In honor of today being Election Day in the United States, I thought I would share a very strange piece of political ephemera from 1964. This is the LBJ Coloring Book. The coloring book was published in 1964 by Gem Publishing and was written by Norman Miller and Illustrated by Cal Massey.
In 1964,
Lyndon Baines Johnson was running for President of the United States. He had been President for less than a year by the time this book came out (after the assassination of
John Kennedy), and had enough skeletons out of the closet that Norman Miller and the (presumed) Republicans created this coloring book so you could see and color them all. It's full of dated references and drunk driving and told from the prospective of Her, one of the Johnson's dogs. See all 22 pages and the key after the jump.
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| Page 21 |
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| Page 22 |
The key to each page:
1. A reference to this
infamous picture.
2. A reference to how to treated
the dogs in the media after the picture caused a stir.
3.
Lady Bird Johnson 4. A reference to
Luci Baines Johnson being an "
ordinary kid."
5. A reference to the long hours Johnson said he worked at the White House.
6. A reference to Johnson going around the White House turning off lights because he claimed he didn't want to "waste the taxpayers' money"
7. The donkey is the symbol of the Democratic Party.
8. The elephant is the symbol of the Republican Party.
9. A reference to Johnson
drinking and driving around his ranch.
10. A reference to the Presidential glad-handling.
11. A reference to Johnson's many, frequently very dull press conferences.
12. A reference to Lady Bird (and Lyndon) owning a
television station in Austin, Texas. 13. A reference to
Air Force 1 1/2, a jet Johnson liked to use during his Presidency. 14. A reference to his cowboy hat and his proclivity to drink. 15. A reference to Secretary of the State
Dean Rusk who served from 1961 to 1969. 16.
George Reedy 17. A reference to the many
books
written about Johnson 18. A reference to Johnson taking a very long time to sign the Anti-Drunk-Driving Bill 19.
Bobby Baker 20. A reference to the people living on
Johnson's Ranch. 21. Johnson didn't "get" Shakespeare. 22. Same as the first page.
2 comments:
This is fantastic! THANKS for posting it and for the references.
Fascinating stuff here Jordan! The links are especially interesting! Tom Barnes
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