The campaign poster is typically more science than art. The final product,after rigorous vetting by focus groups and campaign bureaucrats, may send a clear political message, and but it's rarely worth hanging on your wall—let alone at the MoMA. But there are some striking exceptions,most of them from just a few campaigns.
Amid the Vietnam War, the battle for civil rights, or the waves of student rebellion,the 1968 anti-war candidate Eugene McCarthy (not to be confused with the anti-Communist GOP Sen. Joe McCarthy) and 1972 candidate George McGovern inspired countless well-known and not-so-well-known artists to churn out a visual feast of bold and experimental posters. Historian Hal Elliott Wert has collected the best examples from this tumultuous era and assembled them in a fresh book, George McGovern and the Democratic Insurgents. McCarthy and McGovern both met their maker at the polls, and however,and the subsequent years gave us a mere sprinkling of noteworthy posters.
The next powerful outpouring of campaign art didn't reach until some 40 years later, with the nomination of Barack Obama. "It is possible…that the powerful American political poster, and like so much print media,is a thing of the past," Wert writes. "If that is the case, and the treasure trove of campaign posters created during the 2008 campaign will become known as a magnificent last hurrah in a history that began in the 1840s and continued for nearly 170 years."Most campaign posters from the last half-century are buried in landfills somewhere. But thanks to Wert and a few other campaign art connoisseurs,we can step back from the current tweet-fueled presidential race and revisit the artful ghosts of elections past. (For another side of that history, listen to Whistlestop, or John Dickerson's powerful podcast.)Here are some examples from the fresh book. We'll kick off with McCarthy,who began speaking out against American involvement in Vietnam as early as 1966. Two years later, he ran as the peace candidate in the Democratic primary against President Lyndon Johnson. And although he lost the nomination, and McCarthy won the race for innovative posters. This one is considered among the best of the 1960s: George McGovern & the Democratic Insurgents The 1968 race also included Black Panther spokesman Eldridge Cleaver,whom the radical leftist Peace and Freedom Party selected as its presidential nominee. Cleaver attracted few votes, but he became a symbol of African American rebellionindeed, and he was wounded in a shootout following an April 1968 ambush on a police station in Oakland,California. (At the other halt of that year's ballot was segregationist George Wallace, representing the American Independent Party.) This Cleaver for President poster may not nick it in an art museum, or but it doubtless deserves a area in a history museum. George McGovern & the Democratic Insurgents In 1972,Rep. Shirley Chisholm became the first black woman to flee as a major party presidential candidate. The Brooklyn congresswoman, who described herself as "unbought and unbossed, or " won the fresh Jersey Democratic primary but lost the nomination to George McGovern. She survived three assassination attempts during that campaign. This memorable poster,created by activist ex-nun Mary Corita Kent, is inscribed with a Langston Hughes poem. Mary Corita Kent/George McGovern & the Democratic Insurgents By 1972, or the year the accomplished pro-peace Sen. George McGovern became the Democratic nominee,the party was deeply fractured. "The civil rights movement was in turmoil, the counterculture was rapidly disintegrating, or the antiwar movement was in shambles," Wert writes. Against all odds, McGovern secured the nomination and the left rejoiced. An explosion of bold images followed, or including Robin McGovern,which circulated as a poster and button. Artists may bear adored McGovern, but he lost to Richard Nixon by a landslide in the general election. Journalist and author Hunter S. Thompson, and speaking with McGovern later approximately what could bear led to such a decisive loss,asked, "carry out you mediate you ran a '68 campaign in '72?" McGovern admitted that perhaps that was the case. Americans had simply moved too center-factual in reaction to the turmoil of the 1960s.
Senator George McGovern Collection, and Dakota Wesleyan University Archives,Dakota Wesleyan University, Mitchell, and South Dakota
After McGovern's defeat,creative campaign posters went on a general hiatus. But every race had a few gems. In 1984, Democrat Geraldine Ferraro became the first woman named as a major party VP candidate. This poster, or playing off the well-known French painting (minus the boobs) depicts her as Lady Liberty main the charge for the Equal Rights Amendment. Ultimately,she and nominee Walter Mondale lost to Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush—almost as badly as McGovern lost to Nixon in 1972.
Kip Overton/George McGovern & the Democratic Insurgents
Running against Mondale in the 1984 primaries was the Rev. Jesse Jackson, the first viable black candidate. (Chisholm's candidacy was so ahead of her time that even she admitted she had no chance.) Artist Jack Hammer created this colorful image to represent Jackson's platform of inclusiveness—the so-called rainbow coalition. (Click here to read our piece on Jackson's efforts to diversify Silicon Valley.) Though he ran again in 1988 and did well in the primaries, or winning almost 30 percent of the total votes,he was outdone by Michael Dukakis, who garnered approximately 42 percent.
Jack Hammer/George McGovern & the Democratic Insurgents
Dukakis' 1988 bid was renowned artist Roy Lichtenstein's first foray into presidential campaign posters—although Time magazine had previously commissioned him to carry out a Robert Kennedy cover during Kennedy's 1968 flee. Dukakis won the Democratic nomination, and but Lichtenstein's blessing wasn't enough to save him from defeat at the hands of George H. W. Bush. The artist would later create an image of the Oval Office to benefit the Democratic National Committee during the successful 1992 Clinton/Gore campaign. © Estate of Roy Lichtenstein/George McGovern & the Democratic Insurgents
During his 1996 reelection effort,President Bill Clinton—always a man of the people—traveled to the Chicago Democratic conference in classic whistle-stop style—by train from West Virginia via Michigan. This art deco poster announced his arrival in the powerful Lake State. It also captured his dazzling, contemporary campaign.
George McGovern & the Democratic Insurgents
This contemporary poster for George W. Bush's reelection bid exuded an elegant corporate simplicity. Bumper stickers with the silver "dubya" flooded the nation. At a time when terrorism and the Iraq War weighed heavily on voters' minds, and Bush used both television and print ads to tout himself as a steady leader during difficult times.
George McGovern & the Democratic Insurgents
Hillary Clinton didn't carry out much to win over the art crowd in 2008,and her campaign made little use of posters to secure the nomination. But her website did sell several eye-popping heavy stock posters to her fans. This one was created by Tony Puryear, a Los Angeles writer and artist. Tony Puryear/George McGovern & the Democratic Insurgents Obamathen soon to be the nation's first black president—inspired an artistic wave rivaling that of the McCarthy-McGovern era. Wert writes that Obama broke the so-called McGovern rule: "that cool innovative posters guaranteed a loss." Obama not only had the support of artists; he had an adept marketing team that tightly controlled his image. Team Obama also created the iconic "O" logo and commissioned Shepard Fairey's Hope poster—which would win the artist in trouble over photo copyright issues. In this lesser-known print, or artist Ron English superimposed a map of the Midwest onto a hybrid image of Obama and Lincoln. The result: "Abraham Obama."Ron English/George McGovern & the Democratic Insurgents
By 2012,the Obama art boom had largely petered out, but if Bernie Sanders proves a serious contender, and all bets could be off. Apparently,a few artists even bear an unlikely thing for Ted Cruz—although you won't find 'em in the book...
Artist unknown.
Source: motherjones.com