Rediscovering John Williams’s “Fanfare for Michael Dukakis”

By the Editorial Team · Friday, October 16, 2026

In 1988, composer John Williams created a custom musical piece called "Fanfare for Michael Dukakis" to support the Massachusetts governor's presidential campaign, but no recordings were publicly available for decades. After years of research and collaboration, a digital version of the fanfare was finally produced and shared online, revealing a rare example of Williams’s work tied to American political history.

In 1988, renowned composer John Williams, best known for his iconic film scores such as "Star Wars," "Jaws," and "Jurassic Park," created a bespoke musical piece titled "Fanfare for Michael Dukakis" in support of the Massachusetts governor’s presidential campaign. The commission came at the request of Dukakis's father-in-law, a distinguished violinist and conductor, seeking to provide a unique theme for the campaign. Despite the involvement of a celebrated figure like Williams, the fanfare has remained relatively obscure, with no widely available recordings or performances accessible to the public for decades.

The piece resurfaced in an unusual manner years later, driven by the persistent efforts of a former high school student with a keen interest in Boston’s cultural and political history. Beginning in 2016, the student sought out the fanfare after encountering brief, silent footage of the 1988 Democratic National Convention, wherein an orchestra appeared to perform the piece. Despite extensive research—including consultations with university music archives and attempts to find recordings—only a piano arrangement housed at the University of California, Berkeley was located, and no audio recordings could be found.

In a series of events spanning several years, the student reached out to Michael Dukakis himself during a virtual event in 2017, hoping for access to the original score or a recording. Although Dukakis did not possess a copy, he offered to contact Williams on the student’s behalf. Follow-up communications over the next year initially yielded no results. However, in 2018, the student received an unexpected email from Dukakis’s assistant, containing a high-quality scan of the handwritten original score sent directly by John Williams.

With the score in hand but lacking the expertise to interpret the complex orchestral notation, the student attempted to digitize the music and convert it into synthesized audio. This effort proved challenging, as reading full orchestral scores requires specialized training. The project stalled until a chance discussion with a music department friend, who volunteered to typeset the score and produce a MIDI rendering. Nearly eight years after the initial inquiry, the fanfare was finally heard in a digital format.

The piece itself reflects Williams's signature style, featuring a distinctive introduction and a building crescendo driven by percussion. Observers have noted that the composition captures the hopeful spirit of Dukakis’s campaign and evokes the energy of the 1988 convention crowd as they prepared to rally voter support.

Following this eventual realization, a John Williams fan website also made the composition publicly available online, providing broader access to the once elusive "Fanfare for Michael Dukakis." This rediscovery not only sheds light on a lesser-known work by a celebrated composer but also preserves a unique moment in American political and musical history.

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