Review: Primary 1960
I recently watched the documentary Primary 1960, a cinéma vérité or direct cinema documentary created by the director team of Richard Leacock, Albert Maysles, D.A. Pennebaker, and Terence Macartney-Filgate. I first learned about this documentary while researching for my essay “Introduction to the History of Documentaries”, which I posted back in early May. Covering the Wisconsin 1960 primary race between John Fitzgerald Kennedy and Hubert Humphrey, the film takes viewers around the state to get a personal look at the two candidates. Radio and television actor Joseph Julian narrated the documentary in a raspy but soothing voice.
The opening scenes introduced viewers to the two candidates. Kennedy signed autographs for city crowds, while Humphrey wore a cool hat while traveling through the countryside. Julian explained in voiceover that many candidates were dreamers, and the primaries were a “process of eliminating these dreamers to select a president.” This type of documentary had “never before been captured by the camera” and revealed that potential candidates were “driven to exhaustion” by the process.
The film first focused on Humphrey speaking to dairy farmers. He talked about crops and complained about mass media depictions of the American Midwest. “Life, Time, Fortune, Look, and Newsweek don’t give a hoot about your dairy prices… they laugh at yah… They don’t know the difference between a corn cob or a ukulele.” Humphrey united the farmers over their mutual dislike of Agriculture Secretary Ezra Taft Benson, and gave a religiously tinged comment that he would “Send Bensen a ticket back to Utah”, as Benson was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Religion appeared to be a central focus for Humphrey. Later that day, as he was about to go on a television show, he coached his wife, Muriel Humphrey, and the lieutenant governor of Wisconsin, Philleo Nash, on what to say during the prodcast, with emphasis on “Social and spiritual values of the family farm.”
The documentary then jumped to the Kennedy campaign as the woman in charge of the event asked men to stop smoking indoors, since people were getting burned. Julian noted in voiceover that Kennedy received most votes from cities, and he was visiting a Polish Catholic district in Milwaukee. As Kennedy appeared and shook dozens of hands, the crowd sang and off-key “Vote for Kennedy” song. His wife, Jackie Kennedy, sensibly wore gloves and did not have to touch so many hands. Kennedy gave a speech about his initiative to share American surplus food and supplies with people “behind the iron curtain”, but explained his bill failed in the Senate by one vote after the current President withdrew his support. The camera spent a lot of time watching Jackie Kennedy, in contrast to its briefest glances of Muriel Humphrey, to the point that the viewer would think Mrs. Kennedy was running for office.
As the documentary began to wrap up, focus turned to how religion would make a major difference in the primary. Kennedy and his staff watched the news were an announcer reminded the audience, “Kennedy, of course, is a Roman Catholic; Humphrey, a Congregationalist, and Nixon, a Quaker; and some… think the election has resolved into a religious struggle.” Kennedy was frustrated, remarking “It makes religion to be of disproportionate importance… I see it every week.” The film cut back and forth between the candidates as Kennedy anxiously smoked and Humphrey read a newspaper. Humphrey’s early lead from the rural areas was wiped out as the city votes came in, ultimlately giving Kennedy a two-to-one victory in the state. However, Humphrey was pleased by the turnout, as the primary had not changed the overall standing of the candidates, and Kennedy could not “get his bandwagon rolling”. The documentary ended with Humphrey moving on to West Virginia with his campaign song playing to the same tune as “Davy Crockett”
In the modern era of the twenty-four hour news cycle where presidential candidates have social media accounts — or do until they are forcibly removed from the platform — this documentary was an almost quaint look back at a less connected time. While the issues such as the divides between rural and urban, religious groups, and personalities remain to this day, these candidates also evaded issues at the forefront of modern elections. What struck me immediately was that the crowds at these rallies, even in the city, were entirely White. I understand that the population of Wisconsin is to this day mostly European Americans and certainly more so in 1960, but I expected some reference to the votes of African Americans that later proved so crucial to Kennedy’s presidential campaign. The emphasis on the divide between Catholics and Protestants seemed almost laughable these sixty-four years later.
Overall, I enjoyed the style of the documentary. The filmmakers covered the day in the life of a presidential hopeful with enough detail to feel like I was really in the car or on stage with the candidate, but never lingering so long to become tedious. Dialogue was occasionally difficult to understand, as no one wore microphones, and the video player I used did not come with closed captioning. With its quick pace and run time of under half an hour, the documentary gets done almost as soon as it gets started. This would be an excellent teaching tool for the high school and undergraduate levels, both in history and filmmaking classes.