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25 Funniest ‘Peanuts’ Comics from the 1960s That Prove Charles M. Schulz Is Unbeatable
Charles M. Schulz’s 1964 Peanuts storyline about Linus running for school president turned the US election season into a month-long comic satire. Its jokes about political slogans, campaigning and the press helped make the arc one of the strip’s funniest, while giving it a resonance that the article says still feels relevant.
The campaign begins on 5 October, after Lucy persuades Linus to run and becomes his campaign manager; Charlie Brown is chosen as his running mate. Linus gives rousing speeches, including one about “moral decline”, and at one point polls at 92 per cent before a major turn on 21 October. The article recommends reading the 25-day story as a whole, and notes that Sunday strips were written to stand alone because some readers only received Sunday papers.
In short
- Linus’s school presidential campaign satirises real-world politics.
- His support reaches 92 per cent before a major twist.
- The article recommends reading the full 25-day comic arc.
Explained simply
Peanuts is a newspaper comic strip created by American cartoonist Charles M. Schulz. Its central characters are children, including Linus, who is known for carrying a blanket, his older sister Lucy and their friend Charlie Brown.
In a 1964 storyline, Linus runs for school president after Lucy urges him to stand, with Lucy managing his campaign and Charlie Brown as his running mate. The story uses familiar parts of election campaigns, such as speeches, slogans, polling and press coverage, as the backdrop for its humour.
The plot ran across daily strips, while Sunday editions were often written so readers could follow them on their own. That mix reflects how newspaper comics reached people who might read only the Sunday paper, as well as those following the story day by day.