American Decision 1964 election poster (English poster distributed in Manila)
A US election-year sheet: a hand dropping a ballot into a box marked 'Presidential Ballot', a convention hall crowded with LBJ and Goldwater signs, a flow chart of how a president is elected and photographs of voters. Text says the two-party system lets the people 'effectively' direct government and that the nation accepts the majority's will. The tell is glittering generalities, with card-stacking by showing only orderly, positive scenes.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- October 30, 1964
- Period
- Cold War
- Made by
- U.S. Information Agency (predecessor: State Department International Information and Educational Exchange Program), Propaganda Posters Distributed in Asia, Latin America and the Middle East series
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Johnson Administration
- Leader
- Lyndon B. Johnson
- Audience
- Foreign public
- Purpose
- Persuade or win support
- Theme
- Elections and party politics
- Event
- Cold War
- Source
- Unidentified Source blurred: contractors, cutouts, buried disclosure
- Source
- U.S. National Archives (NARA), Record Group 306, Posters in Asia, Latin America, Middle East, retrieved October 4, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (U.S. government work; NARA RG 306)
U.S. Information Agency / Department of State, October 30, 1964. National Archives, Record Group 306 (NAID 6949248, 306-PPB-323).
Text on the object
AMERICAN DECISION 1964 The two-party system provides channels through which the people effectively focus their opinions in giving direction to American government. Some 70 million voters across the United States troop to the polling places early this month. They are exercising their constitutional right to grant a mandate to public officials who will guide the ship of state for the next four years. And once the vote is cast the nation settles back to its usual business, accepting the will of the majority. HOW THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES IS ELECTED STATE PRIMARIES STATE CONVENTIONS DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION MINOR PARTIES REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION NOMINEE NOMINEE NOMINEE BALLOT BOX THE PRESIDENT [photo signs:] PRESIDENTIAL BALLOT; PROPERTY OF ELECTORAL BOARD; LBJ; Ohio for Johnson; Oklahoma Sooners for Johnson; Virginia; Maryland; Scranton for President; Goldwater; [other sign text illegible] SUPPLEMENT TO FREE WORLD VOL. XIII NO. 11 NOVEMBER 1964
Sign text in the crowd photographs is only partly legible.
