JOHN F. KENNEDY PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN SONG

Doing some research on 1950s and 60s commercials and stumbled upon this 2 minute pop-march-anthem for JFK.

The use of Futura Bold as a typeface is inexplicably linked in my eyes to Barbara Kruger, even though when this came out she wasn’t even at Parson’s yet and still in high school . Kruger typically uses Oblique, which is only seen a couple times in this, but the red and black backgrounds behind a lot of the non-Oblique text here help create the visual connection to Kruger. This brings a new dimension to Kruger’s work for me, with a more direct historical reference to the public/private politicization of the text.

The song is repetitive, but damn catchy. With the flash of the family portrait at the end, it kind of all seems like the theme song for a 60s West Wing-like sitcom.

Trying to not get caught up in all the Kennedy video archive I just unearthed. I’m occupied enough with current day politics, don’t need to start obsessing over a 48 year old race too. Maybe after Tuesday