1964 Election
May 28, 2008 – 9:15 am
June 1964
In this election season I thought it would be interesting to see the advertising strategies of 44 years ago.Read the ads, choose your candidate, pick your favorite middle-aged white guy.You won’t see advertisements for the Democrat running for president because the incumbent Lyndon Johnson was the presumptive nominee at this point.
Republicans were wrangling between liberal Nelson Rockefeller and conservative Barry Goldwater. Goldwater would win the nomination and lose the general election in part because the Johnson advertising team came up with a devastating television advertisement playing on the fear of nuclear war with the Russians. It was perhaps the first election that would hinge on a powerful negative television ad and politicians everywhere were taking notes.The major candidates claim this year will be different. Don’t take that bet.Two other points I found interesting, in this era, a few candidates actually advertised their goals and qualifications rather than platitudes. Everyone is for the environment and the economy but few candidates today actually trust us to read a more substantive position statement.
Not to say they didn’t use platitudes then, qualified and experienced seemed to be the favorites then.Speaking of qualified…There is one truly cringe-worthy ad, check out Walter C. Bowman’s advertisement for Fourth District Judge. “Elect a QUALIFIED Man”.We now have women just as QUALIFIED as a men in charge of courtrooms from Superior to the Supreme Court, though the overdue change was so recent many of that first generation of women are still presiding.I’m curious what culture shifts you see in these old ads.Did your candidate win? The last picture has the election results. Good luck.
