Jimmy Carter re-election campaign postcard
Object number2015.073.0001
Date1980
ClassificationsDocuments
ObjectPostcard
Credit LineThe Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza Collection
MediumPaper
Dimensions3 7/16 × 5 1/2 in. (8.7 × 14 cm)
Collections
DescriptionPostcard with a black and white portrait of President Jimmy Carter, with portraits of past Democratic presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson in the background. It was issued by the Carter-Mondale Re-Election Committee, Incorporated for the 1980 presidential election.
Curatorial CommentaryPresident Lyndon Johnson recognized the power of the Kennedy legacy in the immediate aftermath of the assassination, and he used it to great political effect during the 1964 election. Virtually every Democratic presidential candidate since that time has included the image or the words of John F. Kennedy in their campaign materials, holding up the late president as a shining example of party leadership -- and also tapping into the unfulfilled hope and promise that Kennedy represents. Some candidates, including Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, have been specifically compared to John F. Kennedy in terms of their optimism and soaring rhetoric. - Stephen Fagin, Curator
