I argue that political music addressed to the president represents a tradition of political letter writing, and can be used to understand shifting political opinions and attitudes over time based on the topics of the songs, and how the ideas are presented.
These songs can illustrate issues that people placed importance onto, and how acceptable these ideas were to the general public.
Political letter writing has long been a tradition in America, and has been an important way for citizens to make their voice heard. However, it is to a degree, underutilized.1 Nonetheless, such letters allow the president to gauge public opinion and, this can influence decisions as a result, similar to opinion polling.2 This tradition began primarily as a result of “an awareness of the need to understand trends in public opinion and the concurrent rise of internal analysis of public opinion polling”.3
It’s no wonder then why so many musicians were influenced by this tradition in the structure of their songs.
Writing directly to the president, however, is not as good of a way to reach the general public. Public letter writing is also a way that people have made their voices heard.
Another way to reach a broad audience like this is through music. Political music has a long history in the United States, with it being written from a multitude of political perspectives, and have been used to share these ideas with the public.5
Although on its own music cannot create a perfect picture of the past, it can still be a useful tool in looking at the issues that people thought were important, and how they presented them in art. The Dear Mr. President songs use the format of a letter to the president more as a way to frame their ideas, which are really intended to be heard by a wider audience. This music, influenced by the tradition of political letter writing, can be used to see what changes different people wanted to see, what problems needed to be addressed, and how to present these ideas. It can paint a picture of what problems and changes were present in the minds of Americans.
Rottinghaus, Brandon. “‘Dear Mr. President’: The Institutionalization and Politicization of Public Opinion Mail in the White House.” Political Science Quarterly 121, no. 3 (2006): 451 ↩
Rottinghaus, Brandon. “‘Dear Mr. President’: The Institutionalization and Politicization of Public Opinion Mail in the White House.” Political Science Quarterly 121, no. 3 (2006): 451 ↩
Rottinghaus, Brandon. “‘Dear Mr. President’: The Institutionalization and Politicization of Public Opinion Mail in the White House.” Political Science Quarterly 121, no. 3 (2006): 453 ↩
Rottinghaus, B. (2012). What Predicts Trends in the White House Mail?: The Macro Causes of Mass Political Letter Writing to the Chief Executive: The Macro Causes of Mass Political Letter Writing to the Chief Executive. American Politics Research, 40(2), 205-231. ↩
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Rodnitzky, Jerome L. , “The Sixties between the Microgrooves: Using Folk and Protest Music to Understand American History, 1963-1973,” Popular Music and Society 23, no. 4 (1999): 105-122. ↩