Transcripts For CSPAN3 Lectures In History Dwight Eisenhower And 1950s Political Advertising 20240713

Conveys a notion of nostalgic and simplicity. It really emphasizes this idea of the 1950s as this era of prosperity, where america was a world leader, and the American People were happy in suburban homes with their nuclear families. I like ike. Its so simple, and it conveys that happiness. This idea, however, is a myth, and its a political construction. The 1950s, in fact, was a time wrought with racial discrimination, conflict, intense political and social pressures to conform to a suburban ideal that imposed gender hierarchies and mandated hetero sexuality in the law. It was a time in which anticommunism targeted the liberal reform impulses of the new deal and frequently an anticommunist took away civil liberties. These are all different areas of political pressures in terms of enforcing certain ideals and resisting against those that we will look at next week. But i like ike as a political construct shifted attention away from those divisions, and it created a sense of consensus. In many ways, again, this is a political construction. And at the root of that was a very innovative and transformative Marketing Campaign that transformed a military hero into a political celebrity. He used that attention to win the presidency. Often we think of john f. Kennedy or Ronald Reagan as ushering in the television presidency, but in fact, it was Dwight Eisenhower. Ike harnessed the power of television to win the presidency and to put forth his vision of america in the world. And this is what we are going to look at today. Dwight eisenhower brought several important developments to the modern leadership style and his organizational approach. In doing this he built on a lot of the transformations weve already looked at this semester. For example Franklin Roosevelt launched the executive office of the presidency. And last week we looked at how harry truman expanded it with the National Security state. Dwight eisenhower, however, formalized it. He ran his office very much like he did the military. The bureaucracy became a very entrenched and wellfocused and executed component of the american presidency under eisenhower. For example, he had weekly Cabinet Meetings and he formed the office of Congressional Liaison so he could have a formal link to the legislative process. And this was especially important because throughout the 1950s the Democratic Party controlled congress. So eisenhower recognized that to get things done he needed to have a really smooth operation in terms of links with congress. But he also brought this organizational focus to this shifting media environment and transformed the white house into a production studio. And to do that he worked very closely with hollywood figures and madison avenue Television Executives and Advertising Companies to navigate the new mass media of television that ultimately really transformed american political communication during the 1950s. So this postworld war ii era is really a key moment to understand the rise of television and hollywood in american politics because television really does drastically change the political scene during the 1950s. So the questions that i want us to think about today as we study this particular period are how does television change leadership styles . How does it change strategies of political communication and qualifications needed to succeed politically . And the key question that were going to come back to at the end of class is does television revolutionize the american presidency, or does it build on trends that are already in place . So to get at that question we need to start by thinking about what are the trends that are already in place. Does television launch a significant break in terms of leadership strategies and communication strategies. So what trends are already in place before the launch of television in the 1950s . What does Theodore Roosevelt bring to the presidency . Theodore roosevelt brought like increased Media Connections at the beginning of the 20th century to start formalizing the process of like the executive office and the media. Excellent. Didnt he also setup the west wing as a sort of source to have the press like within the white house in order to have a connection with them as well . Yes. And again these are key in terms of he valued the press. He saw the press is as an asset, something that he wanted to capitalize on their place to control and help shape Public Opinion. Excellent. Caroline . He also had the fireside chats, so there was already this idea of there is this personalized president that if every person has a radio in their home, they can listen to him and its like hes speaking to them using rhetoric easy to understand, not super complicated political jargon. Uhhuh. So Franklin Roosevelt really brings in this idea of a fireside chat. So Theodore Roosevelt uses the presidency as a bully pulpit. He creates these relationships with journalists and again uses Public Opinion to launch and advocate for a very specific policy. Franklin roosevelt takes this a step further. So he capitalizes on radio and uses that to create an intimate connection with the american public. And im going to play you a quick clip just to give you a sense of what this sounded like. Again, thinking about if you were a listener, you were tuning into your radio during the 1930s to listen to your president , this would have been what you heard. Announcer ladies and gentlemen, the president of the United States. My friends, i want to talk for a few minutes with the people of the United States about banking. For the few who understand the mechanics of banking, but more particularly with the overwhelming majority of you who use banks for the making of the deposits and the drawing of checks. What did he do just in that very simple opening . He definitely personalizes the chat. He uses i, you, we, and he creates this personal link between the presidency and the people so that they feel like hes on their side and that they also have a place in this huge bureaucratic thing that he has begun to create. Absolutely. Personalizing the presidency, that is so key. For those of you who looked at a lot of critics of new deal programs how does he bypass that with the radio . If someone doesnt agree with a particular program, what is he able to do with radio . Hes able to directly appeal to the American People with the radio and bypass like, say, newspapers that have editorial slants against new deal policies and just to work around old institutions that were against him. Absolutely. Thats really key. Thinking about the power that this gives. It creates that personal relationship, that intimacy between the president and an individual in their home. And then it also allows him to to challenge the narrative. Overwhelmingly at this time people got their information from newspapers. And many newspaper editors were against the new deal. Overwhelmingly at this time newspapers were conservative, more critical of roosevelts policies. So the radio becomes a new opportunity to connect directly to audiences. And if you recall, its not just radio that he uses. He also used theaters and Motion Pictures to sell certain programs. He capitalized on the news reels that would have been shown at the beginning of a Motion Picture feature. But he also worked with a variety of different studios in hollywood to create production shorts like this one which promoted the National Recovery administration. [ applause ] you and you and you youve got a president now, he gave the land the new deal, you hold the cards now you deal you and you and you produce with the plow he gave us what we asked for now pay him back somehow step out in front and give a man a job he bore the brunt now bear with the president and give a man a job the old name of roosevelt makes the old heart proud you take this message straight from the president and give a man a job you look like a banker. Who drives your car . I drive it myself. Have a cigar. Keep your cigar and hire a chauffeur. Keep a man from becoming a loafer. You look like a grocer. No, sir. My job is extermination. You must give your assistants each a nice vacation. Then ill need more men to kill the rats. We want you to hire a crowd. You hang a sign that means no rats allowed. Whats the matter with you . Im a very sick woman. Oh, a hypochondriac. You must adapt to every disease youve got. That will give you some enjoyment. In that way, you will help end unemployment. Listen to me, everybody, step up and get back out front and give a man a job. He bore the brunt. You know that and i know that. So step up and give a man a job. You know whos backing this . The nra . No, ill tell you. When i do, itll give your heart a start. You take this message straight from the president and give a man a job. So what does this do thats different from the fireside chats . Go ahead, brent. It turns president ial policy into an entertainment product. Absolutely. Its very much like the beginning of the whole concept of marketing. Absolutely. Excellent. Excellent. Kayla . I was going to say it takes its no longer the president advocating for himself but its normal people advocating for the president that normal people would want the president and that they are very much for his policies and that he has caused all of this economic boom and all of these all this prosperity within the country. Yeah. So the focus the hero of this story is Franklin Roosevelt. Right, hes featured at the end, his portrait. But he has a variety of other people who are helping sell this. A comedian in this capacity, a variety of different celebrities come out for Franklin Roosevelt to do this. Radio spokesmen and radio personalities all are selling the president for him. So again a different kind of Production Team in terms of selling a particular policy. Excellent. Adam . It kind of creates the sound bite. So if you can take different snippets of what the guy was saying like give back to the president or give a man a job, those are easy to remember jingles. So you could put those into some sort of radio advertisement or, you know, that just appeals to a more general audience. Theyre going to remember that message whether or not they heard the whole song or not or whether or not they heard about all the different ways they can help. Theyre going to remember give a man a job. Absolutely, the slogan. So again bringing some of these features, the advertising at this time, and hollywood, bringing them into politics to sell particular policies. And the only reason you will not be humming give a man a job later this day is because youre going to hum i like ike because its a lot catchier. Lucas . I thought it was interesting holding the president up but using it as a selling point. In this case it was actually getting the people involved in a specific policy so its actually helping the common man or the middle class man to come out and without you we cant do this, but with you you can be part of this grander thing thats helping all americans. And that is really key as well when we think about media and new media and the presidency. Because really effective president s are able to use new media to win elections, but then also to govern. To use it as a tool to sell their agenda as well. And making that transition from communication on the campaign trail to communication once in office is really key. And this is why what Dwight Eisenhower does with television is also really important because he follows that trajectory. In terms of using new media to win an election and then reshape how he governs and how he sets the agenda as lucas pointed out. So, again, we see a lot of the new possibilities in terms of preventing an agenda, shaping Public Opinion and promoting a personality that comes with radio and Motion Pictures. So what about television . Does television bring something fundamentally new to american politics and to the american presidency . I want to throw a couple of numbers out because i think it really conveys how dramatically television grew and reshaped american politics. In 1949 only 172,000 Television Sets had sold. That number jumped to over 52 million by 1953. This is an incredibly dramatic growth of a new technology that forced politicians to grapple with presenting themselves and their policies to voters through tv screens rather than newspaper articles, Radio Broadcasts or even these Motion Picture shorts. And one of the key things to think about is that this growth of a new technology caused tremendous anxiety and concern. And its really important to understand that this is postworld war ii, that it becomes so powerful. There was deep concern over the manipulative power of propaganda at this time. And the ways it could be used to undermine democracy and to promote totalitarian governments. After all Adolph Hitler and the nazi party in germany had a very effective propaganda machine. Its part of how they were able to consolidate power by limiting information over new medias. So too did Joseph Stalin in the soviet union. And so these concerns about the manipulative power of the new media and even old media, Motion Pictures in particular, were really at the core of a lot of anticommunist investigations particularly the ones that featured the Motion Picture industry in 1947. The central question that was debated in the halls of congress as a variety of actors came to washington, d. C. To testify about their political activity was were they using entertainment . Were they using their celebrity for undemocratic purposes . One anticommunist told the Film Community that were using their celebrity was, quote, glamour is appealing. The communists have made a shrewd and excellent use of it for their purpose. They are trying to bedazzle audiences with celebrity. And so this is a question that pervaded national politics. Is entertainment media, Motion Pictures and this new media of television that people werent quite sure what to do with, is this going to undermine democracy . Does it focus more attention on entertainment, and can it be used as a way to advance communism . These were central questions that people had. So these fears of entertainment and propaganda and manipulation are really important to understand when we see the different ways that politicians grappled with television. Some of them embraced television and the opportunities that it had to offer, but overwhelmingly in the 1950s they were very wary of it. And the argument that we dont want to manipulate others by embracing advertising, sales advertising on madison avenue, that really dominated Public Discourse during the 1950s. For example, the democratic nominee for the presidency in 1952 and 1956 adelaide stevenson looked very disdainfully on the medium that sold president s as commodities. Quote, the idea you can merchandise candidates for high office like breakfast cereal i think is the ultimate indignity to the democratic argued stevenson. He wanted to use this new medium to perhaps expand his message, to deliver longer speeches but not to use any of those slick sale techniques that madison avenue executives were using to sell cereal. He wanted to use this new medium to perhaps expand the message that he was already delivering to audiences. And so what he did during the 1952 election is that he did allow some advertisers to create some catchy jingles for him but he refused to be a part of that production. He said if you want to do that like the way we did with radio, thats fine but im not going to appear in the short advertisement. Theres no way i can talk about a policy in 30 seconds. So instead Adlai Stevenson worked with the Democratic National committee and purchased longer chunks of time. So an hour perhaps where he would then go in front of a tv camera and deliver a long speech about a particular policy. Well, if youre going to purchase an hour of tv time and you have a limited budget when will that time be . Any thoughts . When can you afford that time . Ryan . Whenever its cheapest. Absolutely. Which would probably be late at night when its not prime time. Exactly. So when Adlai Stevenson did appear on tv it was late at night, when the only people watching were perhaps those people who were committed democrats that wanted to watch what stevenson had to say. So thats really the only time that he appeared in these purchased periods on television. And he had his Advertising Team make ads again that reflected radio strategy. Im going to show you two of them and i want you to think about how these are perhaps reminiscent of something youd hear over the radio than something youd see on tv. Old mcdonald had a farm back in 31, conditions filled him with alarm in 31 farmer mack knows what to do, election day of 52 to look for Adlai Stevenson vote for stevenson to keep your farm this way with a vote vote here and a vote vote everywhere with a vote for stevenson well if its good for mack, its good for you vote stevenson today all right, one more and well discuss. Ike. Bob. Ike. Bob. Im so glad were friends again, bob. Yes, ike, we agree on everything. Lets never separate again, bob. Never again, ike. Bob. Ike. Bob. Ike. Will ike and bob live happily ever after . Is the white house big enough for both of them . Stay tuned for a musical interlude. Vote for stevenson and john so bob refers to robert taft who was the other contender for the presidency in the Republican Party. And he was the more conservative candidate. And eisenhower was promoted at this time as the moderate republican. And so that, you know, makes a particular argument about their relationship. So what did you notice about these two commercials . Carolyn . All the visuals were merely like ornamentation, like you mentioned earlier these could have just been played over the radio and honestly it would have had the same effectiveness and also it doesnt really feature any of the candidates at all, like facialwise. So people watching it might not make that rhetorical connection. Excellent. Brent . This might just be looking at things from like a modern lens, but theyre not very good. Like, from the base standpoint of getting a stance across we dont know who farmer mack is. We dont know what caused his farm to be bad and how voting for stevenson would fix that problem, and that was a bigger problem with the first one than the second one. The second one just doesnt go anywhere. Its 30 seconds of can i change the channel to see literally any other political advertisement especially that really catchy i like ike one that seems to be going around that my friends are talking about. Excellent. Jack . Well, its a lot like what you see today where its like slander campaigns. Youre getting nothing of yours across, just bashing everything what they do. Like talk nothing about you, just them. Just talk about all the negatives. And thats whats really interesting is you do see that negative approach of lets critique eisenhower and critique the Republican Party. So that negative aspect is absolutely there. Rather than a positive message about why you should vote for the democratic candidates. Noah . It seemed the commercials were really just preaching to the choir because the first one was just saying adlai is good for farmers but doesnt say how. So it seems like the only people who would agree with that are people familiar with his farming policies. And in the second one trying to compare ike and bob it doesnt explain why. The only people that will have their minds changed actually no one is. Theyre going to see that have their beliefs either affirmed or offended. Absolutely. And i think thats really important too when you think about the Democratic Party at this time, is that media is is a side component. Its clearly not a priority for stevenson, for the Democratic National committee at this particular time. Why . Where is the strength of the Democratic Party at this time . How do they win elections . Ryan . Itd be like remnants of roosevelts coalition from the 1930s and something else, the first advertisement especially pointed out is look back to 1931. Theyre like look 20 years ago when republicans did bad things. I mean i feel like in the modern era 20 years ago is a completely different environment than now. So its really trying to harken back to arguments theyve been making for the last two decades. Excellent. Kayla . I was going to say you can see the contrast between the Democratic Party and theyre continually asking people to look back at what weve done, not even what stevenson has done necessarily but what other democrats have done and linking the party together. Thats the only thing they share because hes a democrat, he will be as successful as past democrats whereas with ikes campaign it was very much looking towards the future and not well, because they didnt really have a great past in recent years to look back to that they would want to advertise. So they had to push past that and you can see that contrast here. And also a lack of prioritizing media and honestly theres no creativity here, which would make sense because they didnt prioritize it, and that definitely hurt them in this. And i think thats really important to think about, the Democratic Party had been in office for 20 years. That is a long time to control the white house. And they had done so in a way that built a coalition with very specific new deal programs that gave benefits to voters that brought workers and farmers into that Democratic Coalition with all of the programs that weve looked at. And so they were relying on those structures as economic incentives to bring voters to the polls. They werent worried about getting new voters. They just wanted to capitalize on the coalition that they had mobilized for the last 20 years. So in many ways theyre using the same strategies in terms of the rhetoric and who theyre appealing to turn out to the polls. On the subject of lack of creativity one thing i just realized is that both of those ads used already commonly known commonly accepted meters and musical structures that they just twisted slightly. There really was no creativity at all. They tried to build on familiarity rather than bringing something new and innovative. So again i think its really important to kind of think about that theres no one way that is predetermined of how american politicians will turn to a new medium. Rather, there are a lot of different strategies at play. And even Dwight Eisenhower was really reluctant to embrace a more madison avenue driven style and nothing really exposes the initial thinking of Dwight Eisenhower like his announcement speech, when he was announcing his candidacy in abilene, kansas, and he turns out to a park in abilene, it is rainy, stormy, and everyone tells him weve got Television Cameras set up, you need to go into this barn to deliver your address to tv audiences across the country. And he says absolutely not. I am going to talk to my supporters here. And he was proud that they came out to support him and he wanted to connect to the audience that was in front of him. So he endured the wind and the rain and all of this was captured on camera. Heres what it looked like. 20 odd years ago i left abilene. Since then ive seen demonstrated in our own land and in far corners of the earth, on battlefields and around tables, in schoolhouse and factory and farming communities, the spirit of americans. Looking back on the american record through these years, i gained personal inspiration and renewed devotion to america. There is nothing before us that can frighten or defeat a people who in one mans lifetime have accomplished so much. [ applause ] ladies and gentlemen, i believe we can have peace with honor, reasonable security with national solvency. I believe in the future of the United States of america. [ applause ] what did you notice here . What captured your attention. Kayla . I think if you muted this and you would think that he is out at war somewhere speaking to his troops. I dont know. Maybe its because we know he is a war general, the wind, the rain, his hair flying, and his has a very grimaced expression. He looked like a war general which i think is good for him because that is what he was running on. Excellent. Did anyone know that eisenhower had hair until you saw this . Because you actually see his hair blowing in the wind. Later in the speech it starts raining harder. He cant really see through his glasses and hes struggling with his glasses as hes reading the speech. Robert montgomery at this time it is a hollywood actor and a republican and he watched the speech and he was horrified. He recounts how he immediately picks up the phone, called the Republican Party and said let me work on your campaign with you. You are really missing an opportunity to shift from this idea of a military hero and emphasize that youre a political leader, that you want to be president and you can command not just audiences in front of you, but audiences across the country. So Robert Montgomery asked to work on his campaign and he was not the only one. Dwight eisenhower was friends with a lot of people in new york city that worked on madison avenue. And they also worked very diligently with him to revamp his media strategy. He was originally very resistant to this. He did not want to make television such a priority in his campaign, but over and over again figures emphasized that you need to take television seriously. And you need to see that you can get something across. Something meaningful, across to viewers by embracing production tactics. And so this is what his campaign looked like that was very different from Adlai Stevenson. He had this very catchy i like ike and ike for president spot that ill show you in a moment. But then he also had a very innovative series of campaign spots called eisenhower answers america. I want you to think about what this does in terms of presenting eisenhower as a personality and how perhaps this is different from what weve seen with Adlai Stevenson, but then what weve seen before in previous campaigns. So here is the first one, and this is the song that youll be singing the rest of the day. Ike for president ike for president ike for president ike for president you like ike i like ike everybody likes ike for president hang out the banner bang the drum well take ike to washington we dont want john or dean or harry lets do the job right lets get in step with the guy thats hip get in step with ike i like ike you like ike everybody likes ike for president hang up the banner, bang the drum together were going, travel day and night let stevenson go the other way well go with ike you like ike i like ike everybody likes ike for president hang up the banners beat the drums well take ike to Washington Well take ike to washington now is the time for all good americans to come to the aid of their country. This also uses cartoons, but what does it do thats different from stevenson . Tanner . Yeah, so in this one, it kind of has more of a bandwagoning effect and he even says like its time for all good americans to come together. So it brings up the notion that, you know, you should join in on this party. Excellent. Great. Caroline . It is catchy in that it has like a chorus that repeats rather than the like farmers one relied on the fact that everyone would know that song already. Im in choir. And we do a lot of 40s and 50s music in choir. This is very periodesque. People were already listening to music like this so it appealed to the masses in that pop culture idea. Excellent. And thats a really key point. Lucas . Weve already commented on how democrats were looking backwards in this campaign and republicans were looking forward. Ive looked at these before in the past. One thing that stands out is the sun rising at the end. It seems like its a new day after this 20 years of democrats being in office. So all of these different visuals. The music. The sound to it. They all emphasize innovation and looking forward and enthusiasm. Creating that bandwagon, that join us. This is something exciting moving forward. Dont you want to be a part of it . Ryan . I also notice how visuals were important because there was an illusion to harry truman within the advertisement. Truman was on the campaign trail with stevenson even though he wasnt up for election of course. Unlike the democratic ads we saw earlier in the lecture the visuals are very important for selling the message of the advertisement. So there still is a critique of the Democratic Party. But the emphasis is definitely on that positive message. You dont want to be a part of that Democratic Party and truman whos been running for 20 years. You want to be a party of the future. I have two points. It helps with the rewatchability. I could probably recite, not the bob and ike bit, because that was too boring, but the other piece i could recite that from memory after watching that once. It has all these visual subtleties like stevenson on a donkey riding in the background in silhouette that i didnt even catch that the first three times i watched that video. Its also very personal and digging into the i dont know if this was explored in psychology. Its the idea of peer pressure. I like ike. You like ike. Why dont you like ike . You should like ike. Absolutely and you know it is ike, right . And the democratic commercials they didnt talk as much about stevenson. You know the candidate. You know it is about ike. Ikes personality is at the forefront of all the catchy songs, the imagery, the slogans that come together to promote ike the personality. You dont actually see him himself in the commercial, but Rosser Reeves, an advertising executive at this time, talked with eisenhower repeatedly and he said we need to get you into these short spots. And he came up with the idea about eisenhower answers america. The notion was these would be 20 second spots, very short. And they would have different individuals asking eisenhower a question about his platform and his policies and what he would do as president. And this is where he was really reluctant. This required him to spend an entire day in the television rehearsing all of these lines. They made him take off his glasses and he couldnt see so they made really huge cue cards. They worked on the lighting, they put makeup on him to make him look attractive. This is where Robert Montgomery played a role in terms of how do we present actors and using all of the tools of the trade to present ike here in a very effective, efficient way. Eisenhower, again, was not happy with this. He reluctantly agreed to do it because he saw the potential of reaching new audiences. He did grumble along the way. One of the most famous quotes in terms of critique that he offered was he was exasperated after an entire day of filming all these commercials and he said why dont you just hire an actor. It does foreshadow the changes that would come in terms of who was qualified. How we think about the qualifications for the presidency. But im going to play a couple here. Think about all the production tactics at play with this spot campaign. Eisenhower answers america. General, the democrats are telling me ive never had it so good. Can that be true when america is billions in debt and prices are doubled, when taxes are breaking our backs and were still fighting in korea . Its tragic. And its time for a change. And then this one. Eisenhower answers america. You know what things cost today. High prices are just driving me crazy. Yes, my mamie gets after me about the high cost of living. Its another reason i say its time for a change. Time to get back to an honest dollar and an honest dollars worth. What do you notice with those two really quick clips . Jack . The big thing i noticed was that both clips, they were looking up at him at a very steep angle which is like putting him on a pedestal. Absolutely. Like please help us. We need help. Excellent. Tanner . So he kind of uses Rosser Reeves unique selling proposition in this saying these short spots he doesnt give he just gives simplistic answers. Hes not giving very detailed, like, indepth perceptions to it. So thats what i would say. And hes refuting the slogans. Youve never had it so good is a Democratic Party slogan. Hes refuting them, but not in a lot of detail. Hes saying what about the cost of living and tries to point to very specific things to refute the slogan. So its not very specific in terms of all the details that he gives, but its a little bit more specific than the slogan. So that, again, 20 seconds he can try to refute some of the democratic slogans that theyre running on. Excellent. Kayla . Yeah, i think we can laugh at these because you can clearly see him reading the cue cards and that very awkward pan to the front was kind of comical. But i think for the time, this is brilliant because its a person and eisenhower together and theyre talking to each other. It goes one step further than the fireside chats. Its not just personable over the airwaves. Its personable in person with the candidate and the American People have a chance to directly talk to him about their concerns. Uhhuh. Excellent. And again, it does personalize this conversation that ordinary americans are talking with this president ial candidate. It also, if you notice, the people they bring in allows him to speak to particular demographics. Women, africanamericans, trying to bring them into the Republican Party. And the timing of these mattered. So while Adlai Stevenson purchased longer chunks of time later at night, what the Republican Party did is that they purchased expensive slots that were only 30 seconds long. That were maybe a minute long for the ike for president spot. And they purchased those at the end of the most popular shows. So frequently going to carolines point earlier, about how this fits in with the Popular Culture of the 1950s, when a show would end and this would seamlessly come on, youre capturing viewers who are already tuned in to a television variety show. And they continue to watch that because it fits in to those themes, that music that perhaps theyre used to hearing. And so what this does is it creates an opportunity for ike the personality to reach out to new voters. And to reach out to perhaps independent voters or people who had previously voted for the Democratic Party. Or to emphasize this idea that perhaps you havent voted before, but theyre going to reach out to people as media consumers. And thats a word that was used in their campaign and in studies of their campaign during the 1950s. This notion of how can we appeal to voters as media consumers. Here is another innovation that they brought to the campaign trail that you can find through the cspan Video Library that has all of these programs. And this is their election eve program where you see Richard Nixon and Dwight Eisenhower sitting next to one another looking clearly uncomfortable on camera, but they went on camera. And thats the key thing. They went on camera the night before the election, and they talked about what they wanted to do in office and then it goes from them to showing scenes of them. Eisenhower leading troops in world war ii and some scenes of them campaigning around the country. So, again, it gave that personal connection. The election eve program from 1956 goes a step farther. In that they organize ike celebrations all across the country in San Francisco and detroit, and they had cameras there capturing the surge of support that eisenhower had across the country and it showed it. It linked region to region through this election eve special and then ended at the white house. So again, its trying to create a National Electorate to overcome different divides in region. And even class and social status through television. Trying to build a new constituency for the Republican Party through that language of television. And for the Republican Party and Dwight Eisenhower, it worked. Media analysts after the 1952 election noted that eisenhower and republicans used this new medium more effectively to attract a wider range of voters and to bring in new people to the Republican Party. And so i think thats a really key thing here. Thinking about how you can use a new medium to bring in individuals that may not have been engaged in the political process before. They may not be invested in voting like workers are whose negotiating rights depended on building that new Deal Coalition or farmers who some of their economic interests depended on these new deal programs. Rather, youre appealing to media consumers and finding a way to get them invested emotionally into the political process. So one of the effective things that eisenhower does is he brings these innovations from the campaign trail to the white house, itself. And transforms the white house into a production studio. And this is very literally, they took the basement or the basement kitchen of the white house and turned it actually into a production studio itself with cameras. And he had the help of Robert Montgomery who went from a Campaign Adviser on his media strategy to the First Television adviser as an official function of the white house staff. And he, ultimately eisenhower is researching ways that he can capitalize on television and get people interested in what hes doing as an individual from the white house. And so he experimented with television the same way that fdr had experimented with radio. And again, this is on purpose. What Robert Montgomery talks about in internal memos is he says fdr was very innovative and we need to pick up from where he left off and take the presidency into the next chapter with television. And so he has a variety of different tactics that he introduces. In 1954, theres the first televised Cabinet Meeting. This is also available through the cspan archives. And i would show you a clip, but its incredibly muddled, and i think that shows as to how its not as effective. Eisenhower was reluctant to have a televised Cabinet Meeting, but his press secretary said this is a great opportunity to like radio before. James haggerty, his press secretary, said television allows you to go to the people. Quote, and go directly to them without them having to read warped and slanted stories by the press. So, again, that same way of using a new medium to bypass Critical Coverage in the press and allow eisenhower to connect directly to viewers. So he tries a televised Cabinet Meeting. But the issue with the televised Cabinet Meeting is that it was incredibly scripted. As you can imagine. They set up cameras and people had scripts they were literally reading, and it was clear this was scripted. So, yes, they talked about the issues of the day, Foreign Policy and economic challenges, but they did so in a way that didnt seem like it was actually a fly on the wall where you were seeing these policy discussions. Rather it was just another opportunity to bring other figures of the president ial administration into the media eye to talk about policy. He also had the first televised press conference. And this is a tradition that has become engrained in the presidency ever since then. But again, he had reporters. He had reporters come in, ask certain questions of eisenhower, but at the end of the day, James Haggerty and Robert Montgomery were able to edit and to cut what they didnt like from this press conference. And so some people celebrated these innovations as democracy in action. Others lamented that it was white house censorship and news management and that this was just another form of manipulation. Perhaps the biggest innovation that Dwight Eisenhower brings with television to the office of the presidency is the tradition that still persists to this day. And that is the idea of sitting at his desk and giving an address about a National Crisis as it unfolded. And i want im going to play this quick clip to of an address that he delivers during the little rock crisis when the segregationist who did not want to integrate schools in little rock refused to allow africanamerican students to enroll in their high school. And so ultimately, because brown v. Board had just recently been passed, Dwight Eisenhower decided that it was his role as president to enforce the brown v. Board decision and send federal troops to little rock to ensure that these africanamerican students could enroll and to integrate the high school in little rock. And he delivers this address during this moment of National Crisis. During this moment in which he had just sent federal troops to the south to implement a national law. A decision that had been handed down by the Supreme Court. So think about the controversies. Weve looked at these debates over race and federal authority versus states rights and how theyve really embroiled american politics over the previous century. And so its his moment of crisis. And he uses television to frame whats happening as it is unfolding. And so this, again, i want you to think about how this is different from the news reels and fireside chats that Franklin Roosevelt used. His office in the white house in washington, d. C. We present a special address by the president of the United States, dwight d. Eisenhower. Mr. Eisenhower discusses the integration problem at little rock, arkansas. Ladies and gentlemen, the president of the United States. Good evening, my fellow citizens. For a few minutes this evening, i should like to speak to you about the serious situation that has arisen in little rock. To make this talk, i have come to the president s office in the white house. I could have spoken from rhode island of where i have been staying recently. But i felt that in speaking from the house of lincoln, of jackson, and of wilson, my words would better convey both the sadness i feel and the action i was compelled today to make and the firmness with which i intend to pursue this course until the orders of the federal court at little rock can be executed without unlawful interference. In that city, under the leadership of demagogic extremists, disorderly mobs have deliberatively prevented the carrying out of proper orders from a federal court. Local authorities have not eliminated that violent opposition. And under the law, i, yesterday, issued a proclamation calling upon the mob to disperse. This morning, the mob again gathered in front of the Central High School of little rock. Obviously, for the purpose of again preventing the carrying out of the courts order relating to the admission of negro children to that school. Whenever normal agencies prove inadequate to the task and it becomes necessary for the executive branch of the federal government to use its powers and authority to uphold federal courts, the president s responsibility is inescapable. In accordance with that responsibility, i have today issued an executive order directing the use of troops under federal authority to aid in the execution of federal law at little rock, arkansas. This became necessary when my proclamation of yesterday was not observed and the obstruction of justice still continues. So what does he do here . What power does this give him . Caroline . So he, as the executive, shows that he is listening to whats happening around the country and hes, like, the first one to, you know, have a stake in it. And he talks about the executive order that he makes and, of course, the Supreme Court has i think its cooper v. Aaron where they enforce, like, the brown decision, but as the executive, hes showing, like, yes, i am the figure that represents america and i am here talking about this first. So i think that that primacy effect is really interesting and important. Excellent. Kaitlyn . I was going to say, he shows very clear executive power in this moment that i am the president of the United States, and you will obey this executive order that i have am trying to enforce because of a Supreme Court decision. This is how our laws work. But also he doesnt directly call out he calls out like the police there in little rock, but he puts the emphasis really on these demagogue extremists, the people, rather than the government there, the local government and governor fabis. Im from little rock so, like, this is important to me. But he doesnt really call out the local government there for really enforcing anything which is interesting because i think in some ways hes trying to hes not trying to isolate and push them away for not doing their job basically, but hes putting the emphasis really on the people and these mobs and that theyre out of control, but its not really the politicians that are really to blame for this. Why do you think he does that . Whats the goal . Because thats on purpose the way he frames it. I think hes trying to, like, keep them in draw them into the party especially as theyre kind of undergoing this shift between the democrats and the Republican Party like ideals i think are starting to shift and southern democrats that the idea of the southern Democratic Party is changing. And so hes trying to pull in southerners and southern politicians to into the Republican Party. Absolutely. So at the same time that he is forced to finally take a stance on the little rock crisis and send troops in and he does feel that its his obligation as the executive to follow the law of the land, but at the same time, the republican National Committee is undergoing a variety of studies, they call operation dixie, where theyre thinking about ways in which they can capitalize on the divides that are growing in the Democratic Party between southern conservatives and more liberal northern democrats that want to act on civil rights. So its a really calculated move in terms of how he frames it that you absolutely hit on. Excellent. Firstly, i find it kind of ironic that he chose Andrew Jackson of all people to talk about when talking about the enforcement of a Supreme Court decision given that one of jacksons most famous decisions was not to listen to the Supreme Court in the case of the indian removal act. But also, one thing he makes very clear is this is, to continue off of the absolving government point, he makes it very clear that this is a last resort. Its very much the people are not listening to what has been said previously so we have to send the army in to enforce this decision because we are a nation of laws and those laws must be followed. Excellent. Great. Ryan . I want to highlight what eisenhower said at the beginning. He was like, ive come to the white house when i could have just been in rhode island, and thats clearly for the visual aspect of this address because if its over the radio, it doesnt matter where he is. But he goes back to the white house to, one, lend credibility to what he is saying, and two, to draw comparisons to those president s he mentioned barring the whole jackson not respecting the Supreme Court, hes trying to lend legitimacy to his actions and the actions of the federal government through the location that hes giving the address. Yes, thats very key. Youre absolutely right. He recognizes the visual power of the oval office. And this is something that president s time and time again will continue to invoke, that visual power. And they will use these addresses from that very same spot to talk to the country in moments of crisis. And so, again, this is a really new development that eisenhower recognizes in terms of shifting the Power Dynamics. As you and caitlin mentioned overwhelmingly its the president thats taking action. And the president dominates television, especially in comparison to congress at this time. So its part of that visual shift in terms of who is taking action, who is leading the country. Thats centering more in the executive branch than in the legislative branch. So, to get to the question that we started with today, does television revolutionize the presidency or does it just build on trends that are already in place . Does something fundamentally change with television in the presidency . Caroline. I think its a mix of both. Like i know thats not the best answer. But for historians. Theres always trends in the media and even just within the presidency we talk about Teddy Roosevelt being the first personality president and that translates into fdrs radio addresses where he uses rhetoric that Everyday Americans can understand. But i think the biggest thing with television being introduced into the presidency is this idea of a media institution. Douglas in her article gets into that a little more later with like kennedy but this idea that there are these agencies now, pr agency pr as a profession comes into existence in this era because there is this idea that there is a way to use media, not even paid advertising, to make your message more known and make it seem credible and make people jump on board with it. This idea that there are also these norms that have to be addressed and understood with television as well. So i think the idea that there is this institution behind television, not just like not just the medium itself, not just the fact that its visual but there is an institution surrounding is really important in what changes. Thats excellent, a great observation. And you actually saw that in the beginning of this where if you notice, they showed him walking up to his desk. They showed the tv cameras. And frequently footage of eisenhower in the oval office would show that that production scene around it, newspapers would report on that and say, oh, the real excitement was behind the camera and they would describe what was happening. So theres an education that the entire public gets about how media as an institution works, that comes with the use of television and the implementation of this studio in the oval office. Excellent. Tanner . Yeah, id like to bring a point with television now its going to bring a lot more transparency to the executive branch now that they do have visuals and being more personable when they get into families homes and theyre gathered around the tv and get to watch the actual president give speeches and address certain agendas and everything else. Excellent, great. Ryan . I think the use of television is revolutionary in the fact that it changes who can be major party candidates. I think it would have been much more difficult for fdr, with his polio, to be a successful president in the 1950s because his campaign and staff was always doing everything they could to play down his physical ailment. But instead with television its much easier to use the cult of personality that roosevelt used to appeal to the people and then i think youll see later candidates and kennedy and reagan use different backgrounds than, say, the Party Politics that truman or mckinley or any of the a lot of the antebellum presidencies came out of and that is the biggest change that television creates on the presidency. Excellent, yes. It challenges Party Structures. It allows for those people who can command Media Attention to not have to negotiate and wheel and deal behind the scenes to gain power and privilege within the party, but to go to the public. You know, this does set up very nicely, what comes next on thursday, which is the 1960 election when john f. Kennedy does exactly that. Brent . Sorry about the delay. But what i was going to say is also on the op side side of that as kelly mentioned in their article that we read you had things like the Eisenhower Nixon Research Group that codified a Party Machine version too. It was less about being the king maker, and more about taking what limited money they had, which it was millions of dollars. It wasnt limited by, like, normal scope, but it was they did have a budget and figuring out what the most effective way to spend that money was. Absolutely. Excellent. So new challenges within the party itself to think about how to adapt and take advantage of the media landscape. And then the role of individuals that then who are not a part of the party can think about ways in which they can foreground themselves to make the party take them seriously. And that, again, is something that Stanley Kelly talks about notably in this particular excerpt. And im going to give you a brief second to read this. Its part of the reading. I think it really gets at the core of what youre talking about in terms of changing Party Structures that happened because of Public Relations and television. So if youre a candidate that is looking to win a president ial nomination from your party and its really telling that this is Stanley Kelley jr. Which you read for today, hes a political scientist at princeton and hes one of the first people to actually study this question of Public Relations and Power Dynamics. How would this new industry of Public Relations is shifting, the Power Dynamics in american politics during the 1950s. This comes out in 1956. If you are an astute and eager public official and you want to think about a president ial nomination how would you take this advice that he gives and perhaps apply it to your campaign . Caitlin . I think you have to become a celebrity. Absolutely. Within your own right, somehow politically or otherwise, i mean, you could be reagan and be an actor or, you know, a radio talk show host or something on the radio that he did, i dont remember. Or you become a political celebrity but either way you have to make publicity for yourself in order to capture the public imagination before you even Start Talking about your policies in order to get that attention that you are a person and that youre seeking this nomination and that youre like a person of the people, again a celebrity. Absolutely, excellent. The importance of a systematic large scale privately sponsored publicity buildup in order to gain political legitimacy. And this is something that john f. Kennedy studies and recognizes and uses in his campaign to win the democratic nomination in 1960. And its notable as we will talk about on thursday that his challenger was Lyndon Johnson, the most powerful democrat in the country, that had all of the authority of working within the Democratic Party since the time of the new deal, building up his credibility and his authority, his ability to manipulate votes in the senate. Those two were the leading contenders for the democratic president ial nomination in 1960. And its very telling that john f. Kennedy is on the ticket as president and Lyndon Johnson is on the ticket as vice president. And so how that came about and the 1960 campaign, when we have all of these conflicting ideas about who should have authority, all of that will be the story we look into on thursday. Great job today. Youre watching a special edition of American History tv, airing weekdays. We begin with programs on dwight d. Eisenhower. This year marks the 75th anniversary of the end of world war ii, and Dwight Eisenhower is being remembered as supreme allied commander. First we hear from louis galambos, editor of the papers of dwight d. Eisenhower, he talks about if evolution of his leadership stale from west point cadet to president of the United States, afterward well hear from william hitchcock, discussing his book, the age of eisenhower, america and the world in the 1950s, later, a look at eisenhowers role as army general. American history tv now and over the weekend on cspan 3. Every started night American History tv takes you to College Classrooms around the country for lectures in history. Why do you all know who liz zi borden and is raise your hand if you ever heard of this gene harris murder trial before this class. The deepest cause where well find the true meaning of the revolution was in this transformation that took place in the minds of the American People. Were going to talk about both of these sides of this story, the tools, the tech neegs of slave owner power and well talk about the tools and techniques of power that were practiced by enslaved people. Watch history professors lead discussions with students on topics ranging from the American Revolution to september 11th, lectures in history on cspan 3 every saturday at 8 00 p. M. Eastern on American History tv, and lectures in history is available as a podcast, find it where you listen to podcasts. With the federal government at work in d. C. And throughout the country, use the congressional directory for Contact Information for members of congress, governors and federal agencies. Order your copy online today. At cspanstore. Org. Up next we here from louis galambos, editor of the papers of Dwight Eisenhower. He talks about the evolution of eisenhowers leadership style from a westpoint cadet to president of the United States. The Kansas City Public Library hosted this program. Good evening. Im meredith slicher, im the executive director of the Eisenhower Foundation. And its wonderful to see such an outpouring of support from our friends of the Eisenhower Foundation as well as the friends of the