Political Posters, Then and Now
More anger, coarser satire and the specter of Shepard Fairey
by David Schonauer
Let’s make the American political poster great again!
With today’s Iowa caucuses, the 2016 presidential campaign moves into high gear. The question of whether Donald Trump will or won’t appear at a debate has been superseded by whether he does or doesn’t have the boots-on-the-ground organization to turn out votes. Can his comb-over overcome doubters? Will Ted Cruz’s personality — which even he admits is a bit noxious — be an impediment to victory? Does Bernie Sanders’s rumpled mien have sex appeal?
As in campaigns past, visuals will play a part in helping to drive people to the polls: Recently, the Huffington Post featured a collection of the best presidential campaign posters of all time, drawn from the 2012 Library of Congress book Presidential Campaign Posters. The collection shows that although American presidential politics predated photography, voters still wanted to see what candidates looked like, as in a poster (above) for Zachary Taylor and Millard Fillmore, circa 1849, when photography was still in its infancy.
In later campaigns, the power of photo-realistic illustration was put to good use, as in a 1900 poster for William McKinley that captured the heroic aura of the president who put America on the gold standard.
McKinley’s successor, Theodore Roosevelt, offered voters a handful of reasons to choose him as president in a circa 1904 poster (below) though it would be his fifth cousin Franklin who would propose a New Deal.
A circa 1928 poster for Herbert Hoover (below) featured a somber if dignified portrait of a candidate who promised stability and experience. After the 1929 stock market crash, those qualities weren’t as appealing.
Jumping ahead few decades, Richard Nixon, whose charisma fizzled on television, made photography a centerpiece in his 1972 reelection campaign. One poster, presumably aimed at the college kids who were clamoring to keep him in the White House, offered “a fold-out poster for your wall.” Another poster literally surrounded Nixon with photographic proof of his accomplishments as president.
Things took another turn in 1976 with born-again Democrat Jimmy Carter.
The most influential campaign poster in recent times was Shepard Fairey’s 2008 “Hope” emblem for Barack Obama. Fairey’s stenciled artwork (later acquired by the National Portrait Gallery) was based on a photograph by former Associated Press freelance photographer Mannie Garcia that became the focus of a copyright battle.
Do the posters of 2016 match up?
Fairey’s design is a strong and undeniable influence on both Republican and Democratic candidates.
Another feature we’ve been seeing a lot of is finger pointing, from both the Right and Left.
Is there more anger in this year’s posters? Has satire, a political mainstay, become coarser?
The Republican front runner has been accused of ratcheting up hateful rhetoric, and in this year’s posters he takes as well as he gives.
There is one candidate this year whose posters deliver everything the American voter could want — confidence, patriotism, and action. Our vote for best presidential campaign poster of 2016 (so far) goes to this one for President Frank Underwood, of Netflix’s House of Cards.
Originally published by American Photography AI-AP. David Schonauer is editor of Pro Photo Daily, AI-AP Profiles and Motion Arts Pro. Follow him on Twitter.
Jeffrey Roberts is publisher of Pro Photo Daily and AI-AP. Follow Jeffrey on Twitter. Follow Pro Photo Daily on Facebook.
