EDWARD M. “TED” KENNEDY 1964 SENATE REELECTION CAMPAIGN WORKING ARCHIVE FROM THE JAMES J. STAPLETON ESTATE

Item #1735

[Massachusetts, principally Boston and Springfield, 1964; with later material dated 1969]. A collection of campaign literature, working papers, correspondence, invitations, display material, and newspaper coverage assembled in a 9¾" x 11½" loose-leaf notebook. From the estate of James J. Stapleton, who worked for Edward M. Kennedy’s campaign.

The archive documents Kennedy’s first Senate reelection campaign, conducted only months after the June 1964 airplane crash that left him hospitalized with a broken back. Its contents include campaign letterhead and envelopes; a campaign form letter bearing a facsimile Kennedy signature; blank “I’m for Ted” signature-drive sheets; volunteer and membership forms; “I’m for Ted” decals; a large “Edward M. Kennedy” sash; a pictorial campaign brochure; and a Boston Sunday Advertiser endorsement titled “Ted—On His Own.”

Of particular interest are working documents apparently retained from the campaign office. These include a handwritten price list for paper and silk poll-worker sashes; notes concerning office personnel, equipment, furniture, and the transfer of campaign materials to the Committee to Re-elect Senator Edward M. Kennedy; an October 28, 1964 order for Kennedy staff and press identification pins; and a typed sheet assigning signature goals totaling 700,000 among regional campaign workers.

Also present are several invitations to campaign receptions honoring Joan Bennett Kennedy, some jointly honoring Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy and Senator John O. Pastore. The receptions were held during October 1964 in Springfield, Lawrence, North Dartmouth, and Boston. Newspaper material includes the October 18, 1964 Boston Sunday Herald feature “How Ted Runs Campaign from a Hospital Bed,” illustrated with Kennedy at New England Baptist Hospital, as well as a July 26, 1969 Evening Star front page reporting the aftermath of Chappaquiddick under the headline “Kennedy Awaits State’s Verdict.”

A substantive grassroots campaign archive combining colorful display pieces with less commonly preserved internal administrative and production records. Its provenance from the estate of a Kennedy campaign worker gives the otherwise ephemeral material a coherent contemporary context.

Contents are housed in plastic sleeves, with some larger newspaper sheets extending beyond the binder. General toning, folds, creasing, occasional stains, edge wear, and small tears; the newspapers are browned, brittle, and worn, with tears and marginal losses. Binder moderately worn. Overall very good for campaign material of this nature, with the newspaper pieces in fair condition.

Price: $500.00