BOOT

1956 General Election - –Ike vs. Stevenson Rematch In 1956, Eisenhower and Nixon again used free comic books, including this rare mailer that opened up into a poster sized comic. The result? They won again, in an even bigger landslide! The power of comic books!

You Never Had it So Good This is a mini comic book to promote the election of Dwight D. Eisenhower and Richard Nixon.

Comic Book Program for 1952 R*publican and D*mocratic Conventions Speaking of the 1952 presidential election, here is a scarce comic book/program for the D*mocratic and R*publican national conventions 1952.

1952 General Election - – Ike vs. Stevenson For the general election, in addition to “Ike’s Story”, the R*publican campaign also produced “Dwight D. Eisenhower – Richard M. Nixon - The Choice of a Nation”. In answer, the D*mocrats offered “Man with a Plan” to promote their candidate, Adlai Stevenson. The comic book was modest, effective, and restrained, but it was about half the size of a normal comic book. The result? Ike and D*ck won in a landslide.

IKE! Dwight D. Eisenhower – Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in World War II, Two Term President of the United States, and Big Time User of Free Comic Books! Ike deployed free comic books to support his campaigns as skillfully as he marshaled his artillery and forces in WW II. His opponents didn’t stand a chance. 1952 R*publican Primary – Taft vs. Ike Before the general election, Eisenhower had to win the R*publican primary. One opponent, Bob Taft, offered up his lackluster comic. Just by looking at their comic books, can you guess which candidate won the nomination?

She Coined the Term “Tricky D*ck” This is Right! For United States Senator - Helen Gahagan Douglas This may be the earliest comic book to promote a woman political candidate – it may be the only free comic book to promote a woman political candidate! Gahagan Douglas was an interesting character, to say the least. She was a movie star – lead actress in 1935’s She, based on the H. Rider Haggard fantasy novel. She was a three term U.S. Representative from California. She supposedly carried on a torrid affair with Lyndon Baines Johnson. Some accused Gahagan Douglas of having communist tendencies. When she ran for Senator from California, she defied her Democratic leaders and won the primary. In the general election, she faced Richard Nixon. Supposedly, even John F. Kennedy contributed to Nixon’s campaign to defeat Gahagan Douglas. During the campaign, Gahagan Douglas referred to Nixon as “Tricky D*ck”, coining one of history’s most memorable negative political nicknames. That didn’t help her, and neither did this comic book, as she lost to Nixon in a landslide. We’ve seen just the two copies of this rare comic book pictured here – each with slightly different printing qualities.

This is Bill Dodd Bill Dodd was Lieutentant Governor of Louisiana under Governor Earl Long. In 1951, Dodd ran for governor, despite not having Long’s support. He finished in fifth place in the primary election.

Paul A. Dever “The Thrilling True Life Story of the Governor of Massachusetts” Paul A. Dever rose from frail orphan to honor student to the youngest Attorney General to Naval Officer to statesman. Dever’s campaign published this comic book to support his attempt at reelection in 1952. Unfortunately, he was defeated. Should have used a better comic book, Paul!

Colorful Curley The Story of James Michael Curley, Humanitarian, Administrator and Mayor of Boston. Curley was an Irish American politician from Boston. Known for his hard partying and tough politics, he became a folk legend. He was the inspiration for the main character of The Last Hurrah by Edwin O’Connor. In the film version, Spencer Tracy played the character inspired by Curley.

The Brewer Story This large comic book The Brewer Story was produced to promote the reelection of Alabama Governor Albert Brewer. This comic book includes testimonials from cartoon characters and even a special note from Governor Brewer himself. Brewer became governor of Alabama after Governor Lurleen Wallace, wife of George Wallace, died in office. Brewer did not win another full term.

Your Governor Chet Bowles Chester “Chet” Bowles was governor of Connecticut from 1948 to 1950. This 1950 comic book was produced by the Independent Committee for the Re-election of Governor Chet Bowles. This fine looking comic book with Harry Anderson artwork couldn’t help Bowles win a second term.

An Alphabet of Candidates When we found a candidate whose last name began with the Q we thought we would try to create an alphabet of candidates. We came close! These comic books offer unique insights into the character and issues of American politics and political characters. Check out this alphabet soup of aspiring politicians who used comic books to campaign! Bill Alexander Leads the Way to a Better Tomorrow! Alexander unsuccessfully ran for United States Senator from Oklahoma in 1950. He later became pastor of Oklahoma City’s First Christian Church and built a large following until he died in a plane crash in 1960.

‘Erbie and ‘is Playmates This early political comic book from 1932 is by classic cartoonist Frederick Opper. This is an anti-Herbert Hoover comic book. It promotes the election of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. It features cameo appearances by Opper’s famous characters Happy Hooligan and Alfonse and Gaston.

Picture Life of a Great American This comic book was produced to promote the 1928 presidential campaign of Herbert Hoover. This was produced by artist Robert W. Satterfield. There are two versions, one with the Capitol building on the front cover, and the other with the White House on the front cover. This comic book shows Hoover’s life and career as a great adventure story. It mentions the 1927 Mississippi floods and what a great job Hoover did as Secretary of Commerce to address the emergency.

More from Centennial Congress - 1876 Democratic House of Representatives Illustrated

Centennial Congress - 1876 Democratic House of Representatives Illustrated Here is one of the earliest full length political comic books known. Think things are down and dirty now? Check out some of the really insulting comics here.

As we wonder how we'll survive another political season, take heart - it has always been this wild. And we're still here. That is one message we hope you'll get from this thread. First - NO MODERN POLITICS! We cleared this thread first with the CGC powers that be with the condition that there will be NO MODERN POLITICS!! Any posts with modern or current political references will be removed and if the problem persists the whole thread could be pulled. These Golden Age political comic books are a largely unexplored frontier of comic book history, so please don't derail what could be a really informative thread. That being said - SHOW US YOUR GOLDEN AGE POLITICAL COMIC BOOKS! Share these historic and sometimes hilarious comic books with your friends. Some were right and some were oh-so-wrong. As you look at them, remember, current politics shall also pass - we will survive! And remember...NO MODERN POLITICS!!! Political comics are some of the most important giveaway comic books ever produced. They have helped elect candidates that changed the course of history. They have helped promote and support government policies and actions, including wars, which have changed millions of lives. Comic books have been used to sell political philosophies, government programs, and even specific bond issues. Do political comic books work? Sometimes. Their success depended on the candidate, the issue, and the quality of the comic book itself! It’s hard to gauge the true effect these historic comic books had. We do know that Ike and his running mate used at least five different comic books in their campaign. How did that turn out? No less a collector than Mr. Steve Geppi bought a copy of the May 9, 1754 issue of The Pennsylvania Gazette. This contained what is considered to be the first American political cartoon, Ben Franklin's "Join or Die"...a message still worth considering. Superheroes have fantasy powers. Politics involves real power. Prepare to see comic book power in action with these Golden Age political comic books! (Note - these scans and captions are from a chapter of a book I'm preparing about giveaway comic books. Comments are welcome!)

Love this oddball, unlisted Merchant Marine comic!

Great to see you are doing well!

That is great! Never seen one before! That's one of the best thing about promo comics - there are so many that it is possible to find really oddball unlisted ones. Here are some other ones devoted to the subject...

Piece of cake

Gorgeous book. A great read, too!

I've always been curious about what exactly was going on on this cover. Maybe he put way too much soap in the washing machine.

GREAT STUFF! mm Thanks, MM! Here's a Sunday newspaper magazine article about GE's educational comic program.

Big Hand and Thing subset