The year 1964 was an election year in America. After assuming office in late November 1963 following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, Democratic President Lyndon Johnson was running for reelection on a platform of civil rights and combating poverty. His opponent was Republican Senator Barry Goldwater, who ran on a conservative platform of smaller government. Johnson ended up winning in a landslide with 61 percent of the popular vote and 44 out of 50 states voting for him.
As is the case with every presidential election year, the race was the number one news story, and it invaded many other aspects of American life, up to and including the immensely popular comic strip Peanuts, albeit in a very Peanuts-appropriate way.
Beginning on Oct. 5, 1964, Charles Schulz launched a month-long story about Linus running for school president. His sister Lucy convinces him to run and acts as his campaign manager, while Charlie Brown becomes his running mate. Linus runs a pretty savvy campaign, conducting rousing speeches about the same nonsense real politicians do, talking about “moral decline” and other amorphous platitudes. Linus even reaches 92 percent support in the polls at one point, but on Oct. 21, the campaign takes a shocking turn that changes everything.
The story is probably Schulz’s funniest-ever long-running story. The whole build-up to the big shift is a brilliant slow burn, while still being quite funny along the way. There are a lot of amusing political points that Schulz makes about our system, some of which still feel pretty prescient. While most Peanuts comics work just fine out of context, this 25-day arc is best enjoyed in its entirety, to get the full effect (or at least some of the same effect) newspaper readers experienced back in 1964.
1
Oct. 5, 1964
Perhaps Linus’ face in panel number three should have prepared people for where this story would go.
2
Oct. 6, 1964
It’s pretty sad that teachers’ salaries are still such an issue more than 60 years later.
3
Oct. 7, 1964
Linus is officially nominated here by Schroeder, who can’t seem to skip an opportunity to bore people about Beethoven.
4
Oct. 8, 1964
Linus’ acceptance speech puts up a serious red flag when he says he may do away with elections. This is one of those things that feels especially relevant in today’s political climate. I would not have taken Linus for a fascist.
5
Oct. 9, 1964
After his nomination and acceptance speech, Linus brings in his vice presidential candidate, Charlie Brown. I think I agree with Lucy here when she says “Good Grief!” to the choice. I mean, just look at the Christmas special (which aired a year after this). Linus is an excellent, inspiring public speaker, while Charlie Brown can’t even direct that goofy little play or pick out a decent tree. He’s not meant for leadership.
I, for one, think Linus should have nominated Snoopy for vice president. Sure, it’s a gimmick, but there have been several times in US history where America would have been better off with a dog as VP (just look up a guy named Aaron Burr).
6
Oct. 10, 1964
Also relevant.
7
Oct. 12, 1964
“The press is against me!” also feels like it could have run today with equal relevance.
You may have noticed that this series skipped Oct. 11. That’s because the Sunday strips had to be standalone, as many people only got Sunday papers. Also, because they were in color and had wider distribution, Sunday strips had to be completed much farther ahead than the daily strips.
8
Oct. 13, 1964
This is just bad journalism on Violet’s part.
9
Oct. 14, 1964
Linus’ propensity for religious fervor is so incredibly funny. What’s even funnier is how effective it is.
10
Oct. 15, 1964
All of these ideas are super-solid and should happen in real life.
