Show A cam campaign laign Is coming Cu gomino and it will bring son songs gs slogans symbols symbols and slanders alande r s elj i SONGS THEY SANG IN OTHER presidential YEARS by ELMO SCOTT WATSON ADIES and gentlemen of americal america 1 the greatest show on earth la Is L about to begin I 1 no this announcement anything to do with P T barnum the singling ringling brothers buffalo bill cody or any of the others who have made circus history this greatest show on earth Is the quadrennial drama of a presidential election so hold your horses because A campaign is 13 coming with its songs its slogans its symbols and its slanders slander sl 1 the singing Is already under way the other night senator william E borah of idaho appeared in brooklyn to make a speech which it was commonly agreed was his opening hid bid for the republican nomination at that meeting hla his followers sang to the tune of U S that means Us the following borah rah rah rah ring out his name tar far and wide borah rah rah rah rab join the cheer that swells the countryside let all the nation hear his call A fair air deal a square deal tor fr all borah rah rah rah the choice ot of americans all and now that the sin singing ing Is started its safe ito predict that it will continue right up to Illo november vember 4 for in campal campaign a year america has always gone lyrical it started away back at kinglon the beginning of the republic when george washington was the inevitable cholee for first prest ident dent of the united states at that time everyone J joined in singing george georee washington the heros come each heart exulting hears the sound thousands to their deliverer throng and shout hirn him welcome all around all of which adulation for the man who was first in war first in peace and first in the hearts of ills countrymen was very fine but ot of course politics being what they were even tin in those early times it just last ing tons second terni term was far from being a happy one tor for by the time lie left office there were two parties the federalists and the republicans ancestors of the democrats today engaged in a bitter contest for power john adams was the candidate of the federalist aristocrats and thomas jefferson of the republican ne publican common taxes states rights and other issues over which there was a sr YD U 0 41 it M X A r 7 r oz f J r AN in praise of a famous kentuckian Kentuck lan tharp division of opinion were reflected in the bongs sung during the campaign of 1796 the republicans resenting the efforts of the feder allsto to build up a strong centralized government sang juiia my jo bunkers no taxes well pay heres a pardon for wheeler shay parsons and day fix green boughs in your hats and renew the old cause stop the courts la in each county and bully the laws in the next neit election the republicans prophetically sang gang lord how the federalists will stare at jefferson Jel Terson in adams adama chair for jefferson did defeat adams and the there re were eight years of democratic republican paradoxical thou though h that may sound rule but bu t that mean any lessening of political partisanship the embargo act alch had biad nearly ruined reined new england trade had made jefferson Jel Terson wry very unpopular so that the r federalists during duran the campaign of 1803 sang the motley band of demagogues who rule this happy nation has made an end of foreign trade and stopped to pled our navigation embargos embargoes Em bargos horrid name has drowned the th noise ot of dance and tabor and snatched the morsel from rom the nun bun gry mouth of labor so the republicans had bad some gome difficulty in electing james madison jeffersons choice to succeed him but they did manage to do it and be remained in the white house eight years ne ile wa wag followed by james monroe and the famous er era of good feeling in which political partisanship died down only to be revived when john quincy adams adama the son of the second president was elected in 1824 it flamed up even more fiercely in ID 1828 when the opposing candidates were adams seeking reelection re election as the standard bearer of the new national republican party and andrew jackson the candidate of the new democratic party old nic korys partisans recalling his victory at new orleans sung sang lustily w we are a hardy freeborn free born race each a e h man to fear a stranger Wh whatever ateer lt eer the game t nnie we join in ID chase despising toll and danger and it if IL a daring too toe arnoys whatever Wh ateer his strength and forces well show how ht hl n that kentucky boys boy are alligator forsea hor sea I 1 spose youve read it in the prints how packenham Par kenham attempted to make old hickory jackson wines wince and soon hs ha schemes repented for w we e with rine rifle ready cocka thought such occasion lucky and soon arkind the general flocke the hunters of 0 kentucky this campaign however was as nothing compared to that put on by the sin singing ing whigs in 1840 in support of their candidate gen william henry harrlson harrison in his race against martin van buren the democratic occult occupant of the white house harrison arrison II was literally sung into the presidency early in the campaign a democratic editor had bad made the mistake of saying about harrlson harrison give him a barrel of hard bard elder cider and a pension of two thousand a year and our word for lt it lie he will sit the remainder of his days in a log cabin by the alie side of a sea coal fire and study moral philosophy immediately the indignant whigs sprang to the defense of their candidate they made much of the fact baft that the democrats under the leadership of the broadcloth cla clad d aristocratic martin van buren of new york had deserted the common find and were casting slurs upon their general harrison old tippecanoe who was a plain man and a poor man so they began to sing i let van from his coolers of sliver silver drink wine and lounge on his cushioned settee our man on his bis buckeye bench can recline content with hard elder cider Is he be then a shout for each freeman ft a shout for ee eacle aa cc state to the plain honest husbandman cus bandman true and this be our motto the motto ot of fate hurrah for old tippecanoe and on this wave of singing hy hysteria steila another military hero was swept into the presidency bobr years later van buren was seeking the democratic nomination again but he was turned down and the prize given to the first dark horse in political history james K polk of tennessee even before this happened the whigs had nominated henry clay of kentucky who had tried twice before in 1824 and again in 1832 to be the democratic standard bearer theodore Freling huysen of new york was named as his big running mate so again the whigs swung into a singing campaign shouting hurrah hurrah the count rys for henry way gity and the democrats were capable of doing a bit of themselves so they sang right back farewell oh farewell to thee clay of kentucky well leave thee to wander by salt rivers shore we well might have known that thy cause was unlucky for the democrats beat thee so often before that song was a true prophecy for the democrats did beat clay again and elected polk but the whigs had their revenge tour four years tears later when nominated a military hero and began singing the praises of old zach taylor bold and steady sometimes rough but always ready for his running mate they named millard fillmore of new york one of their songs declared the ball Is opened on both sides the parties now have made their choice cass on the loco donkey rides the whigs tor for taylor give their voice pull boys all pull steady for fillmore and tor for rough and ready the democrats who had nominated lewis cass of michigan for president and gen william 0 butler of kentucky a mexican war hero for vice president roared back at them they como come in democratic van from old kentucky and BlIch michigan igan within the nations seat to shine in eighteen hundred and forty nine for every state declares it so that cass and butler but er in must go eo next fourth ot of march will prove it so for thus have freedmen tre edmen willed it oh but the whigs were better prophets when they sang hes hell on victors vic torys track and he cant be put back for the people have said that they trust in old zach so our brave rou rough h and ready in triumph shall run till tho white house Is reached and our victory won so old rough and ready was sung into toe the presidency just as old tippecanoe had bad been the campaign of franklin pierce vs gen winfield scott in 1832 1852 was a comparatively colorless one but was another case of whoop it up with song and shouting the slavery question was the big issue the know nothing party formed largely of pro slavery whigs nominated fillmore the democratic party nominated james buchanan of pennsylvania and the new republican party in its first national convention nominated gen james C fremont the so called rath pathfinder finder thousands of free sollers with an almost religious zeal acal sang all hall to fremont Frer swell the lofty acclaim L like ke w winds in da from the mountain like prairies anmie an mie once nore the pathfinder Is forth on his hunt clear the way for free soil oil tor for tree free men and fremont however the pathfinder find the way to the white house for buchanan was elected when the next campaign year came around another candidate came out of the west V 21 I 1 ae 11 ax I 1 lit G v 2 0 rt 1 aa I 1 A ae this helped elect old rough and ready with the affectionate and vote gathering characterization of old old abe lincoln the illinois rall rail splitter so the republicans sang hurrah for our cause of all cadies cau tes best Hurrah tor old abo abe honest abe ot of the west arid and right back at them the democrats sani derisively say hes capable and honest loves his bis count rys good alone never drank a drop of 0 whisky know it from a stone any lie you tell well swallow swallow any kind of mixture but oh dont we pray and beg you dont tor for gods sake show his picture ulysses S grant regarded as the savior ol of the union have much difficulty in winning the election of csc 3 so no songs of any importance came out of that campaign four years later when horace greeley gave him more opposition one of the songs which his supporters sang declared that general grants the roan man to work tor for uncle sam he will lead the van and beat the greeley clan well trust him still to rule the nation rule kule the nation rule take nation well trust him still to rule the nation ile he saved our glorious union during the hayes allden campaign of 1876 I 1 even the little children were familiar with the song that declared hayes rides a white horse tilden allden rides a mule hayes Is a gentleman tilden allden Is a foell the cleveland blaine campaign ot of 1884 wa noteworthy for its songs the most famous being the democratic hymn which declared that from maine blaine to california the people loudly shout well wall vote tor for grover cleveland who will turn the rascals butr out the mckenley dryan bryan campaigns saw a revival of the ilayev tilden doggerel with mckinley riding the white horse and r cryan ryan riding the mule when alton B parker and theodore roosevelt were the opponents la in 1904 the democrats tame ame out with the lyrical prophecy that JIG he will always keep the nations credit safe and sound and will oust dishonest men wherever they are found lie he will bury teddy under forty feet of 0 ground alton B parker Is his name but lie he F for or to the tune of that popular spanish american war song therell be a hot time in the old town tola tonight ii alit the rough rider went back to the white howe again during the next two decades campal campaign agn songs were not so potent as were slogans and catchwords vint that Is until 1928 when al smith was the democratic candidate then the sidewalks of now new york a son song 0 of the gay nineties 11 was revived and it sw swept C the lie country into a frenzy of singing but it sweep it into a frenzy of voting for the democratic candidate E even ven thou though h who Ilo hoover overl 1 as aa a good campaign ballad compare with the sidewalks hoover was elected nevertheless As for the last campaign every one remembers liow how the american people wanting to believe that the depression was over joined lustily in singing Il happy lappy days are here again and in sending the smiling prophet of that belief to the white house what will be the outstanding song of the 1936 campaign 1 that question can be answered better on th the e morning of november 5 than it can b be e anSwer answerer ee now dowl I 1 a western newspaper union |