Oh, JFK was a teabagger?
Brilliant catch.
No, they were tea parties of the old-fashioned kind:
http://media2.myfoxboston.com/html/galleries/09/ted-kennedy-family/1/lg/PC518.htm
(I can’t post the photo directly due to copyright restrictions.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Senate_election_in_Massachusetts,_1952
A famous innovation by the Kennedys in the 1952 Senate race were a series of “tea parties” sponsored by Kennedy’s mother and sisters in the fall. Congressman Kennedy attended each of the tea parties and shook hands and charmed the voters (usually female) who were present; it is estimated that a total of 70,000 voters attended the tea parties, which was roughly his margin of victory over Lodge.