Description
Collector's Note – Why This Issue Matters
The August 2000 issue of George magazine — with JFK and Ronald Reagan on the cover and a 16-page 2000 convention viewer's guide inside — is one of the most editorially ambitious numbers in the publication's final year of existence, and one of the most historically specific political magazine issues of the entire 2000 election cycle. The confirmed cover story asking "Who Will Make Us Proud Again?" frames the 2000 presidential race explicitly as a comparison to the Kennedy and Reagan legacies — the two most mythologized American presidencies of the postwar era — and the dual cover photographs, one from 1961 and one from 1980, bracket forty years of American political optimism in a single image. The confirmed Kennedy essay by Peter Keating and the Reagan essay by Lou Cannon — the journalist who knew Reagan best and covered him throughout his career — provide two of the most authoritative possible voices for this specific retrospective argument. For collectors building archives of JFK magazine features and covers, this August 2000 George is a primary document of how Kennedy's legacy was being invoked and measured forty years after his 1960 convention at the specific moment of the 2000 Democratic and Republican conventions — a document of historical memory as much as of the election itself.
The confirmed editorial content surrounding the cover story gives this issue a documentary range that extends well beyond its presidential comparison thesis. The Christie Brinkley feature — "She's a Super Model Citizen" by Rene Chun — is a confirmed primary document of Brinkley's political activism as a Democratic delegate and her role in shutting down a nuclear reactor, providing an unusual primary source for researchers of both her post-modeling public identity and the intersection of celebrity and environmental activism in the 2000 election cycle. The confirmed Bill Richardson interview, the Hollywood liberals power struggle piece on David Geffen's rival by Arthur Lubow, and Tom Selleck's Hollywood conservative experience by Allison Adato collectively document the specific landscape of celebrity political engagement in August 2000 with named specificity that makes this issue a primary source for researchers of celebrity political culture. Ralph Nader's Green Party candidacy — addressed in the confirmed "Unsafe at Any Speed" piece — was a major factor in the 2000 election's ultimate outcome, and its treatment in a mainstream political magazine in August 2000 is a primary document of how that candidacy was being assessed before its actual electoral impact was known. Collectors of vintage George magazine issues will find this one of the most content-rich in the publication's run. The 2000 magazine collection provides context within the most consequential election year of the decade.
Queen Latifah's confirmed voter registration piece, the Homer Simpson presidential hints feature, and John Waters's "If I Were President" column round out an issue that captures George's distinctive editorial identity at its most fully realized — the blend of serious political journalism, celebrity engagement, and irreverent humor that John F. Kennedy Jr. had established as the magazine's defining voice and that its post-Kennedy editorial team was sustaining in its final months of publication. This August 2000 issue was published just over a year after Kennedy's July 1999 death and three months before the most contested presidential election in American history.
About the Publication
George magazine was a monthly American political magazine founded by John F. Kennedy Jr. and Michael Berman, published from September 1995 through February 2001 for a total of forty-seven issues. Its editorial concept positioned politics as popular culture, combining political journalism, celebrity interviews, and cultural commentary with the visual language of mainstream lifestyle publishing. By August 2000 it was operating without its founding editor — Kennedy had died in July 1999 — and under new editorial leadership that was sustaining its distinctive formula through the final year of its publication. Its audience was broader and younger than traditional political publications' audiences, and its decisions about cover subjects and editorial themes carried a specific institutional identity that the Kennedy era had established and the final phase was maintaining.
Key Highlights Inside
- "Who Will Make Us Proud Again?" — JFK and Reagan cover comparison — A confirmed dual cover story examining Kennedy's and Reagan's leadership legacies against the standard of the 2000 presidential candidates, with essays by Peter Keating (Kennedy) and Lou Cannon (Reagan) — two of the most authoritative voices available for each respective subject.
- 16-page 2000 Convention viewer's guide — A confirmed substantial special section providing primary documentation of how the 2000 Republican and Democratic conventions were being framed and presented to political magazine readers before the most contested presidential election in American history.
- "She's a Super Model Citizen" — Christie Brinkley, by Rene Chun (page 82) — A confirmed feature on Brinkley as a Democratic delegate and environmental activist, documenting her political engagement with named primary source specificity.
- "He's Unsafe at Any Speed" — Ralph Nader Green Party candidacy (page 38) — A confirmed assessment of Nader's presidential campaign in August 2000, before its actual electoral impact in November would make it one of the most consequential third-party runs in American political history.
- The George Interview: Bill Richardson (page 96) — A confirmed interview with the New Mexico governor and former UN ambassador, providing primary documentation of one of the Democratic Party's most prominent figures at a specific career moment.
- "Hollywood Liberals: Power Fight" — David Geffen rival, by Arthur Lubow (page 100) and "Selleck's Plight" — Hollywood conservatives, by Allison Adato (page 104) — Confirmed paired features documenting the specific landscape of Hollywood political engagement in the 2000 election cycle from both sides of the ideological divide.
Condition & Rarity
Good condition with moderate signs of age and wear, corner creases, and light surface wear represents an honest mid-grade assessment for a twenty-five-year-old monthly political magazine from the final year of a publication with only forty-seven total issues. The listing specifically notes corner creases and light surface wear as visible condition factors that should be assessed from available photographs — corner creases are a permanent surface condition factor and light surface wear affects the cover's visual integrity to a degree that photographs will convey more accurately than description. Good condition does not impair the research or documentary value of this issue's exceptional confirmed content. The plastic protective sleeve indicates deliberate preservation. For post-Kennedy George issues from 2000, the total surviving pool in any condition is finite given the publication's short total run, and good condition examples with complete interiors represent workable collector examples of a historically significant title.
Looking for More Issues Like This?
JFK legacy features in George magazine are among the most specifically sought items in the publication's collecting history — the magazine's founding connection to the Kennedy family gives its JFK content a particular resonance — and an August 2000 issue with a forty-year retrospective on Kennedy's convention alongside Lou Cannon's Reagan essay and the Christie Brinkley political profile makes this one of the most content-rich numbers in the publication's final year. The dedicated JFK magazine collection at OriginalMagazines.com is the most direct place to search for other Kennedy-related features and covers. The broader George magazine archive and the full 2000 collection are both worth exploring for other issues from the publication's closing year and the most consequential American election year of the decade.