Everyone
is voting for Jack
During the 1950s, the President of the United States
was General Dwight Eisenhower. The Twenty-second Amendment to the United States
Constitution was ratified in 1951. This amendment has set out a term limit for
election and overall time of service to the office of President of the United
States (eight years, whether consecutive or not).
In 1960, the Republican presumptive presidential
nominee was quickly established – Vice President Richard Nixon. On the other
hand, the Democrats didn’t have a strong candidate. The Democratic primaries
got such candidates as Minnesota senator Hubert Humphrey, ex-Illinois governor
Adlai Stephenson, Senate Majority Leader Lyndon Johnson and young Massachusetts
senator John Kennedy.
This film depicts the 1960 Wisconsin primary election
between John F. Kennedy and Hubert Humphrey. In 2016, we remember John Kennedy
as a young and charismatic President, but we don’t take into the account the
prejudices of the 1950s America. We cannot understand how America could doubt the
candidacy of John Kennedy. But in 1960, John Kennedy was a candidate with lots
of flaws. John Kennedy was Irish and Catholic and those groups were ostracized
by WASPs as second class citizens and by protestant clergies as not so loyal to
the Constitution as to the papal decrees.
All of the pundits thought that the 1960 Wisconsin
primary election is closed behind Hubert Humphrey. Wisconsin shared the same
border with Minnesota, Hubert Humphrey was a reputed force in the Senate and a
lot of local figures have endorsed the Minnesotan. Hubert Humphrey was also the
civil rights champion and active proponent of farming subsidies.
In comparison to Hubert Humphrey, John Kennedy got a
reputation as a playboy and rich kid, whose daddy has bought him a place in the
Congress. Also John Kennedy has missed a lot of the legislative sessions and
was not too active in the bill drafting business. Along with above mentioned
Catholicism, John Kennedy was criticized for inactivity during the censure
hearing of Joseph McCarthy.
As always, the experts forgot something important.
This time they forgot that during the campaign, the political views are not so
important. Kentucky’s senator Mitch McConnell said that «issues, unfortunately,
usually are kind of peripheral to winning a campaign». The same senator said to
the students what built a political party. He’d written on the blackboard three
words: «Money, money, money»[1].
According with the McConnell words, the form takes precedence
over the substance (most of the times). Hubert Humphrey comes to a farming
community, visits the high school and talks about the farm subsidies
legislation (which he had cosponsored). John Kennedy visits the grand ballroom
of some fancy hotel and after the fanfares talks about some bill (probably
nonexistent), which deals with the export of wheat to the socialistic
countries.
The film also illustrates the birth of TV as a crucial
tool for the campaigning. The fourth book of Robert Caro’s anthology on LBJ has
a special chapter on JFK called «The Rich Man’s Son». This chapter also points
out the tactics of JFK. Very early, John Kennedy understood that the Senate is
not the best starting ground for the presidential campaign. This assumption was
based on a fact, that every Aey or Nay for any bill would make new political
opponents.
Instead of legislating, John Kennedy starts building
his media image. The 1950s America is charmed by young senator, everybody talks
about his beautiful wife, John Kennedy becomes a popular guest on famous TV
shows. The electorate of Wisconsin also charmed by the TV image of John
Kennedy; Hubert Humphrey’s real struggle on their behalf leave them cold.
The 1960 Wisconsin primary election as the 2016
general election campaign shows a clash between different styles of political
campaign. Of course, compared with Trump, JFK was a progressive visionary.
Nevertheless, a time bomb, which allowed Trump’s victory was armed in 1960.
If you miss the civilized political campaigning
process, then watch this film. After watching, I recommend you to read «The Years
of Lyndon Johnson» (Robert A. Caro).
Комментариев нет:
Отправить комментарий