US Presidential Campaign Videos

August 22, 2008 12:03 AM

The evolution of the US presidential campaign ad, 1952 to 1996... 1952: Eisenhower-Nixon (We Like Ike, The Man from Abilene) vs Stevenson-Sparkman (I Love the Gov [apologies for the intro], Ike... Bob..., Vote Stevenson/The Music Man, (Remember the Farmer, Back to the Days of '31). Bonus: Newsreels dealing with the campaigns. 1956: Eisenhower-Nixon (Eisenhower Answers America: The Cost of Living [excerpt], Corruption (california spot)) vs Stevenson-Kefauver (How's that again, General?, The Man from Libertyville [same annoying intro], Ad-lee, Ad-lie). Bonus: Election Day newsreel, including a santa Claus arriving in a flying saucer; Eisenhower, Suez, and hungary in 1956.

1960: Kennedy/Johnson (Harry Belafonte for Kennedy, West Virginia PRIMARY reel, Every Republican.../Nixon's Experience [higher quality version as part of this reel of Kennedy ads], Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy, If We Fail..., Viva Kennedy, Medical Care for our Older Citizens) vs Nixon-Lodge (Peace without Surrender, A Little Help from Ike, Lodge: Our Responsibility is Great). Bonus: Nixon, a year after the election, playing his piano concerto; Nixon/Kennedy bio and debate, other parts of whicdh, dealing solely with Nixon and his life, are available here; Kennedy's inauguration, (part 2), Kennedy on November 9th, 1960.
1964: Johnson-Humphrey (I don't feel guilty being a Republican, Goldwater needs the KKK's help, The Daisy Ad, Which Barry?/Remember Him?, Great Society, Saw off the Eastern Seaboard [annoying intro]) vs Goldwater-Miller (I Don't like No-Win Wars, Bearded Dictator, 90-miles off/The Hand of Big Government/Is Moral Responsibility Out of Style/I Pledge Allegiance). Bonus: Johnson's 1965 inauguration newsreel, more on his inauguration.
1968: Nixon-Agnew (Honourable End, Endorsed by Bush/Endorsed by Baker, Freedom from Fear, Do Something WITH your Country, American Youth, Speaking For You, So Ineffectively as in Vietnam) vs Humphrey-Muskie (What has Nixon ever done for you?, Agnew for VP [annoying intro], Nixon's Silence, Political Winds, Do you want Castro to have the bomb?) vs Wallace-LeMay (Wallace has the courage).
1972: Nixon-Agnew (Nixon Now) vs McGovern-Shriver (This is about..., You have to make those hard decisions, He was hired by James McCord/Don't want to rock the boat/assorted 1984 primary advertisements, Our Economy... [annoying intro]). Bonus: CBS on Nixon's re-election efforts, in January, 1972; Nixon goes on Soviet TV; Shirley Maclaine goes on Cavett for McGovern.
1976: Carter-Mondale (I'm a Southerner (annoying intro), It's hard Work (Rosalyn Carter) (annoying intro), The Republicans assure us/two 1980 commercials, We've built walls) vs Ford-Dole (He was...). Bonus: Carter profile, Ford's debate gaffe, Ford at Republican National Convention, Reagan's Impromptu Concession speech, Ford's bicentennial minute, Mark Russell's special on the '76 campaign (1, 2, 3, 4, 5), Dole: Democratic wars.
1980: Reagan-Bush (Nancy deeply resents..., Ted Kennedy: No More, Can we afford four more years?, George Bush: a president we won't have to train [primary commercial, 25 seconds in], Slowly we slip..., Biographical sketch: a State of Crisis, The Ayatollah Votes, Home-owning and inflation, Inflation and the elderly) vs Carter-Mondale (Two men are the real contenders..., Jimmy Carter, Commander in Chief. Bonus: clip of the Reagan-Carter debate ("there you go again"), and that phrase reprised in the Reagan-Mondale debate, Reagan accepts the nomination, Carter's statement on the doomed Operation Eagle Claw, the birth of toll-free contribution numbers.
1984: Reagan-Bush (Reaganomics, World Leaders, The Bear, Morning in America, secure Peace, A New Beginning [part 2], Next Tuesday, This was America in 1980... Today, This was america (Foreign Policy) vs Mondale-Ferraro (American Dream, Arms Control, Whole world at stake, Polls don't vote... fight!, Your share of Mr. Reagan's Deficits, Rollercoaster, Mr. Reagan's People, Always Felt [annoying intro], Teach your Parents, Orbit KILLER WEAPONS, The Red Phone [annoying intro], Gary Hart's 'New Ideas' [primary, annoying intro], Computers will take control!, Deficits of the Presidents [annoying intro], Idle Tools [annoying intro, primary]). Bonus: Jesse Jackson at Tendley Baptist (David and Goliath), Gary Hart campaign, Jesse Jackson Blues, second Reagan-Mondale debate.
1988: Bush-Quayle (Boston Harbor, The Willie Horton ad [poor quality], "He opposed, Raised taxes [1:15 in; video also includes Newscenter 8 sign-off, an ad for Speedy, US Air, and after the Bush commercial, an ad for Geraldo], Vetos and furloughs) vs Dukakis-Bentsen (The Bush Record; [N.B. all videos that follow for the Dukakis-Bentsen campaign have an annoying intro]: Leadership: Crime, I'm Fed Up With It!, The Best America is Yet To Come, Packaging Bush, Packaging Quayle, The President if Mortal/One in Five, 60-day notice, Social Security, Hey Pal!, All of us are enriched, Furloughs: The Response, Jimmy did well..., Packaging Bush, part 2, Can't Afford to be a Republican, Packaging Bush/Furlough: Part 3, Where was George?, Stopped Seabrook: Seabrook Nuclear Power Station). Bonus: CNN analysis of the campaign commercial [poor quality], CNN highlight reel [poor quality], "You're no Jack Kennedy, Bush vs Rather on Iran-Contra [poor quality], Read My Lips, Debate: If Kitty Dukakis were raped and murdered..., Debate: What do you see in Dan Quayle?, Dukakis vs Ted Koppel on Nightline, Seabrook Today.
1992: Clinton-Gore (Can't Afford Four more years, Read my Lips, Read My Lips [2], Endorsed by over 600 economists, Biography [annoying into; part 2], Enough! [annoying intro], Read my Lips Alert [annoying intro], More than 30-second ads [annoying intro], Republican Neglect [annoying intro], A Plan for America) vs Bush-Quayle (no advertisements found) vs Perot-Stockdale (Let your vote say so!, plus bonus video: Perot profile on CNN, which features clips of some commercials, and an example of Perot's speaking style). Bonus: Letterman: Top Ten reasons Bush Should [not] Dump Quayle, Letterman: Top Ten: Quayle's complaints about Clinton, Potatoe and other Quayle quips, Murphy Brown responds (part 2, 3, 4, 5), Letterman: Top Ten Things Overhead at the President's Fundraiser, Clinton in Beasley School, Chicago, during the primaries, Clinton vs heckler, Clinton on Nightline [focusing on leaked letter re: Vietnam draft] (part 2, 3), Gore on campaign trail, Super 8 Clinton, A Different World election episode clip, 1992 review, Read My Lips MTV Mashup with discussion by Bill Moyers and guests.
1996: Clinton-Gore (In the line of duty: assault weapons [poor quality], growth and opportunity [annoying intro], quitting [annoying intro], If Bob Dole were already here... [annoying intro], Risky! [annoying intro]) vs Dole-Kemp (Too Liberal? [primary ad], versus Steve Forbes [primary, poor quality]) vs Nader (no ads, but there are interviews). Bonus: Again with the Mark Russell! (part 2, 3, 4, credits), Dole representative vs Charlie Rose, Charlie Rose and guests discuss the presidential debate, and many, many more; Clinton-Dole debate clip on Dole's age, football and CFC stories.

posted by flibbertigibbet (46 comments total)

Inspired by a kottke post that showed the "We Like Ike" commercial.
posted by flibbertigibbet at 12:05 AM on August 22, 2008 [6 favorites has favorites]

Oh my.

This has to be one of the most thoroughly vetted and researched MeFi/YouTube, etc. posts ever.

Not sure how many here will “click through” to the hyperlinks.

If nothing else, you've offered an outline for stitching together a documentary film project vis-à-vis U.S. Presidential Campaign commercials, et al.
posted by ericb at 12:16 AM on August 22, 2008

I salute your dogged determination in compiling this. Might be good fodder to create your own blog on the topic.
posted by davidmsc at 12:22 AM on August 22, 2008

How can I be snarky if there's so much to comment on?

*existential crisis*
posted by mdonley at 1:12 AM on August 22, 2008 [2 favorites has favorites]

Is it the done thing to nominate things for the sidebar? If it is, then this certainly deserves such an honour.
posted by liquidindian at 3:59 AM on August 22, 2008

Plus ca change, eh?
posted by telstar at 4:23 AM on August 22, 2008

The current campaign needs more winkies.
posted by StickyCarpet at 4:43 AM on August 22, 2008

This is an awfully thin post. Couldn't you have done a bit more research?

*ducks*
posted by mullingitover at 4:46 AM on August 22, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

You can also check out his recent Fresh Air episode on just this subject.

Inspired by the Living Room Candidate Project
posted by Arbac at 5:01 AM on August 22, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

First reaction: whoooooa!

Second reaction: I hope they don't think I'm going to click on all of those links.

Having said that, I started with the LBJ/KKK video. And now I can't stop.
posted by saturnine at 5:04 AM on August 22, 2008

I was about to make some snarky remark along the lines of, "what, there's an election going on?" And then I saw the Links. Decent job, flibbertijibbet.
posted by YouRebelScum at 5:11 AM on August 22, 2008

DAISY: The Complete History of an Infamous and Iconic Ad
posted by Kabanos at 5:27 AM on August 22, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

wow, this is like the masters thesis of posts. I look forward to going through these... for many, many moons. thanks for your hard work.
posted by wundermint at 5:30 AM on August 22, 2008

I'll bet Ben Stein has every Nixon campaign clip running on a loop in his home shrine.
posted by tommasz at 5:34 AM on August 22, 2008

Kick ass post, spank ass truck.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 5:47 AM on August 22, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

ad astra per aspera
posted by punkbitch at 5:47 AM on August 22, 2008

Wow, constructive labor went into this. Kudos!
posted by absalom at 5:51 AM on August 22, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

Holy shit, that's a lot of content. You deserve a sandvich for that.
posted by darkripper at 5:56 AM on August 22, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

:-O . om nom nom
posted by xorry at 5:57 AM on August 22, 2008 [2 favorites has favorites]

It's abundantly clear who got the Intel on this map. rtv
posted by BeerFilter at 6:22 AM on August 22, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

Alright, I'm going to drop a beacon on the next person who cracks a TF2 joke!
posted by absalom at 6:41 AM on August 22, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

good thing I don't have to go to work today. wow. thanks flib!
posted by killy willy at 6:51 AM on August 22, 2008

The only way this could be any more badass is if all the text and hyperlinks was a stereogram of the white house. You would officially be declared the winner of the internet.
posted by cashman at 6:51 AM on August 22, 2008 [2 favorites has favorites]

TL;DR

I kid. Good post.
posted by spamguy at 6:53 AM on August 22, 2008

So which one is the good link.
posted by smackfu at 6:59 AM on August 22, 2008

Great job, thanks.
posted by languagehat at 7:12 AM on August 22, 2008

Wait. Where's "No on 15"?
posted by Bathtub Bobsled at 7:13 AM on August 22, 2008

Too... much... fun!
posted by starman at 7:19 AM on August 22, 2008

I wish I could favorite this twice. Thanks so much!
posted by l33tpolicywonk at 7:23 AM on August 22, 2008

Fuckin' A.
posted by booticon at 7:34 AM on August 22, 2008

∞LYT
posted by mwhybark at 7:37 AM on August 22, 2008 [4 favorites has favorites]

Tip & Ty
posted by ColdChef at 7:40 AM on August 22, 2008

I'm glad people are liking it. I was deathly afraid of it going sour... and now I notice that despite all the hours spent making sure I didn't forget to close a tag, and that all the links were unique, I managed to screw up freaking capitalization. Sigh.

I call this 'history student brain on summer.' I needed to learn more about US presidential elections and their history, so I did. I want to do it for my country, Canada, but it'll be impossible.

ColdChef: Thanks for posting that link! I find it super interesting how vital songs were for delivering messages (not necessarily the messages everyone today claims were delivered by song, of course).
posted by flibbertigibbet at 7:52 AM on August 22, 2008

Also, I'd like to thank Arbac for alerting me to the LivingRoomCandidate project. Very cool, and more comprehensive than this post.
posted by flibbertigibbet at 9:00 AM on August 22, 2008

Terrific post!

And from one of the 1956 "Man from Libertyville" ads: wow, Adlai Stevenson makes even John McCain look relaxed and glib. Not only is he ridiculously stiff, he actually flubs some of his lines in his own ad!
posted by Asparagirl at 9:10 AM on August 22, 2008

It's settled. I'm voting for James Alexander in November, and all because of that adorable little British girl's (boy's?) voice. Well played, flibbertigibbet.
posted by palidor at 9:19 AM on August 22, 2008

That's $200,000 worth of links right there.
Quite an achievement.
Excellent stuff, spanky. thanks!
posted by Busithoth at 9:21 AM on August 22, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

Also, please tell me the overwhelming awesomeness of this post preemptively destroys all future newsfilter politix posts until at least 2016.
posted by palidor at 9:24 AM on August 22, 2008

Awesome post, Spank!! I'll be checking this out this weekend, wheee!
posted by gemmy at 10:16 AM on August 22, 2008

Excellent post. Thanks.
posted by blucevalo at 2:06 PM on August 22, 2008

Wow...nice work, flibbertigibbet!
posted by rmmcclay at 8:20 PM on August 22, 2008

Go to 3:53 in the "CBS on Nixon's re-election efforts, in January, 1972" video to see a young, svelte 22-year-old political junkie named Karl Rove talking about connecting to Republican youth.
posted by BeerFilter at 10:18 PM on August 22, 2008

Cool post. thanks waxy
posted by acro at 2:13 PM on August 23, 2008

Impressive. I've put it on the wiki.
And now, back to bed.
posted by Pronoiac at 4:04 AM on August 25, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

Thanks Pronoiac!
posted by flibbertigibbet at 11:49 AM on August 25, 2008

And there was me expecting a thin box underneath:

[This post has been deleted for the following reason: Campaign Filter -- Cortex]

Not really. That's amazing. Thanks so much!
posted by feelinglistless at 3:09 PM on August 27, 2008