‘If Elected…’ Unsuccessful Candidates for the Presidency 1796-1968.

MILLER, Lillian B.; Beverly J. Cox; Frederick S. Voss; et al [William Safire].

Item Number: 132953

City of Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1972.

First edition of the catalogue for the 1972 Smithsonian exhibition. Quarto, bound in full pebbled morocco, illustrated. From the library of American journalist William Safire, although not marked. William Safire was an important American author, columnist, journalist, and presidential speechwriter. He joined Nixon’s campaign for the 1960 Presidential race, and again in 1968. After Nixon’s 1968 victory, Safire served as a speechwriter for him and Spiro Agnew. He authored several political columns in addition to his weekly column “On Language” in The New York Times Magazine from 1979 until the month of his death and authored two books on grammar and linguistics: The New Language of Politics (1968) and what Zimmer called Safire’s “magnum opus,” Safire’s Political Dictionary. Safire later served as a member of the Pulitzer Prize Board from 1995 to 2004 and in 2006 was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President George W. Bush. In near fine condition.