Dizzy Gillespie 1964 presidential campaign information
Pinback button for Gillespie's campaignGillespie playing the trumpet
The jazz musician Dizzy Gillespie campaigned as an independent write-in candidate during the 1964 United States presidential campaign.[1][2]
He promised that if he were elected, the White House would be renamed the Blues House, and he would have a cabinet composed of Duke Ellington (Secretary of State), Miles Davis (Director of the CIA), Max Roach (Secretary of Defense), Charles Mingus (Secretary of Peace), Ray Charles (Librarian of Congress), Louis Armstrong (Secretary of Agriculture), Mary Lou Williams (Ambassador to the Vatican), Thelonious Monk (Travelling Ambassador) and Malcolm X (Attorney General).[3][4] He said his running mate would be Phyllis Diller. Gillespie pledged to provide housing and hospital care for all those who needed it and to withdraw American troops from the Vietnam War.[5] Gillespie said that his campaign was not just a publicity stunt but was intended "to take advantage of the votes and publicity I'd receive and to promote change".[6]
Campaign buttons had been manufactured years before by Gillespie's booking agency as a joke[7] but proceeds went to Congress of Racial Equality and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference headed by Martin Luther King Jr.;[8] in later years they became a collector's item.[9]
When asked why he was running for the presidency, Gillespie replied "Because we need one", this became the slogan for his campaign.[5] Gillespie's campaign was managed by the jazz critic Ralph Gleason and his wife.[6]
Gillespie's supporters founded the John Birks Society, named for Gillespie's first two names and coined as an obvious rebuke to the right wing John Birch Society.[6] Members of the John Birks Society were encouraged to write to the Secretary of State of California to accept Gillespie as an independent candidate for the presidency. Supporters from an initial twenty five states had expressed an interest in supporting Gillespie but it was decided to focus attention on California.[6]
Gillespie's campaign song was a rewrite of "Salt Peanuts" with lyrics reflecting the campaign.[10]
Gillespie eventually withdrew from the race. The eventual election was won by the incumbent President, the Democrat Lyndon Johnson.[11] In 1971, he announced he would run again[12][13] but withdrew before the election.[14] Ramona Crowell, a member of the Sioux tribe, was chosen by Gillespie as his vice president.[6]
A 2004 play about Gillespie's campaign, Vote Dizzy!, by Jack Brooder, was staged in London, England, during that year's American presidential election.[6]
^Gillespie, Dizzy (2000). To Be or Not to Bop (1st University of Minnesota Press ed.). Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. pp. 452–461. ISBN 978-0-8166-6547-1.
^Lipsitz, George (March 17, 2006). The Possessive Investment in Whiteness : How White People Profit from Identity Politics (Revised ed.). Philadelphia: Temple University Press. pp. 161–162. ISBN 1-59213-493-9.
^"Diz for Prez". www.bbc.co.uk. 8 January 2007. Retrieved 10 October 2010.
^"The Winter in Lisbon" CD booklet.
^ abTony Gentry (1993). Dizzy Gillespie. Holloway House Publishing. pp. 166–. ISBN 978-0-87067-778-6.
^ abcdefClarence Lusane (23 January 2013). The Black History of the White House. City Lights Books. pp. 332–. ISBN 978-0-87286-611-9.
^Gillespie 2000 [1979], op. cit. p. 453.
^Gillespie 2000 [1979], op. cit. p. 460.
^Gelly, Dave (May 8, 2005). "Other Jazz CDs". The Observer. p. Observer Review: 13. Archived from the original on September 6, 2012. Retrieved January 29, 2011.
^Maurice Jackson; Blair A. Ruble (2018). DC Jazz: Stories of Jazz Music in Washington, DC. Georgetown University Press. pp. 111–. ISBN 978-1-62616-590-8.
^Mary Boone (30 September 2012). Dizzy Gillespie. Mitchell Lane Publishers, Incorporated. pp. 39–. ISBN 978-1-61228-348-7.
^"Dizzy Wants to Blow Right into White House". Jet. 40 (17): 61. July 22, 1971. ISSN 0021-5996.
^"Dizzy Gillespie Picks Two Cabinet Members: Duke Ellington, Muhammad Ali". Jet. 40 (26): 56. September 23, 1971. ISSN 0021-5996.
^Gillespie 2000 [1979], op. cit. pp. 460–461.
and 24 Related for: Dizzy Gillespie 1964 presidential campaign information
The jazz musician DizzyGillespiecampaigned as an independent write-in candidate during the 1964 United States presidentialcampaign. He promised that...
John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie (/ɡɪˈlɛspi/ gil-ESP-ee; October 21, 1917 – January 6, 1993) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, composer, educator...
Costa, The Laziest Gal in Town, 1991 DizzyGillespie, Bird Songs: The Final Recordings (Telarc, 1992) DizzyGillespie, To Bird with Love (Telarc, 1992) Herbie...
Mersey" – Gerry & The Pacemakers (1964) "Apache" – The Shadows (1960) "A Night in Tunisia" – Charlie Parker & DizzyGillespie (1945) "Africa" – Celia Cruz...
Best Animated Short. Hubley collaborated with jazz musicians like DizzyGillespie, Benny Carter, and Quincy Jones and often used unscripted, improvised...
soloists as sidemen over her long career. The trumpeters Roy Eldridge and DizzyGillespie, the guitarist Herb Ellis, and the pianists Tommy Flanagan, Oscar Peterson...
four new songs: the ten-minute funk classic "Do I Do" (which featured DizzyGillespie), "That Girl" (one of the year's biggest singles to chart on the R&B...
Jimmy Carter. In 2016, Lynn expressed support for Donald Trump's presidentialcampaign, stumping for him at the end of each of her shows. She stated, "I...
John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie launched a joke presidentialcampaign in 1963, fans created a "John Birks Society" to campaign for him. In the 1964 film Dr....
contained all original material save for two covers, "Act Naturally" and "Dizzy Miss Lizzy"; they were the last covers the band would include on an album...
the 1972 presidential election. In the 1980 presidential election, Sinatra supported Ronald Reagan and donated $4 million to Reagan's campaign. Sinatra...
1968, her political activism increased, and she helped promote the presidentialcampaign of Eugene McCarthy who held an anti–Vietnam War stance. In July...
the UK Singles Chart. In 2018, Presley was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Elvis Aaron Presley was born on January 8, 1935, in...
House Ceremony Marking Progress Made in the Campaign Against Drunk Driving". Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum. University of Texas at Austin...
Fitzgerald Tennessee Ernie Ford Aretha Franklin Marvin Gaye Robin Gibb DizzyGillespie Lesley Gore Eydie Gormé Buddy Guy Merle Haggard Johnny Hallyday Jimi...
performed at Star-Spangled Women, a political fundraiser for the 1972 presidentialcampaign of George McGovern, at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The...
to an implosion. Nelson supported Dennis Kucinich's campaign in the 2004 Democratic presidential primaries. He raised money, appeared at events, and composed...
songs "Blowin' in the Wind" (1963) and "The Times They Are a-Changin'" (1964) became anthems for the civil rights and antiwar movements. Initially modeling...
including the Civil Rights Movement. She donated money to the campaigns of Democratic presidential candidates Franklin D. Roosevelt, Adlai Stevenson II, John...
full-length concert appearances. After George McGovern lost the 1972 presidential election to Richard Nixon, Lennon and Ono attended a post-election wake...
Williams, Burt Bacharach, Anthony Newley, Rosemary Clooney, Lou Rawls, DizzyGillespie, Sarah Vaughan, and Henry Mancini. Allen spun off a similar show for...
(alongside Patti LaBelle and Barbra Streisand). Parton has turned down the Presidential Medal of Freedom twice due to her husband's illness and the ongoing pandemic...
performances by leading bebop musicians including Charlie Parker, DizzyGillespie, Bud Powell, Thelonious Monk, and Miles Davis, evoked in his classic...
increasingly dependent on tranquilizers and sleeping pills. She joined the presidentialcampaign of close friend Robert F. Kennedy, and heard the shots when he was...
Global Information
