Attention Deficit Disorder Prosthetic Memory Program

Dizzy Gillespie 1964 Presidential Campaign

ADDPMP527
Dizzy Gillespie 1964 Presidential Campaign - © Attention Deficit Disorder Prosthetic Memory Program

John Birks “Dizzy” Gillespie (October 21, 1917 – January 6, 1993) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, composer, educator and singer who campaigned as an independent write-in candidate during the 1964 United States presidential campaign. 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).

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. 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”.

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.; in later years they became a collector’s item.

When asked why he was running for the presidency, Gillespie replied “Because we need one”, this became the slogan for his campaign. Gillespie’s campaign was managed by the jazz critic Ralph Gleason and his wife.

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. 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.

Gillespie’s campaign song was a rewrite of “Salt Peanuts” with lyrics reflecting the campaign.

Gillespie eventually withdrew from the race. The eventual election was won by the incumbent President, the Democrat Lyndon Johnson. In 1971, he announced he would run again but withdrew before the election.[14] Ramona Crowell, a member of the Sioux tribe, was chosen by Gillespie as his vice president.

A 2004 play about Gillespie’s campaign, Vote Dizzy!, by Jack Brooder, was staged in London, England, during that year’s American presidential election.

Swarm Behaviour - © Attention Deficit Disorder Prosthetic Memory Program
ADDPMP155
Swarm Behaviour
Mimetic Hot Air Balloons - © Attention Deficit Disorder Prosthetic Memory Program
ADDPMP669
Mimetic Hot Air Balloons
French Punk Demo Tapes (1987-1997) - © Attention Deficit Disorder Prosthetic Memory Program
ADDPMP282
French Punk Demo Tapes (1987-1997)
Lenticular Clouds - © Attention Deficit Disorder Prosthetic Memory Program
ADDPMP330
Lenticular Clouds
Bite Force Quotient - © Attention Deficit Disorder Prosthetic Memory Program
ADDPMP768
Bite Force Quotient
Rag Chair - © Attention Deficit Disorder Prosthetic Memory Program
ADDPMP356
Rag Chair
Kuwait Water Towers - © Attention Deficit Disorder Prosthetic Memory Program
ADDPMP018
Kuwait Water Towers
Physalia physalis - © Attention Deficit Disorder Prosthetic Memory Program
ADDPMP364
Physalia physalis
Terminator 2 Liquid Metal Effect - © Attention Deficit Disorder Prosthetic Memory Program
ADDPMP359
Terminator 2 Liquid Metal Effect
Peanut Hole - © Attention Deficit Disorder Prosthetic Memory Program
ADDPMP521
Peanut Hole
Paranoiac-Critical Method - © Attention Deficit Disorder Prosthetic Memory Program
ADDPMP792
Paranoiac-Critical Method

You are using an outdated browser.
Please upgrade your browser to improve your experience.