Review the colorful caricatures lining the Twentieth Century Hall in the Pantheon of American Archetypes and its fairly easy to still recognize them by sight. There’s the Humorless Suffragette, Gibson Girl, Flapper, Rosie the Riveter, Hippy Chick, Liberated Feminist, Boxy-Suited… Read More ›
Advertising & Marketing
“A Nation without Cranberry Sauce!” The Red Relish Panic of Thanksgiving 1959
It was a red the likes of which truly flipped out Americans for the last Thanksgiving of the decade. Just beneath the giddy Fabulous Fifties decade of I Love Lucy, hula hoops, bigger, better Caddies, Elvis and rock & roll… Read More ›
The Dad Who Inspired Father’s Day & Maybe the Pop-Up Card: From the Archives
No greeting card historian has yet found the missing link to prove it, but some believe the claim that the “Pop” of Father’s Day inspired the first true Pop-up cards, ignoring that some rudimentary form of it first appeared in… Read More ›
When Three Presidents Ran Against Each Other But Whiskey Won the Election: The 1912 Campaign Songs of Teddy Roosevelt, Taft & Wilson
Historically, running for President against a President is always an uphill battle. Especially for someone unwary of Washington’s wily ways. First of all, they know what they’re talking about after four years of working on the job and trying to… Read More ›
Yes He Did: Originality Returns with 2008 Obama Campaign Music
Deals on plane tickets, finding old friends or potential spouses, webisodes, car parts, conspiracy theories, sea level updates, ancestral charts, cheap meds, Berlin Wall pieces, out-of-print books, new pictures of Neptune, way way too much information…and presidential campaign songs. And… Read More ›
The Twinges and Twang of George W. Bush’s 2000 & 2004 Campaign Music
All through the twelve years of his father’s four campaigns for the highest national offices, George W. Bush was at his father’s side: 1980, when he lost the presidential nomination but won as the vice-presidential candidate with Reagan, their 1984… Read More ›
A Reagan Country Song & California Classic by ABBA: His 1980 & 1984 Campaign Music
The presidential campaign year of 1980 marked the beginning of what might be termed “theme music” being adopted by presidential candidates, rather than the traditional campaign song. 1976, the year Ronald Reagan lost his challenge to incumbent President Gerald Ford… Read More ›
Nixon Then, Nixon Now, Connie Francis & His Changing Campaign Songs from 1960 to 1972
No question about it, Richard Nixon cut the widest swath when it came to presidential campaign songs, both in terms of on-message lyrics and musical genres. Then again, he ran for President three times over the course of a dozen… Read More ›
Cool but Contemplative: Jolson Jazzes with Coolidge’s 1924 Campaign Song
He came back – with another song. This time, however, when the legendary screen and stage actor, Al Jolson first performed the official campaign song of a Republican presidential campaign, he didn’t have to march the streets of small-town Oho and… Read More ›
The First President Captured on Film: McKinley’s 1896 Campaign Song & Commercial
William McKinley is often seen as an important transitional President – at least to those interested in studying some of the real stories behind the headline version of history. It’s true he didn’t have the charisma or excitable speaking style of… Read More ›
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