Campaign laughs, history on view at Newseum in DC
The First Art Newspaper on the Net    Established in 1996 Thursday, May 22, 2025


Campaign laughs, history on view at Newseum in DC
Tina Fey's costume to portray Sarah Palin on "Saturday Night Live," is part of the exhibit, "Every Four Years: Presidential Campaigns and the Press," at the Newseum in Washington. A new exhibit, “Every Four Years: Presidential Campaigns and the Press,” opens Friday in time for President's Day weekend and the long campaign season ahead. It includes 120 objects and images dating back to William McKinley's campaign in 1896. AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin.

By: Brett Zongker, Associated Press



WASHINGTON (AP).- Tina Fey's red suit, flag pin and eyeglasses worn to channel her Sarah Palin parodies of the 2008 presidential race are going on view at the Newseum, along with items from journalists and candidates who made history in presidential politics.

A new exhibit, "Every Four Years: Presidential Campaigns and the Press," which opens Friday at the museum and will be updated with material from the long campaign season ahead. It also includes relics of presidents and comics from long before "Saturday Night Live."

There are handwritten notes by the candidate John F. Kennedy during a 1960 debate with Richard Nixon, a radio microphone used by President Franklin D. Roosevelt for his "fireside chats" and political ads from Dwight D. Eisenhower, as well as early political laughs from "Puck" magazine in 1877.

"You can see all the way back more than a century ago people were poking fun at presidents," said Newseum exhibits chief Cathy Trost. "This is nothing new."

With the 2008 election, though, between "Saturday Night Live" and the antics of Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart on TV's Comedy Central, such parodies "reached new heights as a political and cultural force during that campaign," Trost said.

Besides Fey's costume, the Newseum also borrowed the jacket Amy Poehler used to impersonate Hillary Clinton, a set of "pork knives" used by Sen. John McCain on "SNL" when he pretended to sell items on QVC to cut campaign debt, and the mask worn by then Sen. Barack Obama on "SNL" in 2007 for a sketch about a Halloween party hosted by the Clintons.

The Newseum pulled together about 120 objects and images dating to Republican President William McKinley's campaign in 1896, which McKinley ran from his front porch, while his opponent William Jennings Bryan traveled thousands of miles to make his pitch.

A case of campaign memorabilia includes Hillary Clinton's beer mug and shot glass from her campaign stop at a bar in Crown Point, Ind., and President Barack Obama's bowling ball and size 14.5 bowling shoes from a stop in Altoona, Pa. The bowling alley and bar had saved them as keepsakes.

There's also a cowboy hat given to President George W. Bush in the 2004 campaign and a guitar labeled "The Prez" that President George H.W. Bush played at his 1988 inaugural ball.

Other sections explore the impact of radio, television, faster travel and the occasional scandal on a presidential race.

From the media world, Katie Couric lent her purple suit from a newsmaking interview with Palin on CBS in 2008 and her notes from the interview. Tim Russert's white dry erase board from election night in 2000 is on view with the words he wrote that night: "Florida, Florida, Florida," as well as a gold-plated microphone from talk radio's Rush Limbaugh.

A nearby theater will show a Newseum film recounting the changes in political advertising during the TV age, from the "I Like Ike" slogan for Eisenhower and a melody of "Adlai, I love you madly," for his opponent Adlai Stevenson, to memorable ads from President Bill Clinton showcasing his small town roots, President Ronald Reagan's "Morning in America" ad and the "Yes We Can" web video that went viral during Obama's campaign.

"People are going to see an incredible evolution and difference between the ads from the 1950s compared to the current, more sophisticated ads," said James Duff, the Newseum's president. "But the simplicity of the old ads, I think, will be appealing for a lot of people."

One thing that hasn't changed over time, though, is the importance of money to pay for a campaign that reaches people across the country.

Early political strategist Mark Hanna, who was chairman of the Republican National Committee in 1895, summed it up like this: "There are two things that are important in politics The first is money, and I can't remember what the second one is."



Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.










Today's News

February 16, 2012

Sotheby's London February 2012 Contemporary art evening auction totals $79.7 million

Exhibition showing the relationship of the Dutch and the water opens at Kunsthal Rotterdam

A reward to recover two archaeological objects stolen from the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts

CAC Malaga presents the first exhibition of William Kentridge's tapestries in Spain

Exhibition of new paintings and a steel wall-hanging by the artist Bill Jacklin at Marlborough Gallery

Exhibition of 1960s-1970s works in plastic at D. Wigmore Fine Art, Inc.

Christie's London evening auction of Post-War and Contemporary art totals £80.6 million

Maldives national museum reopens minus valuable smashed pre-Islamic era Hindu images

Rare Cook Islands pole-club highlights Oceanic art auction at Bonhams in San Francisco

Legendary Apache warrior subject of exhibition at the Heard Museum in Phoenix

Costumes from 'The Artist,' 20 other films on view at the FIDM Museum & Galleries

Nancy and David Wolf present major gift of Contemporary craft to the Cincinnati Art Museum

Quinn's to inaugurate spacious new gallery with March 3 Fine & Decorative Arts auction

Campaign laughs, history on view at Newseum in DC

Inscribed copy of Hemingway's first book brings $68,000+ in Heritage Auctions' Rare Books Event

Gavin Turk pays homage to Alighiero Boetti in new show at Ben Bown Fine Arts

Anna Sew Hoy's first solo exhibition in San Francisco opens at Romer Young Gallery

Falklands war surrender Telex, sent by Major General Jeremy Moore to sell at Bonhams

New Vegas museum highlights mob bosses, tommy guns




Museums, Exhibits, Artists, Milestones, Digital Art, Architecture, Photography,
Photographers, Special Photos, Special Reports, Featured Stories, Auctions, Art Fairs,
Anecdotes, Art Quiz, Education, Mythology, 3D Images, Last Week, .

 



Founder:
Ignacio Villarreal
(1941 - 2019)
Editor:  Ofelia Zurbia Betancourt
(52 8110667640)

Art Director: Juan José Sepúlveda Ramírez

Royalville Communications, Inc
produces:

ignaciovillarreal.org juncodelavega.com facundocabral-elfinal.org
Founder's Site. Hommage
to a Mexican poet.
Hommage
       

The First Art Newspaper on the Net. The Best Versions Of Ave Maria Song Junco de la Vega Site Ignacio Villarreal Site
Tell a Friend
Dear User, please complete the form below in order to recommend the Artdaily newsletter to someone you know.
Please complete all fields marked *.
Sending Mail
Sending Successful