An Overlooked Campaign Pioneer? Thomas Dewey and Television in the 1950 New York Governor’s Race

Fordan, Robert; Schaefer, Todd M.

doi:10.1353/nyh.2019.0025

New York History

2019

DOI: 10.1353/nyh.2019.0025

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An Overlooked Campaign Pioneer? Thomas Dewey and Television in the 1950 New York Governor’s Race

Robert Fordan¹,

Todd M. Schaefer²

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2024

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The Historical Presidency: I like Ike: The origins of broadcast presidential campaign advertising

Endersby

2024

Pres Stud Q

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The first televised presidential campaign commercials ran in the 1952 electoral contest between Dwight Eisenhower and Adlai Stevenson, specifically as part of the effort to draft and then elect General Eisenhower. These first spot ads were developed not by political parties or the candidates but by an independent citizens group, Citizens for Eisenhower. The group developed two distinct styles of television advertising. The best known of these stemmed from the hard‐sell Madison Avenue tradition of public relations and its advertising innovator, Rosser Reeves, who produced the “Eisenhower Answers America” campaign. Less well known is an ad created by volunteer workers from the Disney Corporation, who produced an animated, musical rendition promising that “We'll Take Ike to Washington.” Unlike Reeves's more substantive ads that focused on issues, the Disney ads emphasized the image and character of the candidate. Using archival sources, this article shows that the televised marketing of the presidency stemmed not only from the public relations experts and Madison Avenue advertisers like Reeves but also from those connected to the entertainment industry who sought to manipulate the public through character appeals.

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The Historical Presidency: I like Ike: The origins of broadcast presidential campaign advertising

Endersby

2024

Pres Stud Q

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An Overlooked Campaign Pioneer? Thomas Dewey and Television in the 1950 New York Governor’s Race

Cited by 1 publication

References 0 publications

The Historical Presidency: I like Ike: The origins of broadcast presidential campaign advertising

The Historical Presidency: I like Ike: The origins of broadcast presidential campaign advertising

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