|
Singers:
Ike for President. Ike for President. Ike for President. You like Ike, I like Ike, everybody likes Ike for President. Bring out the banners, beat the drums, we'll take Ike to Washington. We don't want John or Dean or Harry. Let's do that big job right. Let's get in step with the guy that's hep. Get in step with Ike. You like Ike, I like Ike, everybody likes Ike for president. Bring out the banners, beat the drums, we'll take Ike to Washington. We've got to get where we are going, travel day and night. Let Adlai go the other way. We'll all go with Ike. You like Ike, I like Ike, everybody likes Ike for President. Bring out the banners, beat the drums, we'll take Ike to Washington. We'll take Ike to Washington! Announcer: Now is the time for all good Americans to come to the aid of their country. |
"Surgeon" is an extremely effective example of the combination positive-negative ad that is so common today. Often, these ads, which support one candidate and then attack the other, use bright, colorful images for the positive message and murky, black-and-white images for the attack. The commercial uses many of the techniques on display throughout this website: we are immediately drawn into the ad emotionally by its uplifting shots of children talking about their plans for the future; these scenes are juxtaposed with scary footage of Bob Dole threatening to eliminate the Department of Education. The ad then uses guilt by association, linking Dole to the unpopular Newt Gingrich; and it uses footage of Clinton at the White House to take advantage of his position as the incumbent. It also offers facts and figures detailing President Clinton’s accomplishments, to add substance to the ad’s emotional impact.
|
|
|
Among the most unconventional campaign ads to date, this was only available on the web. Produced by Will.i.am of The Black Eyed Peas and Jesse Dylan (Bob Dylan’s son), the ad put music to Obama’s New Hampshire primary concession speech (after he lost the state to Hilary Clinton). It features a succession of over 30 celebrity performers singing his words. First posted on YouTube, the video quickly went viral, with over 26 million views in just a few days. It led to an online fundraising boom and a new wave of momentum for Obama’s campaign.
|
President Harry S. Truman entered 1952 with his popularity plummeting. The Korean War was dragging into its third year, Senator Joseph McCarthy’s anti-Communist crusade was stirring public fears of an encroaching "Red Menace," and the disclosure of widespread corruption among federal employees rocked the administration. After losing the New Hampshire primary to Tennessee Senator Estes Kefauver, who had chaired a nationally televised investigation of organized crime in 1951, President Truman announced on March 29, 1952, that he would not seek re-election. Truman threw his support behind Illinois Governor Adlai Stevenson, who repeatedly declined to run but was eventually drafted as the Democratic nominee on the strength of his eloquent keynote speech at the convention.
Stevenson proved to be no match for the Republican nominee, war hero Dwight D. Eisenhower, who played a key role in planning the Allied victory in World War II. A poll in March 1952 found Eisenhower the most admired living American, and in November he won a landslide victory on the basis of his pledge to clean up "the mess in Washington" and end the Korean War. |
|