B.J. Hollars

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courtesy Wisconsin Historical Society Press

A close-up of B.J. Hollars.

B.J. Hollars

When John F. Kennedy ran for president of the United States in 1960, Wisconsin emerged as his first battleground state. In his new book, Wisconsin for Kennedy: The Primary that Launched a President and Changed the Course of History, UW-Eau Claire English professor B.J. Hollars explains how the Kennedy campaign outmaneuvered a seasoned Hubert Humphrey in the primaries and went on to win the presidency. (Hollars also wrote a memoir, Year of Plenty: A Family’s Season of Grief, set to be published in May.) Seating for this event is limited and RSVPs are encouraged, but it also will be livestreamed via Crowdcast. More info at mysterytomebooks.com.

media release: In conversation with Doug Moe.

When John F. Kennedy ran for president in 1960, he did something no candidate had done before: he leveraged the power of state primaries to win his party’s nomination. Kennedy’s first battleground state? Wisconsin—a state that would prove more arduous, more exhausting, and more crucial to winning the presidency than any other.

A new book from Wisconsin Historical Society Press, Wisconsin for Kennedy: The Primary that Launched a President and Changed the Course of History, brings to life the stories behind JFK’s history-making 1960 Wisconsin primary campaign, and details how Kennedy’s team managed to outmaneuver his politically seasoned opponent, Hubert Humphrey.

From Jackie Kennedy commandeering a supermarket loudspeaker in Kenosha, to the Wisconsin forklift driver who planned President Kennedy’s final trip to Dallas, this captivating book places readers at the heart of the action. Author B.J. Hollars chronicles JFK’s nail-biting Wisconsin win by drawing on rarely cited oral histories from the eclectic team of people who worked together to make it happen: a cranberry farmer, a union leader, a mayor, an architect, and others.

Wisconsin for Kennedy explores how Wisconsin helped propel JFK all the way to the White House in a riveting historical account that reads like a work of rollicking, page-turning fiction.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: B.J. Hollars is a professor of English at the University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire and the founder and director of the Chippewa Valley Writers Guild. He is an award-winning author whose books include Year of Plenty, Go West Young Man, The Road South, and Hope Is the Thing: Wisconsinites on Perseverance in a Pandemic. His work has been featured in the Washington Post and on NPR.