Dwight D. Eisenhower was the first presidential candidate to use television commercials. Below is one of his commercials, made by Disney, from 1952.
Eisenhower was skeptical about using television and his opponent, Stevenson, wouldn’t appear on television because he thought it demeaning to a man ascending to the presidency. Eisenhower won.
This and campaign commercials since can be found at The Living Room Candidate.
Comments 16
Le — July 26, 2008
He was also the first person to identify the Military Industrial Complex and, in his outgoing speech at the end of his second term, went on camera to warn the country against it for future generations. I'm assuming the footage ended up on TV. He originally coined it the Military Industrial Congressional Complex, but decided to leave the Congress out of criticism at the last minute. All of this is documented in the film Why We Fight. Highly recommended viewing!
73man — July 28, 2008
Notice how all of the Ike supporters are going to the right with Adlai 'going the other way' - the left.
Alice — July 22, 2010
I love how it tells you exactly nothing about his policies, aims or goals.
Volvagia — December 5, 2011
Funny... when I read the title I immediately thought of the crowd cheering 'we like Ike!' in Super Smash Bros Brawl.