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Pres. Play: U.S. Presidents in Billboard’s Back Pages, From the 1900s to Now
United States presidents in Billboard's Back Pages, from the 1900s to now.
The Sept. 21, 1901, issue of Billboard covered “an almost prophetic incident” that occurred at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, N.Y., the day an assassin shot President William McKinley at the Temple of Music (Sept. 6). “Election year brought tangible results in revenue to Madison Square Garden,” reported the Feb. 16, 1952, Billboard, “as an Eisenhower-for-President rally, backed by entertainment names, drew 15,000.” Luminaries included songwriting great Irving Berlin, whose 1950 Broadway tune “They Like Ike” became the campaign slogan “I Like Ike.” The same issue included a story about an “overzealous Eisenhower supporter” in Dallas who interrupted a concert by “RCA Victor songbird” Mindy Carson and “insisted on pinning an ‘I Like Ike’ button on her shoulder. The Dec. 8, 1962, issue said the album boosted “a gradually improving sales situation following the partial solution of the Cuban scare.” “I had someone come in for a copy of The First Family the other day and they left the store with $32 worth of records,” a Miami retailer explained.
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