the Summer of 1974. My family was highly political and solidly Democratic. Grandad, with his hat and John Slattery look would come home from his job as a computer systems analyst at the Worcester County National Bank, and his wife would come home from her role as "Jane" at the Entwhistle Company; Dad took the Boston and Maine line from his insurance job in Boston, and Ma wasn't going to night school yet to become the Nursing Professor she now is but working at General Radio down the street.
CBS was on the television. The President was resigning. "He was smart to save face" said my grandfather.
The next year, Dad went out to vote. I asked him if he voted for President Ford or Governor Carter. "It's none of your business", he said, and then told me why.
The election of 1976 gave me my first serious schooling in civics. Thanks, Daddy.
Update: Daddy has taught me a lot from boatbuilding to to having raised me as a Master Mason and helping me get my 32nd Degree. I love my father but especially because he taught me how to be a good American, and to vote every cycle, and to vote my conscience. He also taught me how to drive, though I must say I'm a much better driver than he is.