A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day....09-14-04....Presidents for Sale

Billie

[Billie]

A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day

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I found this article, "Presidents for Sale" written by Stephen Battaglio, in a recent issue of TV Guide, and thought it would be interesting to look back at some of the television ads of a few of our past Presidents. I followed a link in the article to http://www.movingimage.us , where one can view the full ads of the candidates - as opposed to the still images I posted below - for as far back as the first TV spot in 1952.

Mr. Battaglio begins with:

"'To think that an old soldier should come to this,' Dwight D. Eisenhower said while filming the first presidential campaign TV spot in 1952. But after he won, candidates have regularly called on Madison Avenue for help."

"An online exhibit from the American Museum of the Moving image called 'The Living Room Candidate' shows the wily work of all the presidents' admen. Here are some of the highlights."

Below are excerpts of Mr. Battaglio's article, citing some of the more memorable campaign ads of Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Reagan, and Bush (Senior).

The young, handsome Massachusetts senator's commercials used documentary-style footage culled from rallies and speeches that played to his strengths as a public speaker. "John F. Kennedy's campaign was really onto the importance of television in terms of onveying personality," says David Schwartz, the museum's chief curator of film. Until Kennedy came along, commercials with politicians talking to voters looked stiff and staged.

The ad showing a little girl plucking daisy petals in a countdown that ends with a nuclear explosion and mushroom cloud didn't even mention President Lyndon B. Johnson's opponent, Sen. Barry Goldwater. But viewers knew it meant Goldwater had no qualms about using the bomb. "Daisy Girl" became the most talked-about political ad ever made - even though Johnson only paid to run it once. When Republicans cried foul, the spot was pulled. But news shows ran it frequently. "Nobody has ever topped it," says Schwartz.

Based on his campaign commercials, President Nixon didn't need anyone to break into the Watergate Hotel in order to get reelected. "Richard Nixon really mastered the use of television after learning his lesson in 1960," says Schwartz. Nixon's attack ads against George McGovern employed simple visuals, such as a hand wiping away toy soldiers, planes and ships to depict the candidate's proposed defense spending cuts. Another showed a hard hat looking down at pedestrians - half of whom would be welfare recipients under a McGovern plan. "They're some of the best ads I've ever seen," says CNN senior analyst and former political consultant Jeff Greenfield. "And, given how Nixon ended his career, it seems odd that the ads were accurate."

Campaign ads are now packed with so much information that "they're like video news releases," says Deutsch. But President Reagan's reelection ad team made its point about American preparedness against the threat of Soviet nukes just by showing a bear ominously wandering through the woods (voice-over: "Isn't it smart to be as strong as the bear?"). "One of the most inventive ads ever," says Greenfield. "It never talked about what it was about. The political ad guys today are afraid of being too clever."

The senior Bush's campaign commercial with prisoners robotically going through a revolving door referred to - but did not name - Willie Horton, a Massachusetts convict who committed serious crimes while free on a experimental state furlough program. But on the campaign trail, Bush had made Horton a poster boy for his view that Democratic candidate Michael Dukakis was soft on crime, so viewers got the message. Bush's negative ads against Dukakis were so tough - and effective - that political reporters have put campaign commercials under greater scrutiny ever since. "Every day in the New York Times, they are critiquing ads that ran the night before," says Deutsch.

Mr. Battaglio didn't address any campaign ads after 1988,
so feel free to add your own personal favorites.

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[Pippin]

HOWDY (((BILLIE)))!

How's your day been?

I love the history threads you put up on FR's Finest. I think they are fun and informative.

[Pippin]

Hi, (((TM)))!

I'm here!

I may not post as often as I used to, but I still enjoy reading your Daily Bread posts and the purple cup of coffee/tea.

[onedoug]

FR best site on the internet.

Thanks for all you do herein.

[Pippin]

I'll be praying for you, your family, and all whoi live in Louisiana and Florida and all on the Gulf Coast.

[Pippin]

Good morning (((Gabz)))!

[dixie sass]

I've been expecting that Gabz. We've met everyone so far and now there is another one forming ...

[Gabz]

Morning, Pippin!!!!!!!!

[Gabz]

It's getting a bit ridiculous. About the only good thing I can say from some of the early models is that Florida appears to be in the clear.

[Pippin]

Your tagline should say "hot air" instead! ;o)

[Gabz]

That was my original thought, but sometimes 'canes don't have hot air - but they all have wind.

I may just go back to that.

[Billie]

We are a little nervous about what we could come home and find. There could be no damage at all or massive damage. Oh well, I have always wanted to build a brand new house. Whatever happens I know it is all in God's hands. However, I am a little worried just the same.

This has been such a disastrous hurricane season so early in the year. Hoping you return to a home with *no* damage, jamaly. We'll keep you all in our prayers. Stay safe.

[Pippin]

HEH! HEH! :o)

[Billie]

Good morning, Mo - thanks for dropping in today. I know there are so many threads right now to keep us busy it's hard to read them all. Interesting times we live in. Hope Dan Rather goes down and takes others with him.

[dixie sass]

I don't trust the models Gabz. Meterology is an inexact science and the way this monster has wobbled all over, it could just a leave turn around and follow the gulf back out to the Atlantic and then slam into the coast.

It's been about 100 years since the worst hurricane to hit the gulf coast happened - that was at Galveston, Tx.

[Billie]

Good morning...fascinating thread.

Morning, Gabz - thank you. I would have preferred a different title, but this was the one that came with it. :) This one sounds like we're going to read about how presidents can be bought, rather than 'selling' him to the people. :)

[Billie]

Hi, Gail - gosh, I was waiting for breakfast, and you came empty-handed today. Here, I'll whip something up then. :)

[Billie]

Good morning, dixie. Hope your family is all okay.

[dixie sass]

Had always been under the impression that the "Daisy Girl" ad was by Goldwater. Don't know why ...

[Gabz]

Meterology is an inexact science

That is an understatement.

I've read some of the historic accounts of the 1900 'cane that hit Galveston.

As bad as these things can be, sometimes it almost seems the waiting is worse........knowing it's coming but not when, nor where.

[Mo1]

Interesting times we live in

Yes indeed ... my head is about to explode with information overload *L*