The Presidential Wall of Fame at American Greetings Corp.’s headquarters in Cleveland is a thing of pride for the giant cardmaker.
The company flaunts it proudly before visitors, potential clients and the news media. It sports oversized replicas of Christmas cards sent out by first and second families during the Carter and Johnson administrations.
The second-largest cardmaker may get the chance to add to its stately collection if it is chosen to design this year’s greeting cards for the new residents of the White House.
A Clinton administration spokesman confirmed last week that it is dropping Hallmark Cards Inc., which has had the job for most of the last four decades. American Greetings is among several card companies being considered.
Gibson Greetings Inc. in Cincinnati is also among the contenders.
“I don’t think anyone is going to buy a greeting card because we happen to do the president’s,” said John Barker, spokesman for American Greetings. “But there is a certain amount of (prestige) that goes along with that affiliation.”
Barker said American Greetings has met with White House officials and “made our expertise known to them.”
Hallmark has-with few exceptions-produced a Christmas card for the White House since the first official card was commissioned by the Eisenhower administration in 1953.
The White House said it was making the switch because “The Clintons and the Gores want to spread the business around.” Politics, the administration said, had nothing to do with it.
But Donald Hall, owner and chairman of Hallmark in Kansas City, Mo., is a personal friend of former President Bush and was a contributor to his failed re-election campaign.
“We have a history working with Democratic administrations,” Barker said, alluding to the company’s work with the Carter and Johnson staffs.
But there is more than prestige involved. While it is not clear how many cards the Clintons and Gores will send out this year, last Christmas the Bushes sent out 185,000 Hallmark cards.
“The Clintons have a lot of friends,” a spokesman said.
