As a youth, Jon D. Curtis became interested in politics and decided to major in history and one day become a teacher. His aunt Dotty gave him a copy of Charles Beard's "The Presidents in American History." Although he was only nine years old at the time - that stimulated his fascination with the presidency, vice-presidency and particulary the history of the presidential elections and the nomination and election process. Over the years, Jon collected political campaign buttons and books related to the presidential processess. This hobby eventually became a vocation. He then started teaching a course in third parties which seemed a logical step as third parties had a significant effect on a number of elections. As his teaching and collection continued, he found there was no book or resource that explained how the Vice Presidents or the defeated candidates for Vice President secured the nomination or covered the parts these people played in the election. So there was born his idea to document the role of these candidates and what better time to do so - but during his retirement. As these factors came together, Jon felt the urge to put together his own book on presidential elections. "Every Four Years" documents the events and the process that brought each of these candidates the nomination for the office at the national conventions, candidates of all parties running for the offices of President and popular votes. This is the first time all of this hisory has been brought together in one source. |