Retro Campaigns

tompeyer: History as it was made!

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 17:00:30 -0700

History as it was made!

“What is right has always been called radical by those...

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 10:00:11 -0700

“What is right has always been called radical by those with a stake in things that are wrong.” - Senator George McGovern, 1972

Campaign poster by John Whitemore and Pete Kettle. Found at ScottPearce.com.

ladyhistory: Other sexy statues from the U.S. Capitol. (from...

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 17:00:10 -0700

ladyhistory:

Other sexy statues from the U.S. Capitol.

(from top left): John Hancock, Ulysses S. Grant, Alexander Hamilton, Daniel Webster, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, Andrew Jackson, and Abraham Lincoln.

On May 24, 1968, a benefit for Robert Kennedy’s...

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 10:00:23 -0700

On May 24, 1968, a benefit for Robert Kennedy’s presidential campaign called “SRO for RFK” took place at the Los Angeles Sports Arena. Artists included The Byrds, Sonny & Cher, Roosevelt Grier and Mahalia Jackson.

Kennedy would be assassinated on June 6 at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles.

"No tendency is quite so strong in human nature as the desire to lay down rules of conduct for other..."

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 17:00:27 -0700

“No tendency is quite so strong in human nature as the desire to lay down rules of conduct for other people.”

- William Howard Taft, featured on the website of George Mason University Economist Walter E. WIlliams. (via dissiderata)

“Ronlewhorn,” aka Aaron Lewis Scamihorn, created these...

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 10:00:17 -0700

“Ronlewhorn,” aka Aaron Lewis Scamihorn, created these awesome “Presidential Posters” for a Dollar Shave Club promotion last year.

He says on his blog, “There are rarely projects that fall into one’s lap that hit every mark on the checklist of ‘Exactly what I want to be creating,’” and it’s clear this was a labor of love.

See more Presidential Posters and other illustrations here.

lagerthalothbrook: History Meme:3/4 Presidents » James A....

Sun, 16 Jun 2013 17:00:09 -0700

lagerthalothbrook:

History Meme:
3/4 Presidents » James A. Garfield

As the last of the log cabin Presidents, James A. Garfield attacked political corruption and won back for the Presidency a measure of prestige it had lost during the Reconstruction period. [X] [X]

"I have recently been told that I am one of the millions of Americans who will be afflicted with..."

Sun, 16 Jun 2013 10:00:11 -0700

“I have recently been told that I am one of the millions of Americans who will be afflicted with Alzheimer’s Disease.”

- -Ronald Reagan

Letter to the public, November 5, 1994.
(via ourpresidents)

pastdaily: Drama, More Drama And The Cod War - News For Week...

Sat, 15 Jun 2013 17:00:21 -0700

pastdaily:

Drama, More Drama And The Cod War - News For Week Ending June 7, 1976
Some people did have their hopes …

Click on the link here for Audio Player: [audio…
View Post

electronicsquid: Vice President Richard Nixon amazed by an ear...

Sat, 15 Jun 2013 10:00:17 -0700

electronicsquid:

Vice President Richard Nixon amazed by an ear of corn

(Hank Walker. 1960)

Dead Presidents: Random Dead Presidents Fact of the Day: 6.5.13

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 17:00:13 -0700

Dead Presidents: Random Dead Presidents Fact of the Day: 6.5.13:

deadpresidents:

In August 1876, 48-year-old James Roosevelt was absolutely devastated when his 45-year-old first wife, Rebecca, suffered a massive heart attack and died at their home in Hyde Park, New York. James mourned Rebecca’s death for nearly three years before deciding to try to end his loneliness and…

In 1916, former New York Governor Charles Evans Hughes...

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 10:00:16 -0700

In 1916, former New York Governor Charles Evans Hughes campaigned for the presidency on the Republican Party ticket against incumbent Democratic President Woodrow Wilson.

A moderate Republican with the support of former President Theodore Roosevelt, who nicknamed Hughes “the Bearded Iceberg,” owing to his reserved nature, Hughes lost to Wilson in a close election, separated by only 23 electoral votes and less than a million popular votes.

Legend says Hughes went to sleep election night certain he’d won the election. A reporter who phoned the next morning for a reaction to Wilson’s victory was told Hughes was asleep. The reporter replied, “Well, when he wakes up, tell him he isn’t the president.”

Charles Evans Hughes button from Heritage Auctions, HA.com

lostateminor: Periodic Table of the Presidents An eighth grade...

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 17:00:08 -0700

lostateminor:

Periodic Table of the Presidents
An eighth grade social studies teacher has created the Periodic Table of the Presidents, ordered by their presidential numbers and grouped by historical eras. Each president’s cell is color-coded according to his political party (Republican presidents are red and Democratic presidents are blue), and each cell includes the president’s name, number, unique name abbreviation, number of times elected as president and years in office. It’s a rare geeky cool moment in politics.

1976 Jimmy Carter campaign billboard in Plains, GA. Credit:...

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 10:00:19 -0700

1976 Jimmy Carter campaign billboard in Plains, GA.

Credit: Alex Webb/Magnum Photos

katieketchum: guys there’s this blogger who draws presidents as...

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 17:00:10 -0700

katieketchum:

guys there’s this blogger who draws presidents as birds

omfg

Strangelove Lives A psychedelic anti-Lyndon Johnson button...

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 10:00:29 -0700

Strangelove Lives

A psychedelic anti-Lyndon Johnson button depicting Johnson as Dr. Strangelove from the Stanley Kubrick war satire, circa 1968.

From Legacy Americana

presidentsandtheirdogs: Quick interruption from our usual dog...

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 17:00:22 -0700

presidentsandtheirdogs:

Quick interruption from our usual dog message to let you know that Martin Van Buren received two tiger cubs from the Sultan of Oman but Congress made him give them to the zoo.

"Today it’s hard to fathom that anyone would think a political novel might be an election..."

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 10:00:27 -0700

“Today it’s hard to fathom that anyone would think a political novel might be an election game-changer. But 1958 was a different time. Major novelists were celebrities, best sellers could be cultural events and Steinbeck himself had credibility as a moral authority. The Stevenson camp was trying to use an unorthodox media strategy to attack the man they saw as their greatest foe, just as politicians today use social media to bypass traditional gatekeepers and influence public opinion. The question was, would Steinbeck agree?”

- “Nixon Protagonistes,” New York Times Sunday Book Review, October 12, 2012

That time Adlai Stevenson’s people wanted John Steinbeck to write a novel that would destroy Richard Nixon

jasminecalver: History Meme | 5 Assassinations | President...

Mon, 10 Jun 2013 17:00:23 -0700

jasminecalver:

History Meme | 5 Assassinations | President William McKinley of the USA

Date of Assassination: 14 September 1901

Leon Czolgosz, since hearing a speech by fellow anarchist Emma Goldman in Cleveland, had decided to do something heroic for the cause. He had initially decided to get near McKinley, and on September 4, he decided to assassinate him. After the failure on the 5th, Czolgosz waited the next day at the Temple of Music on the Exposition grounds, where the President was to meet the public after his return from Niagara Falls. The anarchist concealed his gun in a handkerchief, and, when he reached the head of the line, shot McKinley twice in the abdomen.

In the days after the shooting McKinley appeared to improve. Doctors issued increasingly cheerful bulletins. Members of the Cabinet, who had rushed to Buffalo on hearing the news dispersed; Vice President Roosevelt departed on a camping trip.

By September 12, McKinley’s doctors were confident enough of his condition to allow him toast and coffee. He proved unable to digest the food. Unknown to the doctors, the gangrene that would kill him was growing on the walls of his stomach, slowly poisoning his blood. On the morning of September 13, McKinley took a turn for the worse, becoming critically ill. By the evening, McKinley roused from a stupor and realized his condition: “It is useless, gentlemen. I think we ought to have prayer.” Relatives and friends gathered around the dying man’s bed as Ida McKinley sobbed over him, stating that she wanted to go with him. “We are all going, we are all going,” her husband replied. “God’s will be done, not ours.” By some accounts, those were his final words; he may also have sung part of his favorite hymn, “Nearer, My God, to Thee”. Sometime that evening, Mark Hanna approached the bedside. The senator addressed McKinley as “Mr. President”; when he received no intelligible response, he abandoned formality and cried out to his friend, “William, William, don’t you know me?”

At 2:15 a.m. on September 14, 1901, President McKinley died. Czolgosz, put on trial for murder nine days after McKinley’s death, was found guilty, sentenced to death on September 26, and was executed by electric chair on October 29, 1901.

Alf Landon for Governor campaign truck in Junction City, Kansas,...

Mon, 10 Jun 2013 10:00:14 -0700

Alf Landon for Governor campaign truck in Junction City, Kansas, between 1932-1934

Alf Landon was elected in 1932 as the twenty-sixth governor of Kansas and was re-elected in 1934. In 1936, he was the Republican presidential nominee, up against incumbent President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

The popular Literary Digest, which had correctly predicted the winners of the past five presidential elections, famously printed a poll predicting a win for Landon. In the end, though, FDR won in a landslide, sweeping all states except Maine and Vermont, with 98.49% of the electoral vote.

Maine had enjoyed a long-standing reputation as a bellwether state for presidential elections, leading to the popular phrase “As Maine goes, so goes the nation,” which contemporary Democratic strategist Jim Farley would amend to “As Maine goes, so goes Vermont.”

Via Kansas Memory, from the Kansas Historical Society