As Election 2016 wraps up, enjoy this timely look at some of the best and most cringe-worthy posters in U.S. history.
As the 2016 election cycle finally comes to a head, we thought you’d enjoy this trip through the way-back machine and a look at printed U.S. election posters of years gone by.
“I’ve been feeling a little election-weary lately—and I know I’m not the only one,” writes Jessica Farris in Print Magazine.”
“When current events grow too overwhelming, I tend to take solace in history and design. So what better way to divert myself from the current election than to take a look at election posters from the past? Here you’ll find an array [of] posters from presidential elections. Sit back, relax, and enjoy the shameless mudslinging,” she notes.
Her list is fantastic, covering the George McGovern and Richard Nixon era in 1972, an iconic “Reagan as Cowboy” when he ran against Mondale in 1984, even an anti-Lincoln poster from his match with George B. McClellan in 1864.
Clearly one thing hasn’t changed over the decades; politicians still resort to fear and loathing to try to win elections. Enjoy the look through the humorous, somewhat bizarre and all-to-familiar posters as you collect yourself and wait for the election results.
God Bless America.
U.S. Political Propaganda: Presidential Election Posters from History
George McGovern & Richard Nixon, 1972
Ronald Reagan vs. Walter Mondale, 1984
Herbert Hoover vs. Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1932
Thomas E. Dewey vs. Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1944
Abraham Lincoln vs. George B. McClellan, 1864
Adlai Stevenson vs. Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1952
Jimmy Carter vs. Gerald Ford, 1976
William McKinley vs. William Jennings Bryan, 1900
John F. Kennedy vs. Richard Nixon, 1960
William Z. Foster (Frontrunners: Calvin Coolidge, John W. Davis and Robert M. La Follette Sr.), 1924
Bonus: This is actually a button (obviously) but I thought it was pretty interesting. Debs earned 3.4% of the popular vote—913,664 write-in votes—that year despite being imprisoned at the time for his draft non-compliance advocacy.
Eugene V. Debs, 1920 (Frontrunners: Warren G. Harding and James M. Cox)
