I was digitizing old negatives when I came across these pictures from the Cape Girardeau Southeast Missouri State College Homecoming Parade in 1964.
Big float promotes Barry Goldwater
[Editor’s note: (The Rialto Theater to the left of Barry is where I met my future wife.]
Democrats counter with bicycles
The local Democrats countered with two boys on bikes that had signs that read, “Let’s Bury Goldwater.”
Bicycle power must have been the key to success: Lyndon Johnson beat Goldwater, carrying 44 of the 50 states and winning with 61.1% of the popular vote, the highest percentage since 1820.
Maybe we should find those boys and those bicycles and use them to promote bicycle and pedestrian rights.
Bikes were built for utility
I can’t see what brand the bikes are, but both of them have fenders and chainguards. They were set up to carry things: both bikes have front racks and the one in the foreground has a rear rack and a saddlebag.
The foreground bike looks like an Austrian made Sears 3-speed from the 1950s. Sturmey Archer hub, cottered crankset, lugged steel frame. Just guessing.
Horace,
You’ve got better eyes than I do – and a better knowledge of bikes.
When I was a kid back then, it was pretty much a Schwinn world. Bikes had coaster brakes and there was only one speed: how fast you could crank it.
Sure, there were a few effete riders who had “English Racers,” but they were scorned because their bikes had a reputation for being broken more than ridden.
I always lusted over a two-speed internal hub that was advertised in the back of Boys Life magazine. I think Bendix made it. I figured it would have made my hilly paper route go a lot easier.
http://www.palmbeachbiketours.com/50-years-and-the-hills-have-gotten-steeper/
By the time my youngest brother got a bike, Stingrays and banana seats were the rage. He had a Sears Spyder.
http://www.palmbeachbiketours.com/my-brothers-abused-sears-spyder-bicycle/
The truck carrying the Goldwater banner is a 1960-64 Studebaker Champ… sorry guys, I’d rather have a Studebaker pickup than another bicycle! The bicycles may be built for utility, but so is that truck… they don’t make ’em like that anymore! (and maybe if they did, we wouldn’t see people buying F-150s to commute to work…)