Sunday, February 26, 2017

Primary (1960)

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).



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