| PICKING A PRESIDENT | |
| OCTOBER 23, 2004 - NOVEMBER 20, 2004 | |
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How do you decide who gets your vote to lead the nation? Do you base your decision on a candidate's political experience, military service, personal charisma, or a campaign slogan? The electoral process has changed since the nation's first presidential election in 1789; the mechanices of voting are different and the right to suffrage has expanded. Still, matters of voter participation, negative campaigning, and fraud have remained perennial issues. Spanning almost a hundred and fifty years of presidential politics, these objects drawn from the Newberry's general and special collections highlight the ways that Americans have struggled with these questions and concerns.
Letter from Francis Baylies to Theophilus Parsons
December 16, 1823
Newberry Library: Ayer MS 60
Approximately a year before Andrew Jackson's unsuccessful bid for the presidency in 1824, Massachusetts Representative Francis Baylies remarks in this letter about Jackson's growing popularity and attributes it to his military service. Jackson won the popular vote and the greatest number of electoral votes. Nonetheless, he did not win more than 50 percent of the Electoral College and the decision was turned over to the House of Representatives. Contemporaries accused Speaker of the House Henry Clay of negotiating a "corrupt bargain" to secure John Quincy Adams the presidency and his own subsequent appointment as secretary of state. Four years later, Jackson ran against Adams again and won.
Campaign of 1848: Free Soil Songs for the People
Boston: Wright's Steam Press, 1848
Newberry Library: Y 273. 14
Established in 1847, the Free Soil Party was the first anti-slavey political coalition in the North to win mass support. Its motto was "Free Soil, Free Speech, Free Labor and Free Men." In trying to capture public appeal, the Free Soilers set their rally songs to familiar music. In this compilation, "Conscience and Free Soil" is set to the tune of "Auld Lang Syne." Although he did not capture any electoral votes, the party's presidential nominee, former president Martin Van Buren, won 10 percent of the popular vote in 1848. In the same election, the Free Soilers won several seats in the House of Representatives. The party merged with the new Republican Party in the 1850s.
Wells' Illustrated Campaign Hand-book for 1860: Embracing the Libes of all the Candidates for President and Vice President
New York: J.G. Wells, 1860
Newberry Library: J 583 .965
Severe sectional divisions led to fragmented politics in the election of 1860, with four candidates. The Republican Party, nominating a candidate for only the second time, chose Abraham Lincoln. The Democrats split over the question of federal protection of slavery in the western territories, with Northern Democrats supporting Stephen A. Douglas, and Southern Democrats nominating John Breckenridge at a separate convention. Some former Whigs sought to attract votes to a Constitutional Union Party under John Bell. Sam Houston, who had lost his bid for the Constitutional Union Party nomination, ran an independent candidacy for several months before withdrawing to support Bell. In the end, Lincoln and Douglas were strong only in the Northern states, and Breckenridge and Bell only in the Southern states. Lincoln won a plurality (39 percent) of the popular vote, and a clear majority (59 percent) of the electoral vote.
"The Man Who Doesn't Vote" by Austin Abbott, 1860
Newberry Library: oE 415.7 .P55 no. 1-23
"The citizen who does not vote is a faithless trustee," Austin Abbott proclaims in an attempt to stimulate voter participation for a contentious election. While voter turnout rates wre significantly higher for mid-nineteenth century elections than late-twentieth century ones (81.2 percent in 1860 to 51 percent in 2000), many groups were excluded from formally participating in the political system. Women and African Americans were generally restricted from the polls. According to Abbott, however, this did not mean that their interests went unrepresented. Instead, men were entrusted to speak for the interests of their dependents. In this tract, Abbott admonishes the man who does not fulfill his responsibility to the civic body.
Grover Cleveland Presidential Tickets, 1884 and 1888 Union Party Ticket, [1865-67]
Newberry Library: Midwest MS Harrison, Box 21, Folder 1094
In the nineteenth century, political parties controlled the procedural process of voting. Voters typically choose a "ticket"-a single piece of paper listing all of a party's candidates-from a party representative and placed it into the ballot box often in full view of their peers. The Union Party ticket demonstrates the stylized nature of some of these ballots. The tickets for Grover Cleveland date from his successful bid for president in 1884 and his failure in 1888, when he won the popular vote but lost in the Electoral College. In the 1890s, local and state governments began to take a greater responsibility for elections and produced ballots that allowed voters to choose amongst candidates from different parties in different races on a single piece of paper and in private.
"Object Lesson of Republican Rule" in The Campaign Text Book of the Democratic Party of the United States
Chicago: Western Newspaper Union, 1908
Newberry Library: 4A 5055
By taking a cartoon from Puck and adding the title "Object Lesson of Republican Rule," the Democratic Party argues that the bulldog of monopoly will relegate the mutts to the scraps. Although Republican President Theodore Roosevelt was known as the "trust buster" and his handpicked successor William Howard Taft claimed he would continue these policies, Democrats did not believe Roosevelt had gone far enough to balance the needs of business with those of the common man. In his acceptance speech, Democratic nominee Williams Jennings Bryan promised if elected to "assure to each the enjoyment of his just share of the proceeeds of his toil, no matter in what part of the vineyard he labors, or to what occupation, profession or calling he devotes himself." Taft won the election.
Harry Evans, Will Rogers for President
New York: Life, Publishing Co., 1928
Newberry Library: Driscoll Box 160, H&P Related Presidential
Popular celebrities sometimes find themselves called upon to public duty. Will Rogers, "the Indian cowboy, the white man in blackface, [and] the millionaire spokesperson for the common man," found himself in such a position in 1928. Unsatisfied with Herbert Hoover and Al Smith, in sincere jest Life magazine nominated Rogers for president. The song lyrics claim, "he'll do just what he oughter, for the farmer and his daughter." Rogers responded by promising to do only one thing if elected, resign. He did agree, however, to write a weekly column providing sardonic musings on the mainstream campaigns.
John H. Trayne, What Are You Going to Do in 1932?
Boston: Music Service Company, 1931
Newberry Library: Driscoll Box 160, H&P Related Presidential
John H. Trayne set his critique of Herbert Hoover's administration to music, asking in refrain "what's the Republican Party doing for you?" The Great Depression began in 1929 during Hoover's administration, and by 1932 almost one-quarter of the workforce was jobless. Public reactions to Hoover's strategies of response varies from anger to disappointment. Trayne's song expressed disillusionment wit the current administration: "they surely loaded us with bunk...we've had too many wandering commissions...they promised work but gave us intermission." The public seemed to agree with the line "we need a change," electing Franklin D. Roosevelt as president and giving the Democrats majority control in the House and Senate.
Alice Brockett, Willkie-McNary Rally Songs
New York: Whole World Ind., c. 1939
Newberry Library: Driscoll Box 160, H&P Related Presidential
Women Workers for Willkie set their rally songs to popular tunes. The songs echo Willkie's central campaign issue, the nation's continuing economic troubles. Despite seven years of New Deal legislation, almost ten million workers were still jobless in 1939. The lyrics accuse Roosevelt of overburdening the common man with his spendthrift policies. This message apparently did not catch on, as Roosevelt demonstratively defeated of Willkie in both the popular and electoral vote.
1964 is No Year for "Politics as Usual:" Citizens for Johnson
Chicago: Chicago's American, October 29, 1964
Newberry Library: MS Midwest Conroy Box +52, Folder 2048
Lyndon B. Johnson assumed the presidency through tragedy and despite his distinguished congressional record he was uncertain whether he would be elected on his own merits in 1964. His opponent, Senator Barry Goldwater, ran a grassroots campaign that appealed to conservatives but alienated more mainstream Republicans. Goldwater advocated surrendering federal oversight for domestic social program to private enterprise. He also approved of the use of nuclear weapons. Goldwater used the slogan "In Your Heart, You Know He's Right," which Johnson supporters twisted to say "In Your Guts, You Know He's Nuts." This public petition by leaders in law, medicine, academics, and the arts community indicates the level of distrust of Goldwater amongst Republicans in the Chicago metropolitan area.