Marya Mannes Quotes

What is amazing about this quotation is that it shows the naivety of one of the most sophisticated politicians in the country. He and many politicians were really surprised that commercial consumer marketing techniques would work so well. He and many others thought that the issue of marketing political candidates was something that should be debated. Meanwhile, all the pragmatic politicians of both political parties jumped on the commercial marketing bandwagon, but the Republicans tended to master and execute the techniques more skillfully.

The ad, created by Tony Schwartz, only ran once, on September 7, 1964. It was so dramatic that News and other media replayed it and discussed it up until the election. LBJ’s opponent Barry Goldwater was a military hawk in the midst of the Cold war where nuclear war was everyone’s greatest fear. The Daisy ad was crystal clear and made overt what many Americans concern was about Goldwater. Johnson won in a landslide. See {586351} for the kinds of views that made Goldwater so vulnerable.

This was the first time that an American President was “sold’ to the voters in the same way that consumer goods were marketed to the public. Within 20 year, all presidential campaigns have been used these merchandising techniques.

In the 2012 election, the candidates campaigned at all in only 10 states after the political conventions.

Adlai Stevenson had just finished a particularly good speech at the University of Texas.

Even the President was not spared during the McCarthy era. The red scare was so pervasive, that a lunatic fringe ultra right wing organization could call the President a “communist dupe” and be taken seriously be much of the media who were themselves intimidated and might be accused of being communists at any moment. It was a very low point in America’s history.

Sinclair was a writer who had written about some of the worst scandals in American politics, leaned toward socialized democracy, and decided to run as a reform candidate in California where he lived. He won the Democratic primary easily even though he had no money, political experience, or backing. He terrified the Republicans who ran one of the dirtiest campaigns in American History to defeat him spending more money than in any election up to then including the Presidential elections. (for more details see {619613}) Sinclair lost, but it was close.

This is a fascinating quotation because it illustrates how political attitudes have changed since then. Stevenson meant this to be an insult to and even a charge against the men who ran the Eisenhower administration and campaign but not the President personally. And that was the way that it was taken. Republicans were insulted and thought this was a scurrilous charge by a candidate who was down in the polls but wanted to throw “red meat” to his base. However, when we read the statement today, it doesn’t seem at all like an insult. As a matter of fact, there are few politicians today, of either party, who would not agree with the views that Stevenson accuses the Republican strategists of having. Arguably, the Democrats were historically very slow to arrive at he place the Republicans had achieved. But in 1956 it was almost unethical to use shows and advertising techniques to manipulate public opinion. Politicians had been doing it since the beginning of our Republic but it used to be something a little dirty—something to which no one wanted to public admit believing. Today, politicians of both parties are often criticized by their base and the pundits for not believing sufficiently in the importance of image manipulation and advertising. Today, virtually no politicians have any moral scruples about using the techniques, doing so overtly and being proud of their staffs for being good at it.

McGovern partisans were hostile to the Congressman in his own home district:

It was, but each subsequent Presidential election grew much commercial, more sophisticated, and more expensive.

This was the first time that an American President was “sold’ to the voters in the same way that consumer goods were marketed to the public. Within 20 year, all presidential campaigns have been used these merchandising techniques.

At that time, most of the leading Republicans practiced negative campaigning with vicious personal attacks that were often untrue. He was the only one of the 9 candidates who did not engage in the technique. He came in close to last.