George McGovern, 1922-2012

 

Come Home America

In many elections I hear voters say they have to choose between the lesser of evils. But in 1972 it was clearly a choice between Good and Evil. And America re-elected Evil in a landslide. Two years later it was hard to find anyone who admitted to voting for Nixon.

There was a bit of graffiti someone wrote on the restroom wall of McGovern HQ in Oly. I'll share it here, and as off-color as it was, it does sum up how us young volunteers felt about Dick Nixon: "Don't change Dicks in the middle of a screw, vote for Nixon in '72!"

When I balance the choices I made in my life, I count the experience of being a volunteer for McGovern in '72 as something I will never regret. I also supported him in my caucus when he ran in 1984 against Ron the Con. And I don't regret that either. Several issues considered radical in the 1970s-1980s are now embraced by many Republicans. So our side eventually won. George was a pioneer and a winner on the right side of history.  But being a pioneer has a big price.

To quote McGovern, "You know, sometimes, when they say you're ahead of your time, it's just a polite way of saying you have a real bad sense of timing." 

He also said something to the effect: "I wanted to run for President in worst way-- and I did!" 

My fave was when his wife, Eleanor, came to Seattle and proclaimed the Nixon administration the "most corrupt in recent history." There was a big uproar. A few days later George arrived and apologized. He said Eleanor should have left out the word "recent."

McGovern was on the winning wide of history, at least on social issues and foreign policy. In this area obstructionist conservatives will always lose and progressives will always win. Economics has more of a universal pendulum.

Goodbye Sen. McGovern. And thank you for being a voice of reason on a national stage filled with haters shouting out messages of greed and fear. You were an inept politician, but you were a decent man. It was a miracle you were ever nominated. But working for you was the cleanest political experience I have ever had in my life, and I frequently revisit the idealism of that year if I need to recharge to keep up the Good Fight. Of course we all evolve, but at my core I still think of myself as a McGovernite. And a whole generation of us were inspired by your campaign. You were a WWII vet who worked hard to end war. I salute you for your service and your vision.

Come Home America

Morty Comix # 2444

Morty Comix # 2444 was left on a brick ledge over a couple of pathetic real estate brochure distribution boxes in a strip mall on the Westside of Olympia. This was the same facility where I first met J.P. Patches ca. 1960 when he came to promote the grand opening of this place. Notice both storefronts pictured here are vacant.

Old, decaying strip malls, I must admit, do hold a certain fascination for me. They were the proto-malls of their time. This particular one predated the Oly area's first bonafide mall (South Sound Mall in Lacey) by a half dozen years. Both vacant holes pictured here hold many memories for me as the spaces have performed a variety of retail roles in their past.

In cartoonist terms, the left half of this image once housed a pharmacy/gift shop back when Tricky Dick was in office. They also sold LP albums, lots of them. The owner was a big fat Republican member of the Washington State House of Representatives who used his girth as a campaign plus since he claimed it would make him be noticed when he stood up to talk. But in fact all he did was introduce bills to benefit pharmacists.

Anyway, when my parents would be shopping for groceries next door, I'd slip into this place and study the amazing album covers. I didn't really care about the music on the vinyl as much as I studied the big graphic images used to sell them. This was part of my education as a visual artist.

Phone photo 1975

Only one of these will still be laughing after Election Day

Phone photo 1974

Democrat Donkey and Republican Elephant salt shakers

The legacy of cartooning on the political system

Phone photo 1973

DEM - GOP salt shakers

I never understood why the Republicans are called the "Grand Old Party," or GOP. They certainly are NOT "Grand," the Democrats are far older as a party, and there is one wing of the Republicans that always seems to be afraid someone, somewhere, is having fun and whatever fun thing that person is doing must be stopped. Hardly what I would call a party.

Buttons - Activist - 1974

WIN

On the curl: Bastian Bros Co, Rochester, NY

The brainchild of the Ford Administration, this was an acronym for "Whip Inflation Now." But rather than the grassroots wave the President was hoping for, the WIN campaign became the butt of jokes from a cynical public weary of Watergate and politicians.

Buttons - Presidential Campaign - 1968

Nixon

This small bit of metal was designed to clip on to a shirt pocket. I found it on the ground in 1968.

Buttons - State Campaign - 1968

O'Brien

Robert S. O'Brien, a Democrat, served as Washington State Treasurer for 100 years. I picked up this button in 1968. This specimen has a couple beautiful qualities. First, the image itself  projects luck. Secondly, since the button merely has his surname, O'Brien could use this same image for several election cycles.

Comic art fans will be interested to know O'Brien's Republican opponent in 1968 was Eddie Alexander, the same guy who owned the print shop with the very rude workers who printed Delayed Stress Syndrome Funnies.

Buttons - State Campaign - 1968

Governor John O'Connell, Democrat

In 1968 three term Washington State Attorney General John J. O'Connell made an attempt to unseat incumbent Gov. Dan Evans. I like the way the designer of this button used the now outdated voter lever in place of an apostrophe.

Although Dan Evans enjoyed the nickname "Straight Arrow" in his 12 years as Governor of Washington State, I must say I recall all three of his gubernatorial campaigns, 1964-1972, as being quite nasty. In fact, in his last campaign he employed serial killer Ted Bundy.

Buttons - State Campaign - 1968

Dan Evans

I found this button on the ground when Washington State Gov. Evans was running for his second term in 1968.

Comic art historians might be interested to know Gov. Evans, along with State Sen. Gordon Sandison, was an important figure in the creation of The Evergreen State College. TESC is now known as a hotbed of cartoonists. When Gov. Evans stepped down after serving an unprecedented consecutive three terms as Governor, he became the President of Evergreen and it was viewed as a very controversial move at the time.  

The editor of the school paper, The Cooper Point Journal, during this turmoil was none other than Matt Groening. And here's a bit of Matt trivia. He's not only a great cartoonist, he's also a great journalist. He could've been an amazing investigative reporter, but as it happened his talents were used to better advantage.

Here's yet another bit of trivia. The Evans administration actually employed me ca. 1976 to conduct phone polling. I got paid per each completed survey. It was a night job conducted by college students mostly. This gig was very educational for me in that I heard the vox populi unfiltered.

Buttons - Federal Campaign - 1968

Wrong again.

Republican Jack Metcalf used this phrase as his campaign theme in his unsuccessful bid to unseat incumbent U.S. Senator Warren Magnuson of Washington State in 1968.

Buttons - Federal Campaign - 1960s

Hughes for Congress Republican

File Your Protest

OK, OK, I know this isn't a button. It's a nail file with a pun, but I am going to include it anyway. I picked this up at a booth at the Southwest Washington Fair in Washington State's 3rd Congressional District some time in the 1960s.

Buttons - Presidential Campaign - 1980

Anderson For President

Congressman John Anderson of Illinois initially ran in the 1980 primaries as a Republican, but refused to join his party in their extreme tilt to the Right, so he bolted and ran as an independent. One of the more interesting third party campaigns in recent history, he enjoyed support from college campuses (and my Republican father even voted for him) but ultimately had no impact on the election, which was a landslide for Ronald Reagan. Then he vanished. So far as I know, John Anderson is still alive and is 90 years old today.

Buttons - Presidential Campaign - 1972

 Remember Oct. 9

For more buttons, Ms. Anderson, Clergy & Laity Concerned, (402) 426-4006, $25.00/M

This was a button distributed by the McGovern campaign. The reference was to a statement supposedly made by Richard Nixon, Oct. 9, 1968, when he was campaigning for President. Now this is only from my memory, but the quote was something like: "Those who have had a chance for four years and could not produce peace should not be given another chance." At the time Nixon uttered this he was aiming at LBJ's Vice-President and 1968 Dem. nominee, Hubert Humphrey. In 1972 this button attempted to remind voters of how Nixon had not only failed to end the Vietnam War, but actually escalated it.

Morty Comix # 2422

Morty Comix # 2422 was left tucked into a flap of some kind of adhesive that appears to have contributed to holding up a promotional sign in the past. This is on the side of gas station store in Tumwater, Washington not far from where George Romney spoke just before dropping out of the 1968 race for the Republican Presidential nomination.

Buttons - Presidential Campaign - 1972

President Nixon

Curl says: COADCO - COMM FOR THE RE-ELECT OF THE PRESIDENT

The Committee for the Re-Election of the President in 1972 was known by the acronym CREEP in some circles

Buttons - Presidential Campaign - 1968 or 1972

The curl has: Official Nixon Button, Feeley & Wheeler Co., 370 Lexington N.Y.C. 10007

Buttons - Presidential Campaign - 1972

Nixon Now

A most impressive effort of the Nixon campaign trying to lure the youth vote, 1972 was the first where 18 year-olds could vote.

There was a real storm front between those who were raised during the Great Depression and World War Two as opposed to us Boomers who only saw the shadow of the atomic/nuclear cloud. We grew up with the Cuban Missile Crisis, Vietnam, and the Cold War. Our protests had a sense of urgency since we were concerned tomorrow might never come. Something had to be done about this mess NOW! At the time this was recognized and dubbed The Generation Gap. This button was an attempt by the Nixon people to reach over that gap. Apparently, in terms being re-elected, it worked.

I find it humorous that in 1972 Nixon won by a landslide, but by 1974 when he resigned in total disgrace I could find few people who admitted they voted for him.

When I think about who was the worst president in U.S. history, I have a hard time choosing between Nixon, Reagan, Bush II, Harding or Buchanan.

Buttons - Presidential Campaign - 1968

Nixon's The One!

OK, this isn't really a button, it is more of a badge thing you clipped over your shirt pocket. As I recall I found this on the ground somewhere in Olympia during the '68 campaign, so apparently this sort of "pin" didn't work all that well. The flip side says "ABCraft Mfg. Co. Chicago."

Those of us who felt Nixon was behind the Watergate break-in used this slogan a few years later when discussion turned to who was responsible for the crime.

Buttons - Presidential Campaign - 1952

I Like Ike

Hard to read, but I think it says "Bastion Bros, Rochester, N.Y." on the curl