Lueddemann RNC Badge

Looking for help from the community on ID'ing G. Lueddemann. He apparently attended the the 1964 Republican National Convention that nominated Senator Barry Goldwater. Was he a delegate? Alternate? Staff? Press? Very curious to find out more information.

Was this person a Goldwater delegate or a delegate pledge to Nelson Rockefeller the winner of the 1964 Oregon Primary?  Goldwater tied for third place in the primary with Richard Nixon who was not an active candidate. Will have to wait for more information.

Keynoter: Retire Kennedy in '64 Taken Seriously by Grassroots

John Vargo had an excellent article in the Fall 2013 issue of the APIC Keynoter about the startings of the various movements of the 1964 election prior to the death of JFK. There are several really nice paper items put out by the RNC and pro-Goldwater forces advocating to retire 'The Kennedys'. The thinking was that if the GOP did a good job in the 1964 elections, JFK and RFK would be out of the White House and 'Teddy' Kennedy would be defeated in the Massachusetts Senate race. Two bumper stickers featuring the famous rocking chair and a RWB item from the Midwestern Regional Leadership Conference that was taking place in St. Louis, Missouri. The conference was taking place November 22-23, 1963. At similar conferences a set of three rocking chairs would be set up near the lobby of the conference for display.

Vargo's article mentions a mailer the RNC started sending out to raise funds for JFK's retirement fund. Upon some further research, it was discovered that some Republicans in the early fall of 1963 took this solicitation request seriously and were not very happy about it. The Toledo Blade covered one such Utah Republicans response to the fundraising request. The RNC wanted individuals to donate $10 dollars to help fund efforts for the party at defeating JFK in the upcoming election. A man in Utah sent back his mailer to the RNC with this response, "I think this is silly. Why can't the Kennedys live on the liberal provisions provided for upon retirement the same as Hoover, Truman and Eisenhower are managing to do? I'm not interested in contributing to any additional retirement fund for them."Sometimes things just go over our heads.

Political Halloween: Goldwater for Halloween

Here are three versions of one of the Halloween themed political buttons that pretty much ensured a tradition of a Halloween themed buttons for each candidate in every election from 1964 onward. These are actually anti-Goldwater pins issued by supporters of LBJ. APIC member Tom Peeling covers these pins on his Collectors Quest blog.


More Halloween themed items to come!