Campaigning for President - Political Memorabilia From the Nation's Finest Private Collection

By Jordan M. Wright

Book Overview

Based on the author's extraordinary personal collection of presidential election memorabilia, Campaigning for President tells the colorful story of how presidents (and their losing rivals) have wooed... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0061233951
• ISBN13: 9780061233951
• Release Date: January 2008
• Publisher: Smithsonia
• Length: 291 Pages
• Weight: 3.82 lbs.
• Dimensions: 11.8" x 1.0" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

Great words and pictures

When I read about this book in the New York Times and saw pictures of a few of the items, I couldn't wait to get the book. It is astounding that one person could have collected so many varied items from all periods of our history. The current election cycle has grabbed everyone's attention and it is amazing to see how this has also been true in the past. I am looking forward to seeing the actual items at The Museum of the City of New York and The Museum of Democracy.

Entertaining, unique window into our country's political history

In this book Jordan Wright, through his eloquent and entertaining prose, does a terrific job of bringing to life otherwise forgotten artifacts of past presidential elections and inaugurations. The book is also an extraordinary window into the fierceness with which prior presidential candidates attacked each other and puts the occasional rancor of the current election into perspective. CAMPAIGNING FOR PRESIDENT is entertaining reading for children and political historians alike.

"Tippecanoe and Morton too!"

In the spirit of full disclosure, when Jordan Wright, collector extraordinaire, dedicated archivist of political arcana, and self-appointed "keeper of the flame" of U.S. Presidential campaigns, knew of my personal interest in Levi P. Morton, he graced me with a gift: an original photogravure campaign button from Morton's successful Vice Presidential race. And so when Jordan recently asked me to share my thoughts about his new book, CAMPAIGNING FOR PRESIDENT: MEMORABILIA FROM THE NATION's FINEST PRIVATE COLLECTION, I could not contain my enthusiasm. When was Levi P. Morton elected Vice President you may inquire? And here, dear reader, is where my teasing begins. I give you an obscure hint: "Morton's presidential running-mate's grandfather was also President of the United States?" And now you are significantly perplexed. You ask for a second hint, which I deliver with glee: "This running-mate's grandfather's political nickname, when he ran for President in 1840, was Tippecanoe." Are you terminally confused! You should be! But luckily for us all we have Jordan Wright and his new CAMPAIGNING FOR PRESIDENT, which covers our most important quadrennial political contests from 1796 to 2004. His book, with more than 500 full-color illustrations, is a must read/own for students and teachers of U.S. presidential history, collectors of quadrennial election memorabilia and just plain old, run-of-the-mill, political junkies. Campaign banners, buttons, posters, flags, socks, gloves, shirts suspenders, fans, figurines, and medals to name a few, memorializing the past efforts of our Presidential candidates, each from his personal collection, are reproduced in this work Based on the author's immense and unique personal collection of over one million objects, our nation would be poorer without this special edition. Replete with fascinating tales and little remembered facts about presidential elections and the candidates who competed, Jordan's work provides insight into our nation's most important achievement-our democratic republic (pun intended!). And so we turn to page 84 of Campaigning for President to begin to unravel my riddle ... Levi Parsons Morton was elected our 22nd Vice President in 1888 and he was the Vice-Presidential running mate of Benjamin Harrison, whose grandfather was William Henry Harrison! Interestingly, in Jordan's personal collection, which I have had the pleasure of viewing, there is a flag with the 1888 campaign slogan: "Tippecanoe and Morton too." This was a reference to the earlier 1840 campaign slogan of Harrison's grandfather ... "Tippecanoe and Tyler too." And so dear reader, I commend Jordan's book to you with my unalloyed enthusiasm, because it not only preserves our rich political past, but also, it may, just as importantly, help us understand and inform our expanding political future.

A Fantastic View of American Presidential Campaigns and a Fun, Informative Read

Jordan Wright has become one of the most entertaining presidential historians in America, in part through his passion for politics and willingness to share his own collection of over a million items. None of this would matter if he didn't have anything of interest to say. He has written a richly illustrated book, which includes photographs of some of the most important items in the collection. The political memorabilia includes posters, flags, dolls, parade gadgets, food products and of course buttons that he has assembled since 1968. This book provides a wonderful insight into American history and I strongly recommend this book for older children as well as adults.

A colorful look at two centuries of presidential campaigns

I first read about "Campaigning for President" in a newspaper article a few weeks ago and knew I had to get my hands on this book. Wow... all 291 pages devoted to one man's collection begun almost four decades ago, which now exceeds over one million items! Jordan Wright has set out to enlighten us about the presidential past and he has succeeded in a big way. Not surprisingly, (as the dust jacket mentions) he is in the process of creating a permanent Museum of Democracy to house these unique and valuable treasures. "Campaigning for President" opens literally at the beginning...1789... when George Washington became president. He really never ran for office as much as he attained it, but his successors had a field day in creatively boosting their own chances while downgrading their opponents. Along the way author Wright offers hundreds of items for our viewing...Andrew Jackson's razor sharpener, William Henry Harrison's log cabin brooch, U.S. Grant's cardboard shirt collar, a Teddy Roosevelt glasses stickpin and countless buttons, paper lanterns, umbrellas and just about anything else that one could have thought of to promote their candidate. My favorite is the James A. Garfield metal nose-thumber...as the author states: "depressing a lever in the candidate's heel sprang the rude toy into action". If one thinks today's politics are at an all-time low, this book will remind you that for two hundred years, Americans have taken a less-than-high road when it comes to campaigns and their associated memorabilia. "Campaigning for President" is well laid out and the photos are nicely reproduced. Wright's brief comments about the issues that were discussed in each election are an integral part in giving readers a perspective on that particular year. I did come across a couple of mislabeled items (in 1880 and 1884) but that in no way takes anything away from this tremendous book by Jordan Wright. I highly recommend it, especially in this highly-charged presidential election year.