{"id":921,"date":"2016-10-31T15:08:51","date_gmt":"2016-10-31T19:08:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.lib.purdue.edu\/asc\/?p=921"},"modified":"2016-10-31T15:08:51","modified_gmt":"2016-10-31T19:08:51","slug":"politics-at-purdue-part-i-visits-from-presidential-campaigns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.lib.purdue.edu\/asc\/2016\/10\/31\/politics-at-purdue-part-i-visits-from-presidential-campaigns\/","title":{"rendered":"Politics at Purdue, Part I: Visits from Presidential Campaigns"},"content":{"rendered":"

Young adults are a large voting demographic and their support can make the difference between victory and defeat in an election. \u00a0That means college campuses are prime locations for campaign rallies, and Purdue is no exception.\u00a0 Here are some highlights of Purdue\u2019s encounters\u00a0with presidential candidates during the most exciting times of their campaigns.<\/p>\n

Until 1971, the voting age in the United States was 21, not 18, limiting the possibility of participation on college campuses. \u00a0The Purdue student newspaper reported in October of 1900 that \u201cabout seventy-five per cent of the Senior class will get a vote this fall, and about two-thirds of the number will vote for McKinley and Roosevelt<\/strong>\u201d (Exponent,<\/em> Oct 4, 1900, p. 13).\u00a0 That number was limited not only by the age restriction but also by the fact that women were still twenty years away from gaining the right to vote.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

Exponent, October 18, 1900<\/p><\/div>\n

The week after the report of the Republican McKinley-Roosevelt ticket\u2019s popularity, the Exponent reported that \u201cthe Seniors were excused until three o\u2019clock Wednesday afternoon, to hear Roosevelt, most of the class took the opportunity to see and hear the \u2018Rough rider\u2019 of New York\u201d (Exponent,<\/em> Oct 18, 1900, p. 14). \u00a0Though Roosevelt did not come to West Lafayette, students would have easily traveled to Fort Wayne (on October 10) or Indianapolis (on October 11) to hear him speak.<\/p>\n

\"Screenshot<\/a>

John F. Kennedy visits Purdue (1960 Newsreel)<\/p><\/div>\n

Democrat John F. Kennedy<\/strong> made at least two visits to Purdue in as many years.\u00a0 On April 13, 1959, Senator Kennedy visited campus\u00a0to attend a special student convocation at Elliott Hall of Music, where he \u201cspoke well, handled the question period with finesse, and the Hall was filled, thus making a fine performance in every way\u201d (Purdue Board of Trustees Minutes, May 1, 1959).\u00a0 Kennedy was also rumored to have attended a Purdue-Notre Dame game in West Lafayette on October 3, 1959 (Lafayette<\/em>\u00a0Journal and Courier<\/em>, Oct 3, 1959).<\/p>\n

\"Purdue<\/a>

Purdue Drill Team with President Kennedy at the White House (Purdue Alumnus, Summer 1961)<\/p><\/div>\n

The following year, after his presidential campaign had commenced in earnest, Kennedy won the Purdue students\u2019 mock election as the \u201cPurduvian Party\u201d candidate.\u00a0 One week later, Kennedy adjusted his campaign schedule to visit West Lafayette and accept the nomination in person, saying he hoped that \u201cas Purdue goes, so goes the nation\u201d (Newsreel 1959-1960<\/a>).\u00a0 The nation\u00a0did go with Purdue and put Kennedy into the White House, where the Purdue Drill Team visited him in 1961 while visiting the area\u00a0for the Cherry Blossom Festival (Purdue Alumnus,<\/em>\u00a0Summer 1961, p. 1).<\/p>\n

\"Jack<\/a>

Jack Carter at Purdue (Purdue Archives photo \u00a0 \u00a0 #PS0000078)<\/p><\/div>\n

Family members\u00a0of the presidential candidates are often involved in their campaigns. In 1976, Democratic nominee Jimmy Carter\u2019s son<\/strong>, Jack, visited Purdue to campaign on behalf of his father.<\/p>\n

\"Robin<\/a>

Robin Dole at Purdue (Journal and Courier, October 29, 1976)<\/p><\/div>\n

Later that year, incumbent Republican President Gerald Ford\u2019s daughter<\/strong>, Susan, gave a brief speech at the Purdue airport as part of\u00a0a quick campaign stop on October 29 (Lafayette<\/em>\u00a0Journal and Courier<\/em>, Oct 30, 1976). \u00a0Ford\u2019s Vice Presidential candidate Bob Dole’s daughter<\/strong>, Robin, also visited Purdue that week (Lafayette\u00a0Journal and Courier<\/em>, Oct 29, 1976).<\/p>\n

\"Dan<\/a>

Dan Quayle at Purdue \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0(1993 Debris)<\/p><\/div>\n

President Ford and his running mate Dole lost that election.\u00a0 Sixteen years later, in 1992, Vice President Dan Quayle<\/strong> returned to his home state to campaign for George H.W. Bush\u2019s reelection.\u00a0 The results of the election were foreshadowed when, according to the Purdue student yearbook, “the student body showed discontent\u201d during Quayle’s\u00a0speech on the steps of Hovde Hall (Debris<\/em> 1993, p. 38<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Candidates from outside the Republican and Democratic Parties have also visited Purdue.\u00a0 In 1972, Dr. Benjamin Spock<\/strong>, the People\u2019s Party nominee, visited campus.\u00a0 As the student yearbook noted, \u201cDr. Benjamin Spock made the sole presidential candidate appearance at Purdue.\u00a0 From the two major parties, we could not even attract a campaign manager\u201d (Debris<\/em> 1973, p. 387<\/a>).<\/p>\n

\"Ross<\/a>

Ross Perot at Purdue (1996 Newsreel)<\/p><\/div>\n

In 1996, Ross Perot<\/strong> of the Reform Party gave a televised speech in the Armory weeks before earning more than 8 million votes in the general election (Debris<\/em> 1997, p. 324<\/a>; Newsreel 1996<\/a>).\u00a0 Purdue\u2019s most recent campaign visit happened on September 13, 2016, when Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson<\/strong> visited campus\u00a0(Exponent<\/em>, Sept 9, 2016<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Other notable political figures have visited Purdue before, during, and after their times in office, but campaign season always inspires some of the most interesting visits.\u00a0 Do you remember any other campaign\u00a0visits to Purdue? \u00a0If you have memories or memorabilia such as photographs or historical documents related to those events, we would love to hear from you!<\/p>\n

Editor’s Note: This is the first in a series highlighting\u00a0political visits to Purdue. \u00a0Part II will take a look at visits from presidents during and after their time in office, most notably Ronald Reagan’s 1987 visit.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Young adults are a large voting demographic and their support can make the difference between victory and defeat in an election. \u00a0That means college campuses are prime locations for campaign rallies, and Purdue is no exception.\u00a0 Here are some highlights of Purdue\u2019s encounters\u00a0with presidential candidates during the most exciting times of their campaigns. Until 1971, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":134,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[6276],"tags":[6280,6279,6281],"class_list":["post-921","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-notable-visits","tag-politicians","tag-politics","tag-presidents"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8vDd5-eR","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lib.purdue.edu\/asc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/921","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lib.purdue.edu\/asc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lib.purdue.edu\/asc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lib.purdue.edu\/asc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/134"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lib.purdue.edu\/asc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=921"}],"version-history":[{"count":49,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lib.purdue.edu\/asc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/921\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1060,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lib.purdue.edu\/asc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/921\/revisions\/1060"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lib.purdue.edu\/asc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lib.purdue.edu\/asc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=921"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lib.purdue.edu\/asc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}