The Motion Sick: Presidential Campaign Songs

  • 1932: Franklin D. Roosevelt: “Happy Days Are Here Again”
  • 1960: John F. Kennedy: “High Hopes”
  • 1964: Lyndon B. Johnson: “Hello Lyndon” (Jerry Herman),  Barry Goldwater: “Go with Goldwater” (Tom McDonnell and Otis Clements)
  • 1968: Richard Nixon: “Nixon’s the One” (Moose Charlap> and Alvin Cooperman)
  • 1972: George McGovern: “Bridge over Troubled Water” (Paul Simon)
  • 1976: Jimmy Carter: “Ode to The Georgia Farmer” (K.E. and Julia Marsh), Gerald Ford: “I’m Feeling Good about America” (Robert K. Gardner)
  • 1980: Ronald Reagan: “California Here We Come”
  • 1984: Ronald Reagan: “Born in the U.S.A.” (Bruce Springsteen>, who later asked Reagan to stop using the song) 
  • 1988: George H. W. Bush: “This Land Is Your Land” (Woody Guthrie), Michael Dukakis: “Coming to America” (Neil Diamond)
  • 1992: Bill Clinton: Don’t Stop (Fleetwood Mac), Ross Perot: Crazy (Patsy Cline)
  • 1996: Bob Dole: “Dole Man” (Sam and Dave)
  • 2000: George W. Bush: “I Won’t Back Down” (Tom Petty), “We the People” (Billy Ray Cyrus), “Right Now” (Van Halen); Al Gore: “You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet” (Bachman-Turner Overdrive),”Let the Day Begin” (The Call)
  • 2004: George W. Bush: “Only in America” (Brooks & Dunn), John Kerry: “No Surrender” (Bruce Springsteen)