The NFL is so embedded in America’s cultural and political landscape that it feels like it always has been. But not that long ago military flyovers, anthem spectaculars (and protests), and presidential comments about the sport were unheard of. Jesse Berrett’s Pigskin Nation traces the origin of the NFL’s relationship with politics, offering a detailed account of how the league and its key figures consciously shaped football into a symbol of national identity and political power.
Berrett focuses primarily on the period from 1966 to 1974, years that saw the NFL emerge as more than a sports league. Under Commissioner Pete Rozelle, the league aggressively built its brand through a sophisticated media and public relations machine. NFL Films, coffee-table books like The First 50 Years, and USO tours during the Vietnam War all helped lay the groundwork for the NFL’s vision of itself as uniquely American, blending pageantry, discipline, and spectacle in ways that resonated across the political spectrum.
While this served the NFL’s commercial goals, it also made the league useful for politicians. Richard Nixon, perhaps the most football-obsessed president in U.S. history, cultivated personal relationships with figures like Washington coach George Allen. Their shared conservatism and mutual admiration helped blur the lines between politics and sport. Political campaigns even saw the formation of groups like Athletes for Nixon and Athletes for McGovern, reflecting the game’s growing role in electoral politics.
Title: Pigskin Nation
Author: Jesse Berrett
First published: University of Illinois Press, 2018
Buy the Book: Amazon US | Amazon UK*
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Football became both metaphor and battleground for debates over patriotism, authority, and dissent. Yet not all voices within football embraced conservativism. Berrett highlights a group of player dissidents, including Dave Meggyesy, Chip Oliver, Bernie Parrish, and George Sauer, who challenged the league’s authoritarian structure and called attention to its racial and economic inequalities. Their activism added another layer to football’s emerging political identity, complicating the league’s carefully polished image and linking it to the broader movements for social change during the 1960s and 1970s.
Drawing on extensive archival research, Pigskin Nation situates the NFL’s political evolution within both the world of sport and wider American history. It’s a deep analysis of the intersection of football and politics that provides essential context for the debates that continue to embroil the NFL today.
THE AUTHOR
Jesse Berrett has a PhD in history from the University of California Berkeley and teaches at University High School in San Francisco. Pigskin Nation is his first book.
REVIEWS
“an insightful account of how professional football intersected with politics between 1966 and 1974, and how the sport ‘became both a metaphor for American achievement and an effective means of reaching voters’.”
Stephen Vaughn, Journal of American History
“Ultimately, this is a timely book in that its description of the cultural and political issues concerning the NFL of the 1960s and 1970s mirror similar circumstances the league faces today.”
Chad Lower, Journal of Sport History
“Pigskin Nation is a welcome addition to scholarship on the NFL that augments the work of Richard C. Crepeau, Michael Oriard, and Michael MacCambridge. In particular, Berrett’s discussions of the NFL’s Creative Services Department head David Boss and PR director Jim Kensil fill gaps in histories of pro football.”
Travis Vogan, Sport History Review
“This thought-provoking sports history nicely looks at the significance professional football has had on American politics and culture.”
Publishers’ Weekly
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