Election 1960 [cover title]

[Various locations in and around Chicago, Il: likely early November, 1960. Very good plus.. Title leaf, plus [25] leaves, illustrated with forty-seven silver gelatin photographs, pasted one per leaf or page, all about 5.5 x 7.5 inches, plus five loose images (two duplicates and three other images not pasted in). Square quarto. Contemporary tan cloth custom photograph album, metal-hinged spine, front cover printed with title reading, "ELECTION 1960." Minor wear and soiling to album. Light occasional thumb-soiling to album leaves, ownership signature reading, "G. Robert Hillman" on title leaf. Photographs in excellent condition. An utterly charming vernacular (truncated) photograph album assembled during the seminal Presidential Election of 1960, one of the closest presidential elections in United States history, which pitted Vice President Richard Nixon against the junior Senator from Massachusetts, John F. Kennedy. The album features about fifty original photographs on the campaign trail in Illinois, beginning with about a dozen-and-a-half images of Richard Nixon and his local supporters. The photographs capture various angles of Nixon during his stump speech, a young boy waving an "I'm for Nixon" handmade sign, another young boy with a Nixon button on his coat, crowd scenes, a large campaign sign for Nixon-Lodge outside a local store, and more. One image featuring a mixed crowd of Nixon and Kennedy supporters transitions into the next section of photographs, which concentrates on JFK's campaign. The first image in this section is a closeup of a "Kennedy for President" hat, followed by four images of JFK's campaign manager Robert Kennedy making a speech, three images of Eleanor Roosevelt stumping for Kennedy, five images of Lyndon Johnson and his airplane, numerous shots of Kennedy supporters, and crowd shots outside Chicago Blackhawks stadium. The photographs then feature the inside of Chicago Auditorium, where the first three images depict John F. Kennedy - the first shaking hands with Chicago's longtime Mayor Richard Daley and two during his speech (likely his speech of November 4, 1960 - just four days before Election Day). The final three images show supporters of both candidates.

The 1960 United States Presidential Election was a watershed moment for the campaign politics of the country. Senator Kennedy won the election with a clear Electoral College margin of 303 to 219. However, Vice President Nixon won three more states than Kennedy, and lost the popular vote only by about 110,000 votes out of more than 68 million votes cast. The election set the course for most of the remainder of the 1960s, but left Nixon soured and suspicious that the election had been stolen from him - a feeling he never let go, and one with ominous echoes today. As indicated in the present album, the 1960 presidential election was passionate on both sides, with each candidate drawing large, enthusiastic crowds for their appearances.

The signature on the title leaf of the present album likely identifies the compiler. G. Robert Hillman is a Senior Editor for Politico. Hillman was born in Peoria and grew up on a farm near Flanagan, Illinois, about a hundred miles from Chicago. He went to college at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and began his career at Chicago Today and the Chicago Sun-Times. Hillman would have been in middle school during the 1960 election campaign, not too precocious for a young man obsessed with politics, especially during one of the most heated and media-intensive campaigns of the 20th century. (Inventory #: 4337)