To preserve the records of the federal government and make them accessible to the public. That includes over 8 billion. Ermanent valuable records tonights presentation will include some of those pictures. Im honored to have with us doug schoen, it comes to us all the way from new york city. Hes a Founding Partner and principal strategist, a leading leading firm. T at a ladies and gentlemen, please welcome douglas schoen. [applause] sam, thank you for the kind introduction. What we are about to embark on tonight is what is for me and i suspect for you a labor of love, which is going through american political history. In a certain sense what youre about to hear is the result of a month exercise in putting together a jake saw puzzle. The jigsaw puzzle was telling the story of american elections through images. I dont pretend to suggest that what youre about to hear his comprehensive, but i do want to leastt that it tells a part of the story and gives you a visual sense of what was going on in the election. My purpose tonight is to give you a sense of what we did, how we tried to tell the story of campaigns, and to make an argument. Campaigns are part history, part ritual, part technology, and ultimately americana. What i have tried to do through this process is to give a sense as to how we have developed as a nation and a people are political campaigns. This a work in progress. Im constantly learning more about the images and issues raised by the book. One of the things thats been most grad eyeing is to talk through with people, frequently many who know as much, if not more than me, the story of american elections. I think we are in one of the most important president ial elections. Part of america is some elections are extraordinarily interesting, decisive and important, and others are not. Without anything more, let me begin. I think we are going to cover the evan flow of American History. Really, elections for president talk about our fearse, our fears, our hopes, our dreams for the future. In one way, campaigns have changed dramatically over time. In another sense, they are to what wesimilar saw 200 years ago or thereabouts. Years, we engage in a process where we ask the American People to participate in our democratic experiment. One of the things i say about this election to the good is regardless of whether you support president bush or secretary kerry, we have levels of interest in participation in this process. Whether your candidate wins or good way to to the some of our campaigns are highminded. Others are particularly petty. Our elections serve as national forms where we collectively ranginghe great issues from civil war and slavery, the great depression, the vietnam war, iraq and terror we really talk about what is most important. Building the union, slavery, war and peace, the role of government, how to run the economy we are and we do consider big issues and problems. To be sure, there are some elections which are not as important. We see the significant elections in my terms are 1860, 19 32, 1968, 1980, 1994. Probably should have been 1992. 1994 is a pretty important election even though it was a congressional election. In 2004 we have a question mark. I keep that in that column. Perhaps 56,cant, 84, 1924. 1924 probably most important for its election. In terms of peace and prosperity, voters have largely stayed the course and supported incumbents in times of economic distress or great social and economic upheaval, there has been greater turnover and greater fluidity in our politics. The question we will answer on tuesday is, are we secure enough in president bushs war on terror that we vote to reelect him or whether theres enough concern about that were on terror in and iraq. I dontt here today, think theres any reasonable person who can say with certainty what the result will be. This chart here is one that i think speaks to the changes that have happened in election campaigns. On isk what we see going that campaigns have changed so dramatically where we are talking perhaps more 1860s,gically from the when campaigns were really front porch. The typical way of campaigning was for a candidate to stay at home and for the voters to come to him. To be sure, we have the lincoln of listed base douglas d ebates and they represent probably the First National political debates, but fundamentally, candidates were nominated. We indicate in the late 1980s conventions began. It was not until 1932 when franklin dr. Roo se franklin d. Roosevelt that a candidate went to a convention. Put Whistle Stop Campaigns around 1948. They came earlier than that great the reason we did that is probably the most famous and important Whistle Stop Campaign was harry trumans. Give em hell, harry, send a message to the republican congress, the donothing congress. Befores in the era television, the First Television commercial didnt emerge until 1952. In 1960 we had the first televised debate. Some of you are probably old enough to remember the nixonkennedy debate. Im just fairly old enough to remember that they occurred. By 1992, ross perot and bill clinton in particular used talk shows to go over the head of these the institutional media and with talk shows was the advent of cable tv. As somebody who in 1996 was one of the clintons principal strategists, cable was just developing. Did not exist. It was completely irrelevant for the campaign. With some degree of certainty, in the course of a twoyear effort for president clinton, 1995 and 1996, we never spoke about cable tv other than larry king and cnn. But, there was no focus on the cnbc, msnbc, fox, and the profusion of networks. Just didnt come into play. There was concern about the organized rightwing effort to undermine president clinton but it didnt really include talk tv. More talk radio. 4, a device that i again, in 1996, i guess the question would be, did bill clinton have a website . I guess he did great we never talked about it or a bob dole had it i talked about it during his campaign a little. But it was almost odd, didnt make sense. Youve all no doubt been aware and responded to solicitations and emails. Look at each candidates website and responded accordingly. We really have changed so dramatic in how we communicate. I want to use images to really tell the story. Ultimately you can listen to me and i think that is a useful thing to do but far more useful than that is to look at some of the images. When im going to try to do tonight is to give you a sense as to what we are seeking to do in campaigns. Name was spelled misspelled. More important here is one of the ways he campaigned was with it was a Campaign Song that would serve as the means of motivating voters. Had happyoosevelt days are here again. Less have more or used songs going forward. Sheet ofa published music on behalf of the douglas campaign. One of the things that i think is timeless and politics is the negative ads. I suspect most of you are probably as fed up with negative campaigning as most people are. Campaigns bring out the best and the worst. Look at this one. Perhaps just say the n word because i dont want to be profane. Ner, save us from ekality. This husbands are not was antireconstruction, broadside cartoon. Cartoons were used very significantly as a means of communicating. Im going to finish and then take whatever questions you might have. That ithe other things think those of you who are democrats are aware of, remember will rogers line, i dont belong to any organized political party, im a democrat . Is a depiction of democratic reformers in 1876. I think as a party that had nine ,andidates, and that has been certainly you could be fair in summarizing the last 30odd years of democratic history, 1968,s even going back to that would be 36 years. I think you could say that factionalism and division inside the party is something that would comments back there. In 1876 we see in this image that division in the Democratic Party was a constant going back almost 200 years. The other thing that you see platform. You have tilden and his running mate and their platform artfully laid out on a broadside. I dont think anyone can really know how closely people would have read this. Rest assured, i dont think theres anyone here. Probably very few people from the kerry or bush campaigns who would know what was in the Party Platform great here we have the platform laid out in some detail, from the 1870s campaign. This is a very funny image. Campaign. Om the 1884 perhaps as a precursor of what was in the offing. Have Grover Cleveland being accused of fathering an illegitimate child. You can see the image of cleveland, the baby, the mother. Timelessone of the images in american political history. One of the things we now focus on in great detail in our analysis is the socalled swing voter. This campaign has been about, are there swing voters . Have they disappeared . Whos appealing . George bush, until very recently, has not made much of an effort to appeal to swing voters. He has in the last few days, if my memory is correct. We have here cleveland shaking hands with a quote, independent voter. An early attempt to appeal to swing voters. What is so extraordinary to me is if today in american political life we have 30 30second comparative ads. One candidate is all good, one candidate is all that. What we have here is a very of clevelandssment and Benjamin Harrisons ideas. Statebystate. We have a visual and graphic him demonstration of why one candidate deserves to be reelected and the other not. Keep dakota out of the union, admit dakota. [inaudible] im sorry. [inaudible] can you all read whats on that screen . I think its pretty. Admit dakota [inaudible] keep montana out. Death to polygamy, thats wats ohats on utah. Go figure. [inaudible] issues similar to the ones we have today being debated between harrison and cleveland. We have the whole essence of the campaign being summarized. 1896, the first real firebrand campaigner who took his message on the road with his cross of gold speech was william jennings. Mckinleys running mate in 1900 was theodore roosevelt. Ofhink you get a sense here him being a galvanizing campaigner. We have Woodrow Wilson on the stump. He said compared to academia, dealing with the congress was an easy task. 1916, wilson was the first president who actively campaign for reelection. Richard nixon had something called the rose garden strategy. From 1932 to 1944, there were obviously there was the birth of the new deal coalition. Was roosevelt who was able to put together a coalition of northerners, southerners, whites, africanamericans. The cities, and in the rural south, the extent to people were in franchised and that was sadly very limited trade you can see the extent to which roosevelt was able to galvanize farmers and build a former labor coalition. Roosevelt made sound newsreels and i think after his election, his fireside chats really captivated a nation still facing significant distress. I think the Campaign Signs summed it up. Hoover promised me this car, roosevelt gave it to me, but for wilke takedont let it away for me. Ishink the image here something worth contrasting. Look at how old and tired fdr election. The 1944 there are very few images that campaign,om the 1944 despite its relevant frequency. I have an image here which is sadly not on the projector but i will show it to the audience so you can get a sense of fdr 24 years earlier. I apologize. Perhaps you can see it read it. Fdr was able to walk under his obviously ad was goodlooking, imposing personality. Absolutely. 1948 one of the most Famous Campaign shots was the headline after election day from the chicago tribune, dewey beats truman. The problem here was my profession. Mine is an industry that is sadly held up about the same level of steam as dog catchers but there are those who say. Catchers provide a more socially useful function than those of us in the survey research business. While the survey Research Profession has gotten more sophisticated, we are not any more likely to predict the than we wereesday 56 years ago, 2004. The difference is we have a lot more pull. Polls. We are inundated with polls. 1948 there were polls gallup. Topped polling in midoctober what can happen in the last two weeks before the election . That was the logic. Im sure some of you live in neighborhoods that are homogeneous in their political opinion. , we happened in early polls just told people we found. The random selection was less it isific or precise than today. In the final weeks of the campaign, truman conducted a Whistle Stop Campaign that reenergize democrats and according to roper, republicans were so confident they would win they basically played golf on electionyear. This is another image that i think is of timeless importance in american political life. Truman from 1948. The other thing about the 1948 election is that there were third and fourth party. Andidates there is a much younger strom who captured 39 electoral votes won 5 or 6 states in the process. Thurman went through a political metamorphosis. Secret life had a that is recently been revealed. You see an image of thurman from the 1948 election. 52 election was the first commercials. Tv even more than tv commercials all know there are at least some of you in the room who probably remember the checker speech from 1952 when Richard Nixon was alleged of having a secret slush fund used to provide a cloth coat for pat and his dog, which is children loved. He said in a tearful and emotional address on television the he was going to give dog back. Please write to the rnc about it. Kidsids, nixon said, the al the kids loved the dog. Regardless of what they say about it, we are going to keep the dog. Eisenhower, unlike candidates today, while he wanted to be president , was in a certain sense drafted by Republican Leaders and he did not begin an active campaign until well into the 1952 political season. 1956 was eisenhowers reelection against adlai stevenson, who he beat in 1952. Is neither put up nixon nor stevenson nor keith alber, his running mate, or dwight d. Eisenhower. Its john f. Kennedy. One of the things weve seen through political history that i guess i knew but im not really on is the focused way that people emerge in one election and they are in another. Bid forkennedy had an the Vice President ial nomination. I suggest that you look at him and see a much younger man. His pace had not ruled out out the way it ultimately did from adelson. If you look closely at the picture, his collar is sort of up. You see a younger man. I guess he was born in 1917. 1956, he would have been 39 years old. He was elected at the age of 43. You see the hope on his face as well as the uncertainty. That to me was an image that told a great deal about what was to come in american political life. Heres another comparative ad, a poster, which party would be safer for you. Higher wages, homelessness ursus better homes. This was a little more artful than the cartoons we looked at from the 1860s with the same idea. 1960 is where we begin modern political history. Pioneered tv advertising. Jfk was americas First Television president. The kennedynixon debate where the first televised debates in American History. I think it helps turn the tide in his favor. What many of you may know or remember is that many of those that heard the debates on radio, jkf lost to Richard Nixon. To those that saw the debates on tv, john f. Kennedy one. If memory serves in the 2000 election, it could well be that these debates made the difference. If you remember, nixon made a pledge to campaign in all 50 states and came back late from alaska before the first debate, unshaven, 5 00 shadow. I think he was ill of fever. You can see how drawn he looked. Ultimately tv being a business of image and substance, he looked far less comfortable and will prepared than the well rested john f. Kennedy. 1954 was a seminal election in american life. Is theegun with year commercial that only ran once. This commercial is similar to the wolf commercial that george w. Bush is now running in the waning days. The argument, we can only trust george w. Bush given the medical report the metaphorical wolves coming after america. In 1984 those images were not used. A socalled daisies but that had a little girl pulling petals off of a daisy. In the background, there was a nuclear explosion. The argument was that if we elected barry goldwater, we would have a nuclear conflagration. Obviously johnson won in a landslide. Given vietnam and followed from civil rights, but mostly vietnam, by the 1968 election, Lyndon Johnson was in deep trouble. The book has other images of johnson and kennedy. But i focus on this in the. Focus on this image. This tells me the whole story of Lyndon Johnson, march 31, 1968, when he withdrew from the election. He looks tired, he looks exhausted. He looks like a beaten man. And he was a beaten man. He withdrew and said he would not be a candidate for reelection. Again, for those of you that remember that denouncement, it was an extraordinary event. I think one of the things we remember from the 1968 election. Again, i chose one image and i chose one image to depict it, was lobby kennedy. Something extremely difficult in american life, which is an active blackwhite coalition. This image of him campaigning really told the story of the hope he inspired. The other thing about the 1968 race was, for those that remember it, the new nixon. That was a repackaged nixon. Nixon had lost to governor pat brown in 1952 following his narrow defeat by john f. Kennedy in 1960. Nixon had angrily told a press conference that they would not have nixon to kick around anymore. Sure enough, that was wrong. But he did it with packaged town halls. Im forgetting the title of the book, the selling of the president. It really told the story of how Frank Shakespeare packaged record packaged Richard Nixon said that he was in front of seemingly ordinary voters, but in fact they were carefully selected and screened to tell his story his way. The other part of the 1968 election was demonstrations in the street. I think very few of us who were politically aware will forget conflict in the streets of chicago that may have been enough to deny super comfrey the election like Hubert Humphrey the election. The victory over humphrey for candidates could be marketed and sold through the corporate world. Corporate advertising has found its place in american life. One thing thats missing from the story of 1968 that we cover in the book is the wallace candidacy. One of the more successful thirdparty campaign that Strom Thurmond used in 1948 with a somewhat broader appeal, but having race at its core. 1976. Ped here to this is an image that i thought you would all like. We have forward with cheney and baker. Look at cheney and baker. Again, this really placed to my theme, actors in president ial politics emerge time and time again. And i think it is a very much younger baker and cheney and a gerald ford who looks pretty similar to today. He has aged very well. I think 41976, there are many images of jimmy carter. Put the whole notion of a rule governor who would never like you toldever lie to the whole story. His image with his brother billy really summed up who he was and how he developed. In 1980, the reason we have this electionbecause the was dominated by the division in the democratic primaries between senator kennedy and president carter. The convention in new york was basically the final attempt at reconciliation between the two. There was a handshake on the platform between the two, which as you can see on both their tentativeness,a suspicion, perhaps even hostility. This gives you a sense as to what was transpiring. In the elections, you have to exceed expectations. Determineates do will how they do in the polls. How they do is determined based on what the perception is, and whether they met or exceeded expectations. Ronald reagan seemed to stumble in his first debate in 1984, having won the 1984 election in the waning days. Many have said that this election is going to be like the 1980 election in the sense that the American People were evenly divided. Hostages did the not come out following reagans debate with carter. People moved en masse to ronald reagan. It remains to be seen whether that will happen this time. Most people sense that it wont. But time will tell. Line thathat the reagan used, she would not use were not explored youth desk would not exploit youth and inexperience . That totally disarmed Walter Mondale and led to reagans overwhelming reelection, along with his candor on the tax issue. With a few exceptions, Democratic Candidates have not advocated a broadbased increase in taxes. Many of you remember mike dukakis in 1988 in the tank. This image did not work too well. He did not really convinced people he was tough on defense and it did not make it compelling argument. My arguments about people showing up in elections time and time again, we have arnold firstgning with the george h. W. Bush. And look at the looks on their faces. It really tells a story of the enthusiasm, swearingen eggerss Arnold Schwarzeneggers uncertainty, and the voter entreaty of the Vice President. In 1988, the debate between senator benson and soon to be Vice President quayle . I worked with jack kennedy, senator you are no jack kennedy . A timeless line. It did not influence too many voters. Its one of those bits of American History that will live on. 1992. Again, i use this image to suggest that bill clinton was able to captivate a generation using Unconventional Campaign tactics. Who would have thought you have a president with dark glasses playing a saxophone on national tv, much less with an africanamerican host . The mtv appearance. Boxers or briefs . We have ross perot, who did pretty well in the debates that year. Bushu remember, president looking at his watch, on the third debate, i think it pretty much summed up his disengagement. Did you look at his face here versus the image in 1988, you can see people who appear very different in their orientation. Of course these are only two images. 1996. Again, basically we are in what i would say is the pure, most Sophisticated Media campaign of our era, where president clinton used tv for two years to compile lately recast his image after the failure in the midterm congressional elections. I am obviously proud of my role in the campaign, and will try to offer a few images that sums it up. One of them that sums up the process was bob dole falling. By uses image not because hes not a decent patriotic american. Hes a page article american who gave a great deal to his country, was a war hero, and has obviously been an extraordinary figure in american life. The image that i use of him falling sums up a campaign that never quite got on track. There was a series of malaprops in the campaign, uncertainty,nd the fall that he took while perhaps an unfair image, sums up the difficulties he faced. 2000. You had the street talking the image of john mccain on a presslking all day to the got him phenomenal press. And that was a change in how campaigns are seen. Men looking lonely that probably, cost the white houses vote in florida and in hampshire. The hanging chair. The i have a scream from howard dean. Said by those who are in the whole to be reasonable. Said by those of the best majority who saw it on tv to be a reason why he should not be elected president. John kerry announcing in south carolina, emphasizing his military service. A theme that came back to play a central role in the campaign. March of 2003 if i remember. Remember, president bush and his Mission Accomplished . The image. Bush on the campaign trail, again showing his connection with voters. Teresa. Ry with get a sense of their interaction. Summarizes what briefly is the history of our election. What i tried to do in my remarks tonight is not so much tell the story of every election and every image, but rather to give you a sense as to what happens in campaigns. To suggest that the book itself tries to tell a story in much greater detail. But even the book really suggests that where i began is ultimately where i would end. Campaigns are the story of our of thes americans, conflicts that divide us, of a resolution of those conflicts, and ultimately through the technology, the debate, the theater, wethe express ourselves as americans, resolving great issues and small issues there are campaigns. Let me stop and take whatever questions or comments you might have. Yes sir. I dont know if you can go back to the image, its on page 13. The image i think youll want to rethink your statement that this is a racist cartoon and an antireconstruction cartoon. Famousrtoon is by a republican cartoonist. This is i dont know if you noticed it, but you quality is misspelled. Misspelled. The attempt is to show these democrats as a bunch of idiots that cant even spell the quality. Each one of them is ugly. Many of them are in the stereo typical way of picturing irishamericans. And when it says white husbands that also misspelled. That is a husband that is a reference to irish catholicism. This is an antiracist attempts to cite this is the type of things that democrats would see. And indeed democrats were. This is the only period in American History when a party try to win office by being antiracist. The republicans achieved that in 1968 and so on. It was very idealistic. I would agree with you and stand corrected, but i offer one caveat if i might. Election back to 1964 Lyndon Johnson made it clear reelected andt self and change the Democratic Party what i would call not only antiracist but proempowerment of africanamericans. If you remember his conversations with Richard Russell senator from georgia, where he predicted correctly that the Democratic Party would suffer in the south as a result of this initiative. Sadly the same fishers your speaking of have occurred and haunted our politics since the last 40 years. Making, only in this time did the republicans attempt to tag the other party as racist. You are absolutely right about Lyndon Johnson. I stand corrected. I would say that in 1972 failing miserably, the democrats with nixons socalled silent majority made a real asset made a real effort to suggest that Richard Nixon was trying to divide on the basis of race. Richard nixon fought back. Remember black capitalism . Then, i appreciate correction. What i would say is for me, the nicest part of this process has been learning more as i put this together and have spoken to audiences and share it with whose knowledge is superior to my own. Tell us about where you get your photos from, and how do you come across these images . And youwe try to do, alluded to it in your introduction is to seek out every possible archive of images to put together a collection a representative collection of images that told the story. So we went to a variety of photo archives, institutional archives, and to the best of my ability, tried to tell the story of elections. I knocked it off. I would take the blame myself. Yes sir. Early on you talk about waving the bloody shirt. You have a chapter on it. You might want to note waving the bloody shirt met had one after 189018708090, it completely changed in meaning. After 1890 the republicans pretty much gave up on race relations. Became asserted by democratic historians in the early 20th century waving the bloody shirt had to do with the civil war. It had nothing to do with the civil war. 1800s,ody shirt in the was the superintendent of schools in mississippi. He was a republican and was in favor of black education as well education. Because he was in favor of rights for all, he was with 70 times and his shirt was completely tattered and blood. This shirt was then taken to washington by republicans to show how democrats in the 1870s, that the civil war, but in 1870s, were attacking Republican Voters both black and white. In fact it was waived on the floor of the congress by a congressman, formerly a general in the civil war. That is where the phrase comes from. First perjury by democrats of republican soldiers during and after reconstruction. 1890, two you see how they keep bringing up the civil war . It has nothing to do with the civil war. Are you a professional historian . I am a professional his professional sociologist. Great. [indiscernible] okay, final question. The future of political campaigning. Where are we going . As a good question. Thats a good question. There are a couple of worrying things that are happening in this election. I will start with the good news. The good news is the extraordinary interest. Given the strong polarization, the fact that so many people are registering and getting involved is good. Face is that we the system is so awash in money that the wealthy have been mccainfeingold Campaign Finance reform. What we are going now, absent change, is to a complete saturation of media and interest groups, particularly wealthy interest groups, of her political campaign. Second, i think we will see more campaigning on the internet, particularly fundraising and organizing. I think we will see campaigns going on longer. The campaign, depending on the results on tuesday, will begin for 2008 in earnest shortly after election day. I think the other thing that we a 24 hourat is called news cycle. Almost instantaneous reaction to what is going on. Again, if i had said to someone, even six years ago that the internet would raise all of howard deans money, and that he would go from a democratic frontrunner and virtual nominee, people would not have believed it. Ladies and gentlemen, please around of applause. [applause] let me thank you all for coming and thanks for your interest. As i said in the outset, for me this is an extremely enjoyable undertaking. Also, for me to participate and learn really makes my experience and even richer one. Thanks for your questions and comments and participation. Thanks book tv and thanks ladies and gentlemen. Outside we will be answering more questions and signing copies. Thanks very much. Chatter] on history bookshelf, here from the bestknown history writers in the past decade. Every saturday at 4 00 p. M. Eastern. Washington ever programs at any time by visiting our website www. Cspan. Org history. You are watching American History tv, all, every week on cspan. This weekend on lectures in history, Virginia Commonwealth University professor karen rader teaches a class on cold war educational film teaching students about Nuclear Warfare and science. Through the previous. Here is a preview. Whats going on in the 1950s is a massive expansion of the use of 16mm film in classrooms. Thats driven in part by technology. To see a picture of the kodaks pageants projector. The pageant projector was a new one that kodak invented which was lighter and more portable. The film did not burn. Always good when the School System invests in it. Although the film did sometimes burn. But it was advertised as not burning. This new version of Classroom Technology really fostered the expansion of the educational film industry. Film historian Jeff Alexander estimates that there were approximately 100,000 or so films made in this time. They were made largely by excavation on film companies. Educational film companies. Places like coronet, archer, even encyclopedia britannica. Just to kind of captured the new media idea. That an encyclopedia producer would be branching out into classroom film kind of captures the enthusiasm of this as a technology in the classroom. Watch the entire lecture tonight at 8 00 p. M. Eastern here on American History tv, only on cspan3. George don talks about his book revolution on the husband revolution on the cause on the hudson. The importance of the new york waterways and how the british were unable to establish an effective blockade of new england. Barnes noble to this hourlong event. Thank you for attending this author event. Han will be speaking about his book revolution on the hudson.
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