NEW YORK—Humble and reserved are words you will not often use to describe presidential candidates John McCain or Barack Obama.
As hard as it might be to believe, presidential candidates at one time shunned public attention and didn't see the need to spend time and money to campaign. This is one of the facts revealed by a new exhibition of election paraphernalia that opened on Friday at the New York Historical Society.
"Most candidates before 1828 stayed in seclusion or at least out of public view during their campaigns," according the society's exhibit. "Similarly, supporters were expected to confine their electioneering to modest displays of appreciation for their candidate's … ideals."
Then at what point did commercials, pins, and posters come to be the ammunition of political warfare? The answer is 1824, when Andrew Jackson led his three rivals in popular and electoral votes, but lost the presidency when one of the candidates transferred his support to another. Four years later, Jackson's campaign went all out in an advertising blitz that would lead to his victory and reshape the presidential race forever.
From contemporary campaign buttons of McCain and Obama to an entire 1950s campaign dress covered in the name "Ike"—the nickname of President Dwight D. Eisenhower—the relatively small (but timely) exhibit has been set up in a corner of the society ahead of the November presidential election.
Other History Jewels
The New York Historical Society also has other highlights, including an exhibit on a cholera epidemic in New York City during the mid-1800s titled "Plague in Gotham!"
"In 1849, when the population was just over 500,000, deaths by Cholera numbered 5,071," reads the exhibit.
The biggest thing showing at the society now is an exhibit on America's "French Founding Father," Marquis de Lafayette, the French aristocrat and revolutionary war general. He served in both the French Revolution and American Revolution, and never took a penny—who is this guy? You won't see his mug on any of the money in your wallet, which is exactly why this exhibit is so fascinating.
The Society is also giving free screenings of the new HBO miniseries John Adams, about the second U.S. president.
Admission to the Society is free on Friday's from 6 to 8 p.m. Adult admission is normally $10.
The Society is located at 170 Central Park West, at 77th Street.
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