The Poetry of Politics: Writing About Presidential Elections

I gather this is going to be a hard week.  The contentious presidential election is upon us, and the outcome, no matter who wins, will probably not bring us together as a nation.  This week is also hard for me because it marks the eleventh anniversary of my mother’s death.  In February, she would have turned 103.  That number reminds me of just how old I am. My mother was thirty-four when I was born and at the time, I thought that she was so old!  Of course, that was ridiculous given today’s standards, but back in 1956, my mother was considered an older mother.  She did not like to be reminded of that, not one bit.  However, she loved her two daughters, doted on them, and the time I had with her I hold so dear.

 My mom was born in 1922, the year incumbent President Warren G. Harding won a second term but died while in office.  I often falsely think that modern day politics is so much worse than the past, but I’m  absolutely wrong.  Harding’s administration was fraught with scandal, specifically the Teapot Dome Scandal in which Albert B. Fall, Secretary of the Interior, and benefited financially from his secret lease deal of the Teapot Dome oil rights to Mammoth Oil Company.  The story is more complicated than that, but I write this not as a history lesson but as a historical reflection that the more things seem to change, the more they stay the same.  Scandal and backroom deals are not a modern plight in politics.  They are indeed part and parcel of the political landscape.

To gain a better perspective of political history, I thought I’d write a poem about the election of 1922, the year my dear mother was born.  I did some research on President Harding and his administration. It was quite an interesting time, having some parallels to our present situation.  I read various accounts of Harding’s presidency, the Teapot Dome scandal, and the political landscape of 1922.  Then I thought about how to construct a poem that expressed the nature of that election almost one hundred years ago.  In doing so, I gained a better idea of what American life was like and what was important to the electorate at that time..  I realized that financial scandal was certainly not new, and neither was greed and power.  I believe our democracy is still the best form of government, but it certainly is not perfect.  I believe we can learn from the past and continue on a brighter path.

Writing presidential election poetry would be a beneficial activity for middle and high school students. The process of researching an historical election and then writing a poem about it would give students more background knowledge about how our political system works.  It would help them make comparisons between various historical events and become more aware of their place in history.  Indeed, history would come alive for them, and students would more deeply  understand historical ideas and experiences. Once completed, students could share their work in a political poetry gallery of sorts broadening their knowledge of the American political process.

Interesting Elections to Research and Write About

• 1800 – Thomas Jefferson vs. Aaron Burr
• 1824 – John Quincy Adams v. Andrew Jackson
• 1828 – Andrew Jackson bs. John Quincy Adams
• 1840 – William Henry Harrison vs.  Martin Van Buren
• 1860 – Abraham Lincoln vs. John Breckinridge
• 1876 – Rutherford B. Hayes vs. Samuel J. Tilden
• 1912 – Woodrow Wilson vs. William Howard Taft vs. Teddy Roosevelt
• 1920 – William Harding vs. James M. Cox
• 1932 – Franklin Delano Roosevelt vs. Herbert Hoover
• 1948 – Harry S. Truman vs. Thomas E. Dewey
• 1956 – Dwight D. Eisenhower vs. Adlai Stevenson
• 1960 –  John F. Kennedy vs. Richard M. Nixon
• 1968 – Richard M. Nixon vs. Hubert H. Humphrey
• 1976 – Jimmy Carter vs. Gerald Ford
• 1980 – Ronald Reagan vs. Walter Mondale
• 1992 – William Jefferson Clinton vs. George Herbert Walker Bush
• 2000 – George W. Bush vs. Al Gore
• 2008 – Barrack Obama vs. John McCain