Primary

Primary (1960)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

Historically important documentary covers the 1960 Wisconsin primary featuring Hubert Humphrey going up against John F. Kennedy. Considering what would happen over the next three years, watching this film today is pretty remarkable because you can easily see why Kennedy would eventually become president. Just watching the two candidates work just shows an old school and new school and it's not hard to see why Kennedy would eventually get in the office. It's pretty interesting watching this today because of the fact that Kennedy would be assassinated three years after all of this was shot. It's hard not to see Kennedy and that smile of his and not feel sad because no one could have known what was to follow. Director Robert Drew does a very good job at really being fair to both men as I think the documentary shows both of them in a very good and positive light. I really liked the way the film was shot as the camera is more often than not right up on the men, the people meeting them and this look really makes you feel as if you're right there by these people. There's no question that the visual style of this film would have a major impact on future films including Bob Dylan's DON'T LOOK BACK. Running just under a hour, the film manages to be highly entertaining from start to finish but even more so because we know what the final result was.

Filmmaker Robert Drew follows Senators Hubert H. Humphrey and John F. Kennedy as they campaign for the Wisconsin Democratic primary in the wintry start of 1960. There is limited narration. It is a cinema verite documentary. It's a lot of glad handing and chicken dinner speeches. It's the grinding daily political theater. As archival footage, this is fascinating for politics history junkies. The sound can vary in quality. There are glimpses of Jacqueline Kennedy and the rest of the Kennedy clan. There is definitely a difference in the two campaigns. While Humphrey talks to reserved farmers, Kennedy is fighting through throngs of excited people. In the end, JFK comes out ahead 2 to 1 on primary night. The last image is a straggling dusty old car with a Humphrey sticker rolling down the road.

IN FILMING THE behind the scenes of the 1960 Wisconsin Democratic Primary, the production team found what was probably a natural. While primary time lacks the punch and long-lasting effects on we, the electorate, it is nonetheless an unavoidable step in the process .

SHADOWING TWO ASPIRING candidates, the film tells the story of how differently the two candidates' campaigns sized up the run for the State delegation's voting at the upcoming Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles in July of 1960. The differences that are dramatized are much more those of tactics and logistics; as neither man is shown saying much (if anything at all) about his Primary opponent. Both men seem to have concentrated in criticizing in the broadest terms the course that the nation was headed under the previous 8 years of G.O.P. policies of the Administration of President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

THE CAMPAIGN OF Senator Hubert H. Humphrey consisted of short jumps between stops at many a rural farming community. The Humphrey campaign reasoned that his strength would be in the country folk, of whom Hubert was also born and bred; his father being a small town pharmacist.

CONTRASTING SHARPLY FROM that was the Kennedy central tenet that the heavily populated Big City districts would render a far greater return on his investment of time. Greater crowds could be reached and there would be a greater identifying by the urban gentry with JFK; although this is one of varying shades; for how well could a blue collar worker in Kenosha accept a Harvard educated, Bostonian Millionaire as one of his own ?

BUT THERE WAS yet another, perhaps unspoken reason to exploit the minor contrast that would be present. That would be Mr. Kennedy's having been born and raised a Catholic. That was a big deal in 1960, especially following in the wake of 1928's Presidential election where Democrat Al Smith, a Catholic, lost big time to Herbert Hoover.

KENNEDY'S CAMPAIGN REASONED that they could turn his religion into a plus factor by concentrating on the more urban districts with heavy Polish populations; with the Poles, of course, being very predominantly Catholic.

Looking back over 50 years the brief and tragic presidency of John F. Kennedy it has an air of inevitability about it. But in my 13 year at the time there was nothing inevitable about it. The great Kennedy machine as it came to be known flexed its muscles first in the Wisconsin primary in 1960.

The traditional first primary of New Hampshire was disregarded that year as it was conceded to New Englander John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts. Wisconsin which had the oldest of primaries with a mixed population, but next door to JFK's challenger Hubert Humphrey from Minnesota was the real test.

Could a Catholic be elected President? That was the issue, the only one nominated by a major party Alfred E. Smith took a shellacking in 1928. However there were lots of differences between Al Smith and Jack Kennedy too numerous to mention.

From 1956 to 1960 the wealthy Kennedy family organized a 50 state machine second to none. Poor Humphrey never had a chance.

The film without a word of commentary shows the glamorous Kennedys and the excitement around them and Humphrey talking to small knots of people trying to retail votes. When JFK passes his first real test before the voters it's pretty obvious why.

Primary is a real must for any student of the period.

A window into a single Democratic primary for the Presidential election, that of Wisconsin in 1960, featuring the "coastal elite," magnanimous John F. Kennedy, facing off against Hubert "You Betcha" Humphrey from Minnesota for the hearts and minds of voters. Through its highly informal, Cinéma Vérité style, we see them shmooze people on the streets, crack jokes in speeches, and in some moments, attempt to ensure that television appearances are choreographed. Nothing terribly profound comes out of its 53 minutes, but the benefit of history and knowing what will happen to these people and the country in the years that would follow make it an interesting watch. Elections in America often signal significant inflection points for the country, and this one was certainly one of them.

The documentary is not very deep on the actual issues or the differences between the candidates, maybe because much of the platitudes they speak in were vague, but what certainly comes through is how voters tend to back the person they perceive as best serving their own interest. Kennedy's Catholicism helps him in a Polish Catholic district in Milwaukee, but hurts him in some other places, with some voters frankly stating that's the reason they can't support him (reminding me of voters in 2020 who said they couldn't support Buttigieg because he was gay). Humphrey does well in farm country, especially those close to his home state, and he understands he must amplify this point to guys in overalls who look rather skeptical. There aren't a lot of hard-hitting questions about the intricacies of foreign policy (or any policy for that matter), but one guy shaking Humphrey's hand at the outset complains about how high his taxes have gotten.

Not to idealize it, but in light of today's politics, one can't help but observe how civilized the campaigning is, and the overall sense of decorum. The singalongs from both camps, sung to ditties like "High Hopes" get a little tiring, but are reflective of the period, and the sense of innocence that would gradually erode through Vietnam and Watergate. Meanwhile, it's hard not to smile in little moments like Humphrey coaching his wife on what to say when the camera turns on her, Jackie speaking a line of Polish she'd learned, or Bobby, initially introduced as Jack's brother, getting up to make a self-deprecating remark. For its content this is probably 7 stars, interesting but fragmentary, but I bumped it up because of the film style, and how novel that was for the time.