Page "W. C. Fields" Paragraph 61

With a presidential election looming in 1940, Fields toyed with the idea of lampooning political campaign speeches.

He wrote to vice-presidential candidate Henry A. Wallace, intending to glean comedy material from Wallace ’ s speeches, but when Wallace responded with a warm, personal fan letter to Fields, the comedian decided against skewering Wallace.

Instead, Fields wrote a book entitled Fields for President, consisting of humorous essays in the form of a campaign speech.

Dodd, Mead and Company published it in 1940 but declined to reprint it at the time.

The book did not sell well, mostly because people were confused as to whether it was meant to be taken seriously.

In 1971, Dodd, Mead reprinted it when Fields was seen as an anti-establishment figure.

The 1940 edition includes illustrations by Otto Soglow, while the 1971 reprint is illustrated with photographs of Fields.