I don’t know where and when I bought these postcards, but I remember my thoughts years later, when I put them side by side. Let’s look at them together…

At left is a postcard published in 1903, showing Our 25 Presidents. The portraits are framed in gold, each is identified by name and the years the president served. George Washington – our first President – commands the larger, central place, surrounded by the American Eagle and American flags. It is a pleasure to look at this beautiful, informative postcard. The publisher’s mark – MB in a horseshoe – is only one eight of an inch.

At right is a postcard published in 1964, showing Presidents of the United States of America. The random-sized portraits are unskillfully silhouetted and conveniently numbered. Conveniently for the manufacturer, not so much for the people that must turn the postcard over to see who’s who. As Grover Cleveland – our 22nd and 24th President – is counted only once, all the Presidents serving after him are identified in a really confusing way. Take a look: President John F. Kennedy, number 34 on the postcard, was in fact our 35th president. Not to mention the position and size given to then current President, Lyndon B. Johnson, or the manufacturer’s busy credit line: “Lusterchrome” REG. U.S. PAT. OFF. MADE ONLY BY TICHNOR BROS., BOSTON 15, MASS.

Call me crazy, but comparing the two postcards I consider the newer one a visible expression of quite a few societal ills: dissing the past, amplifying the present, an anything goes attitude, chasing after easy money… A few minutes spent on Google gave me more ammunition:

– Jon Dogar-Marinesco