Echoing the Past: Presidents Campaigning with Presidents

One campaign strategy that came about in the 20th century was to make campaign items showing the candidate with past presidents, harping on their popularity and trying to show voters how a candidate would be like Washington, Lincoln, Roosevelt, etc. It has become very popular lately for Democrats to campaign while making references to Franklin Roosevelt or John F. Kennedy and for Republicans to make ties to Eisenhower or Reagan or even Lincoln in some cases. Many campaign buttons will show a candidate with past presidents from their party, showing a unity and trying to draw a comparison to popular presidents. Some candidates try to run from former presidents, such as John McCain from Bush in 2008, and Gore from Clinton to some extent in 2000, due to the Monica Lewinsky hearings a few years earlier. Obviously, some candidates do not want to be tied to past presidents, especially slave holders before the Civil War or presidents like Warren Harding or Richard Nixon who had corruption in their administrations. There aren't many buttons produced showing a candidate with Nixon or Harding. Sometimes, however, it is possible to make a comeback after scandals, and Clinton is well on his way to becoming someone that Democrats can look up to and want to campaign with. George W. Bush will probably be the same way, although it may be years ahead. I have pictured some of  my campaign buttons that reference past presidents and gives you a sense of what the buttons are trying to get across with the images.