Howdy Doody for President in ’72
His earlier campaigns may have been more famous and successful, but Howdy Doody ran for President of All Kids in 1972 on a platform that included “allowances that are in line with minimum wage laws.” How noble. Here’s a pamphlet explaining the campaign:
Howdy Doody for President
And here are two pins in support of ole Howdy:
Howdy Doody for President
I wonder how many kids even know who Howdy Doody is these days?
Related:
July 18th, 2009 at 11:34PM
Howdy did campaign for “President Of All Kids Of the United States” in 1948- in fact, it was during this period that Frank Paris, Howdy’s original puppeteer during the first few months of the show, walked away (with the original “Howdy”) after an ownership dispute because of the amount of mail received after a promotion for a free “Howdy Doody For President” campaign button [over 10,000 requests were received, more initially than the buttons on hand!]. Howdy got a new puppeteer, and “makeover” in the spring of ’48 into the puppet we know and love [and on the button above], and “won” the election. And he did it again, in 1952. Around 1971, there was a Howdy “revival”, with “Buffalo Bob” Smith touring college campuses with a live “one man” show (sometimes with “Clarabell” {Lew Anderson}), and RCA reissued several of Howdy’s ’50s recordings on an LP. The now-defunct “Howdy Beef n’ burger” chain, with permission from NBC, decided to capitalize on Howdy’s resurgence by offering him as a candidate for President in ’72. I’d like to think he won, but Richard Nixon was known for doing “unsavory” things to hold HIS seat in office- and anyone else who tried to “muscle in on his territory”- even as “President Of All Kids”….