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Primer on the Electoral College

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Primer on the Electoral College INSIDE PLUS Electoral College Primer Papers of Presidents Women On The Ballot Inauguration Events Presidential Podcasts LIBRARY OF CONGRESS MAGAZINE JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2017 LOC.GOV JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2017 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS MAGAZINE In This Issue Library of Congress Magazine FEATURES Vol. 7 No. 1: January/February 2017 Mission of the Library of Congress The Library’s central mission is to provide A Primer on the Electoral College Congress, and then the federal government, and 8 At the Constitutional Convention of 1787, the founding fathers the American people with a rich, diverse, and devised a system to elect the president that was designed to be fair to enduring source of knowledge that can be relied all of the states, no matter how populous. upon to inform, inspire, and engage them, and support their intellectual and creative endeavors. Campaigning for President Library of Congress Magazine is issued 10 Presidential candidates have used the tools of popular culture to bimonthly by the Office of Communications promote their campaigns and capture the imagination of the public for of the Library of Congress and distributed free nearly 200 years. of charge to publicly supported libraries and research institutions, donors, academic libraries, learned societies and allied organizations in Women on the Ballot 8 Uncle Sam on the the United States. Research institutions and 16 American woman have sought the presidential nomination for more “Electoral College” campus educational organizations in other countries may than a century—even before they had the right to vote. arrange to receive Library of Congress Magazine on an exchange basis by applying in writing to the Library’s Director for Acquisitions and Bibliographic Access, 101 Independence Ave. S.E., Washington DC 20540-4100. LCM is also available on the web at loc.gov/lcm/. DEPARTMENTS All other correspondence should be addressed to the Office of Communications, Library of Congress, 101 Independence Ave. S.E., 02 22 Washington DC 20540-1610. Trending My Job at the Library 24 04 23 Gershwin Prize [email protected] First Drafts Favorite Places loc.gov/lcm 05 24 ISSN 2169-0855 (print) Curators’ Picks Around the Library ISSN 2169-0863 (online) 06 Page from the Past 25 News Briefs Carla D. Hayden 07 Books that Shaped Us 26 Shop the Library Librarian of Congress 15 27 Experts’ Corner Support the Library Gayle Osterberg Executive Editor 20 Online Offerings 28 Last Word 21 Audrey Fischer For You at the Library Editor John H. Sayers 28 Managing Editor Doris Kearns Goodwin Ashley Jones ON THE COVER: Illustration | Ashley Jones Designer Shawn Miller Photo Editor Contributing Writers Barbara Bair CONNECT ON Barbara Bavis This bronze bust of George Washington in the Great Hall of the Tom Bober Twitter: @librarycongress Pinterest: pinterest.com/LibraryCongress/ Library’s Thomas Jefferson Building is a copy of a work by the French Robert Brammer Youtube: Instagram: sculptor Jean-Antoine Houdon (1741-1828). Carol M. Highsmith youtube.com/libraryofcongress @librarycongress Doris Kearns Goodwin Facebook: facebook.com/libraryofcongress Library of Congress blogs: blogs.loc.gov Archive, Prints and Photographs Division Michelle Krowl Flickr: flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/ LCM online: loc.gov/lcm Julie Miller Janice E. Ruth JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2017 | LOC.GOV/LCM 1 #trending AT THE LIBRARY from complications. The Library holds film footage of McKinley’s day at the From left: President Dwight Eisenhower responds to the THE INAUGURATION WILL exposition and scenes from his funeral in Canton, Ohio. crowd at his inauguration on Jan. 20, 1953. Associated NOT (JUST) BE TELEVISED Calvin Coolidge’s inauguration in 1925 was the first to be broadcast Press, New York World-Telegram nationally on radio. The address delivered by the man known as “Silent Cal” and the Sun Newspaper could be heard by more than 25 million Americans, according to a New York Photograph Collection, Prints THE INAUGURATION OF THE 45TH PRESIDENT WILL BE THE SOCIAL MEDIA Times report, making it an unprecedented national event. and Photographs Division; EVENT OF THE YEAR. Herbert Hoover, Mrs. Hoover Herbert Hoover’s inauguration in 1929 was the first to be recorded by a and William Howard Taft watch the inaugural parade on March From left: Republican sound newsreel. It marked the second and last time that a former president, Today, social media provides an unlimited opportunity for individuals and 4, 1929, National Photo presidential candidate Donald media outlets to record and be a witness to such historical events as the William Howard Taft, administered the presidential oath. Company Collection, Prints Trump at the Iowa Caucus and Photographs Division; celebration on Feb.1, 2016 | presidential inauguration. These sounds and images are then instantaneously Harry S. Truman’s inauguration in January 1949 was the first to be televised, Calvin Coolidge speaks at Dennis Van Tine, MediaPunch/ shared through computers and mobile devices with a global audience. though few Americans owned their own set. In 1981, Ronald Reagan’s his inauguration on March IPX; Barack Obama takes the 4, 1925, National Photo oath of office on Jan. 20, 2009. This is, of course, a relatively new development. inauguration was broadcast on television with closed captioning for the Company Collection, Prints and Susan Walsh, Associated Press hearing-impaired. During Reagan’s second inauguration in 1985, a television Photographs Division; William Photo/Corbis; Bill Clinton takes For the nation’s first 100 years, people got their news by word of mouth and camera was placed inside his limousine—another first—to capture his trip McKinley takes the oath of office the oath of office on Jan 20, from the Capitol to the White House. from the printed page. Newspaper accounts of presidential inaugurations— for a second term on March 4, 1993, Official White House with images largely engraved—informed the public. A number of prolific 1901, Prints and Photographs photo, Prints and Photographs diarists provided first-person accounts for those unable, or uninvited, to Bill Clinton’s 1997 second inauguration was the first to be broadcast live on Division. Division; Chief Justice Warren the Internet. President Clinton had signed the Telecommunications Act of E. Burger administers the oath attend the festivities in the nation’s capital. Those who received telegrams or 1996 at the Library of Congress the previous year. of office to Ronald Reagan on glimpsed the first photographic image of the event—James Buchanan’s 1857 Jan. 20, 1981. Architect of the inaugural—must have felt that the modern age had truly arrived. Capitol, Prints and Photographs Barack Obama’s historic first inauguration on Jan. 20, 2009, garnered the Division William McKinley’s March 4, 1897, inauguration was the first to be highest Internet audience for a presidential swearing-in. It was the first recorded by a movie camera. The 2-minute film footage shows the inaugural inaugural webcast to include captioning for the hearing-impaired. According procession down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C. Film footage to the Wall Street Journal, President Obama’s second inauguration generated from McKinley’s second inauguration in 1901 shows the president 1.1 million tweets—up from 82,000 at the 2009 event. addressing crowds on Pennsylvania Avenue, riding in a processional to the —Audrey Fischer Capitol and taking the oath of office. The short clips, produced by Thomas MORE INFORMATION Edison, came to the Library through the copyright registration process and are part of the Library’s Paper Print Collection. Discovered in 1942, the Presidential Inaugurations paper copies were converted into projectable celluloid images. loc.gov/rr/program/bib/inaugurations/ McKinley was shot by an assailant while attending the Pan-American William McKinley Films Exposition in Buffalo, New York, on Sept. 6, 1901, and died a week later loc.gov/collection/mckinley-and-the-pan-american-expo-films-1901/ 2 LCM | LIBRARY OF CONGRESS MAGAZINE JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2017 | LOC.GOV/LCM 3 first DRAFTS curators’ PICKS SURROGATE FIRST LADIES MANUSCRIPT DIVISION SPECIALISTS JULIE MILLER, BARBARA BAIR AND MICHELLE KROWL DISCUSS SOME NON-SPOUSAL FIRST LADIES. Martha Jefferson Sarah Yorke Jackson Angelica Singleton Harriet Lane Rose Cleveland Randolph Andrew Jackson was Van Buren James Buchanan was Grover Cleveland Because Thomas newly widowed when Martin Van Buren a bachelor when he first entered the Jefferson was a he came to the White was a widower when became president Executive Mansion in widower when he House in March 1829. he became president in 1857. His niece, 1885 as a bachelor became president, He was helped in in 1837. He was Harriet Lane, for and consequently Dolley Madison, along his hosting duties by aided in White House whom he was legal hostess duties fell with his daughters his daughters-in-law, social functions by guardian, managed to his sister, Rose Martha Randolph Emily Donelson and his daughter-in-law social events in the Elizabeth Cleveland. and Maria Eppes, Sarah Yorke Jackson. Angelica Singleton White House. While A scholar, lecturer Manuscript Division helped him entertain. Emily, his wife’s niece, Van Buren, the wife Buchanan had a and teacher by Jefferson did not was married to his of his son Abraham. troubled presidency, training, the feminist believe that women foster son and his Former First Lady Harriet is ranked Rose continued her WASHINGTON’S FIRST INAUGURAL ADDRESS should participate in presidential secretary Dolley Madison among the most intellectual pursuits politics, as he had A. J. Donelson. Sarah had been their popular first ladies. while first lady and In 1856 Jared Sparks, retired president of Harvard, received is that he was an early and influential promoter of the seen them do in was the wife of his matchmaker. Angelica She used her position in 1885 published a letter from an autograph-seeker who wanted a sample of preservation of what he called the “materials of American Revolutionary Paris, adopted son.
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