Transcripts For CSPAN3 Lectures In History Dwight Eisenhower And 1950s Political Advertising 20240712

Of the 1950s as an 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 heterosexuality in the law. It was a time in which anticommunism targeted the liberal reform impulses of the new deal and frequently, anticommunist took away Civil Liberties and 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 i like ike as a political construct shifted attention away from those divisions and it created a sense of consensus. In many ways this is a political construction and at the root of it was a very innovative and transform ti transformative Marketing Campaign that transformed a military hero into a political celebrity and he used that attention to win the presidency. Often we think of john f. Kennedy or Ronald Reagan as ushering in the 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 and the world and this is what we are going to look at today. Dwight eisenhower brought developments to the modern american presidency through his leadership style and his organizational approach. In doing this, he built on a lot of the transformations that we 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 formed the office of Congressional Liaison so that 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 the 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 medium of television, that ultimately really transformed american political communication during the 1950s. So this post world war ii era is really a key moment to understand the rise of entertainment, advertising, 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 strange strategies of political communication and qualifications needed to succeed politically . And the key question that were going 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 taking a look at what are the trends that are already in place . Does television launch a significant break in terms of leadership strategies and communications 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 in the beginning of the 20th century to start formalizing the process of, like, the executive office in the media. Excellent. Didnt he also have the west wing so the press would be in the white house to have a connection with them, as well . These are key in terms of he valued the press. He saw the press 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 and using rhetoric that is easy to understand and not complicated political jargon. Franklin roosevelt brings in this idea of the fireside chats. So theeder 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 policies. Franklin roosevelt takes this a step further. So he capitalizes on radio and usees that to create an intimate connection with the american public. And ill play you a quick clip to play you a sentence of what this sounds like thinking 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. 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 to the comparably few with those who understand the particulars of banking and the overwhelming majority of you who use banks for the depositing checks. What does he do with the 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 he is 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 program, how does he bypass them 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 radio and bypass 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 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 more conservative, were more critical of a lot of roosevelts policies, and 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 newsreels 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, you get a president now he gave the land a new deal. You hold the card a new deal. He gave us what we asked for, now pay him back somehow step out in front and get back up in the present and give a man a job now bear with the president and give a man a job in 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 and keep a man from becoming a loafer. My job is extermination, and you must give your workers a weeks vacation. It means no rats allowed. Whats the matter with you . Im a very sick woman. Oh, hypochondriac. Insom nia, and one fors osmosis, halitosis, or any other kind of an itis that will delight us. You have a doctor for every disease youve got and that will give you enjoyment and in that way, madam, you will help to end unemployment. Listen to me, everybody, get back at the president and give a man a job people in the front, you know that i know it. So step up and give a man a job you know who is in the back of that . No . Well, ill tell you, and when i do, it will be harder. You take this message straight from the president and give a man a job [ cheers and applause ] so what does this do thats different from the fireside chats . Go ahead. What turns president ial policy as 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 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 of this prosperity within the country. 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 approximatepolicy. Excellent. Adam . It kind of creates the sound bite. Yes. If you take different snippets, give back to the president or give a man to a job. Theyre easy to remember jingles and you can put that in some sort of radio advertisement and it appeals to a more general audience. Theyll remember that message whether or not they heard the whole song or not or whether or not they heard about the different ways they could help. They will remember give a man a job. Absolutely. The slogan. Bringing in features of advertising at this time and hollywood, bringing them into politics for those particular policies. And the only reason you will not be humming give a man a job later this day is you will hum i like ike one because it is catchier. Lucas . I thought it was healthier to hold the president up and shally when we think of selling a candidate we think of getting votes and in this case, it was getting the people involved in a spike policy, so its actually helping the common man or the middleclass man to come out and without you, we cant do this, but without you, you can be a part of this grander thing thats helping all americans. That is really key, as well, when we think about media and new media and the new presidency because really effective president s are able to use new media to win elections and also to govern, and to use it as a tool to sell their agenda, as well and making that transition to communication on the campaign trail to communication once in office is really key, and this is 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 regovern as he sets an agenda as lucas pointed out. Again, we see a lot of the new possibilities in terms of presenting 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 Set his sold. That number jumped to over 52 million by 1953. This is an incredibly dramatic growth of a new technology that for his politicians to grapple with presenting thepss and their policies tlie voters with tv screens than the radio Motion Picture shorts. And one of the key tings it go about is it caused tremendous to have anxiety and this is post world war ii that its become so powerful. There is concern over the manipulative power of propaganda at this time and the ways it could be used to undermine democracy and promote totalitarian governments and after all, joseph gobeles and adolf hitler and the nazi party in germany had a very effective propaganda machine. It is 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 and studio executives 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 film critic told the House Committee that, quote, glamour is appealing. The communists have made 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 nears of propaganda and manipulation are important to understand when we see the different ways that politicians grappled with television some of them embraced television and the ops th opportunities that it had to offer, but overwhelmingly in the 1950s they were very wary of it and the argument that i we dont want to manipulate others by embracing advertising, slick sales advertising in madison avenue. That really dominated Public Discourse during the 1950s. For example, the democratic nominee for the presidency in 1952 and 1956, Adlai Stevenson looked very disdainfully on the medium that sold president s as commodities. Quote, the idea that you can merchandise candidates for high office like breakfast cereal, i think is the ultimate indignity to the democratic process, argued Adlai Stevenson. He wanted to use this new medium to perhaps expand this message and deliver longer speeches e to emphasize his oratory, but not to use any of those slick sales techniques that not as 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 in the 1952 election is that he had catchy jingles for him, but he refused to be a part of that production. He said if you want to do that the way that you it did with radio, thats fine, but im not going to appear in these short advertisements. Theres no way that 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, what 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 . Whenever its cheapest. Absolutely. Which would probably be late at night when its not prime time. When Adlai Stevenson did appear on tv was late at night when the only people watching were perhaps those people who were committed democrats that wanted to watch what Adlai Stevenson had to say. So thats really the only time he appeared in these purchased periods on television and me had his Advertising Team make that again that reflected radio strategies. So ill show you two of them, and i want you to think about how these are perhaps more reminiscent of something youd hear over the radio than something youd see on tv. Old mcdonald had a farm back in 31 conditions failed him with alarm back in 31 not a chick, chick here, or a moo cow there, just broken down farm anywhere are everywhere he wants to go back to the days of 1931 when he didnt have bread when the day was done farmer mac knows what to do, election day of 52 well go out with everyone in the usa to vote for Adlai Stevenson. With a vote, vote here and a vote, vote everywhere, for what is good for mack, you see is good for you and good for me vote stevenson today all right. One more and then well discuss. Ike bob. Ike. Bob. Im so glad were friend again, bob. Yes, ike, we agree on everything. Lets never separate again, bob. Never again, ike. Bob. Ike. Bob. Will ike and bob really live happily ever after . Is the white house big enough for both of them . Stay tuned for a musical stay tuned for a musical bob and ike now think alike snet with the general in the white house who will give the orders bob or ike . Lets vote for adlai and john. So bob refers to robert taft who is 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 makes a particular argument about their relationship. So what did you notice about these two commercials . Caroline . All of the visuals were merely like ornamentation, like you mentioned earlier. These could have just been played over the radio and would have had the same effectiveness and also it doesnt really feature any of the candidates at all, like, facial wise so people watching it might not really make that rhetorical connection. Excellent. Great. Front . 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 mac is. We dont know what caused his farm to be bad and how voting for Adlai Stevenson would fix that problem. 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 catchy i like ike one that is going around this my friends are talking about. Its a lot of what you see today that are slander campaigns where youre getting nothing of yours across and bashing everything that they do and talking about you, just them and talking about all of the negatives. Thats whats really interesting is you see the negative approach and lets critique eisenhower and critique the Republican Party so the aspect is there rather than a positive message about why you should vote for the democratic candidate. Were preaching to the choir because the first one was saying adlai is good for farmers, but it doesnt say how. It seems like the only people that would, like, yeah. I agree with that are people familiar with the policies and the second advertisement where its trying to compare ike and bob, it doesnt explain why so the only people that will have their minds changed or actually no one is. Theyll see that and have their beliefs affirmed or offended. I think thats really important, too, when you think about the Democratic Party at this time is that media is a side component. Its clearly not a priority for stevenson or for the Democratic National committee at this particular time. Why . Where is the strength of the Democratic Party at this time . Why do they win elections . Ryan . They would be remnants of roosevelts coalition of the 1930s and Something Else from the first advertisement especially pointed out. Look back to 1931, look 20 years ago when republicans did those things. I feel like in the modern era 20 years ago is a completely different environment now, and its trying to harken back to arguments theyve been making for the last two decades. Excellent. Kayla . Yeah. I was going to say you can see the contrast between the Democratic Party and theyre continually asking people to look back at what theyve done, not even what stevenson has done necessarily and what other democrats have done and just linking the Party Together and thats the only thing that they share, but because hes a democrat he will be as successful as past democrats or with ikes campaign it was very much looking toward the future and not well, because they didnt 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 the contrast here and also a lack of prioritizing media and honestly, not like, theres no creativity here which would make sense because they didnt prioritize it and that definitely hurt them in this. Thats important to think about that the Democratic Party had been in office for 20 years and that was to control the white house and they had done so in a way to build a coalition with specific newdeal 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 of economic incentive to bring voters to the polls. They werent worried and they wanted to capitalize on the coalition that they mobilized for the last 20 years. In many ways, theyre using the same strategies in terms of the rhetoric and who theyre appealing to to turn out to the polls. On the subject of lack of creativity, one thing i realize side 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. Or they tried to build on familiarity rather than bringing something new and innovative. So again, its really important to 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 real le reluctant to embrace a more madison avenuedriven style and nothing really exposses 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. Its rainy and its stormy and everyone tells him, we have Television Cameras set up. You have 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 and so he endured the wind and the rain and all of this was captured on a camera and here is what it looked like. 20odd years ago i left abilene and since then i have seen demonstrated in our own land and in far corners of the earth, on battlefields and around council table, in school house and factory and Farming Community the indomitable spirit of americans from this rosty, looking back at the american record through the years i gain personal inspiration and renewed devotion to america. There is nothing before us that can fright 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 and Regional Security with national solvency. I believe in the future of the United States of america. [ cheers and applause ] what did you notis ce in her . What captured your attention . Kayla . I think if you muted this you would think that hes out at war somewhere speaking to his troops. I dont know. Maybe because we know hes a war general, i dont know, with the wind and the rain and his hair flying everywhere and he has a very grimaced expression. He looks like a war general which i think is good for him, thats what he was running on. Excellent. Yeah. Did anyone know that eisenhower actually had hair until you saw this . You can actually see his hair blowing in the wind. Later in the speech it starts raining harder. He cant really see through his glasses. Hes struggling with his glasses as hes reading this speech. Robert montgomery at this time is i hollywo is a holed lywood actor and he horrified and he immediately picked up the phone and called the Republican Party and said let me work on your campaign with you because youre missing this opportunity to shift from this idea of a military hero and emphasize that you are 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, and so Robert Montgomery asked, can i work on your campaign, and he was not the only one Dwight Eisenhower knew a lot of executives 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 like Robert Montgomery and advertising executives like robert reefs emphasized that you need to take television seriously, and you need to see that you can get something across, something meaningful across two viewers by embracing some of these 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. So 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 you like ike, i like ike, everybody likes ike for president hang out the banner and beat the drum we dont want john, or dean lets get in step with the guy that its up you like ike, i like ike hang out the banner and beat the drum, well take ike to washington we are going, travel day and night, we all go with ike you like ike, i like ike everybody likes ike for president bring out banner and beat the drum well take ike to washington now is the time for all good americans to come to the aid of ike. What does he do thats different from stevenson . For this one it has more of a bandwagoning effect and he even says like its time for all good americans to come together and it brings up the notion that you should join in on this party. Excellent. Carrie . It is catchy and has a chorus that repeats rather than the farmers one, just relied on the fact that everyone would know that song already and i inquired and we do a lot of 40s and 50s music so people were already listening to music like this so it appealed to the masses and the pop culture idea. Excellent, and thats a very key point. Lucas . Weve already commented on how democrats were looking backward in this campaign and republicans were looking forward. Ive looked at these in the past and one thing that stands out is the sunrising and it is a new day after the democrats being in office. So all of these different visuals. The music, the sound to it, they all faem size innovation and looking forward, an enthusiasm creating that bandwagon. Join us. This is something exciting moving forward. Dont you want to be a part of it . Ryan . I also noticed how the visuals were important because there was an i lugllusion to ha truman, and thats important becau because he was on the campaign trail for stevenson even though he wasnt up for election. Like the campaign ads we saw earlier in the lecture, the visuals for i like ike are very important for selling the message of the advertisement. Yeah. So there still is a critique of the Democratic Party in here, but the emphasis is definitely on that positive message that you dont want to be a part of that Democratic Party with truman and whats been running for 20 years. You want to be a part of this party of the future. Well, i have two points to continue on the visual point, it really helps with the rewatch ability. I could probably recite, not the bob and ike bit. I can probably recite that from memory, but i like ike and it had the visuals and riding on the dofrng ney silhouette. I didnt even capture that the first three times i watched that video and i have watched it many times now, but also its very personalizing and digging into the i dont know if this was explored in psychology yet, but its the idea of peer pressure. I like ike. You like ike. Why dont you like ike . Everyone should like ike. Absolutely. You know its ike where in the democratic commercials they did not talk a lot about stevenson. You know about ike and ike, the personality, is at the forefront of the catchy songs and the imagery and the slogans that come together to promote ike the personality here. You know you dont actually see eisenhower himself appear in this commercial, but roster reeves, an advertising executive at this time talked with eisenhower repeatedly and said we need to get you as an individual into these short spots and he came up with this idea about eisenhower answers america and the notion is that these would be 20second spots. Very short, and they would have different individuals asking eyen hower his approximately sees and what he would do as president. This required him to spend an entire day in a television studio, rehearsing all of these different lines and they made him take off his glasses and he couldnt see, and really large cue cards so he can read the lines. They worked on the lighting and put makeup on him to make him look attractive and this is where montgomery played a role in think itti in thinking how do we present actors in a very active and efficient way. Eisenhower again was not happy with this, but he reluctantly agreed to do it because he saw the potential of reaching new audiences. He did grumble along the way and one of the most famous quotes in terms of critique that he offered. He was exasperated after an entire day filming these commercials and why dont they just hire an actor and it really does kind of foreshadow the changes that will come in terms of who was qualified and how we think of the qualifications of the presidency. Im going to play a couple here and i want you to think about how you see all of these production tactics at play with this spot campaign. Eisenhower answers america. General, the democrats are telling me i never had it so good. Can that be true when america is billions in debt, when prices are doubled and taxes break our backs and we are 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 maimy gets after me about the high cost of living. Its another reason why i say its time for a change. Time to get back to an honest dollar and an honest dollars worth. What do you note wiice with e two really quick clips . Both clips they were looking up at him at a very steep angle like putting him on a pedestal like please help us, we need help. Tanner . He uses Walter Reeves unique selling proposition in this saying these short spots, he doesnt give he gives simplistic answers and hes not giving very detailed, indepth things to it. Thats what i have to say. And hes refuting the slogans. Youve never it so good and a very democratic slogan and hes refuting them and not in a lot of detail and what about the cost of living and tries to point to specifics to refute the slogan. So its not very specific in terms about the details that he gives and its a little bit more specific than the slogan so again, with 20 seconds he can refute some of the slogans that theyre running on. Excellent. Kayla . I think today we can laugh at him because the front was comical, and i think for the time this is brilliant, but its a person and eisenhower together and theyre talking to each other and it goes one step further than the fireside chats and its not just personable over the airwaves and its personable inperson with the candidate and the American People have a chance to directly talk to him about their concerns. Excellent. And again, it does personalize this conversation that ordinary americans are talking with this president ial candidate. Also, if you notice, the people they bring in allows them to speak with particular demographics. Women, africanamericans, trying to bring them into the Republican Party, and the timing of these mattered. So while Adlai Stevenson purchased chunks of time, what the Republican Party did was they purchased slots that were 30 seconds long and were a minute long for the ike for president spot and they purchased those at the end of the more popular shows. So frequently going to care lines point earlier, going into 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 continued to watch that because it fits in to those themes and the music that 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 that 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, and they went on camera and thats the key thing and they went on camera the night before the election and they talked about what they wanted to do in office and then the election eve special goes from them to then showing scenes from them, eisenhower leading troops in world war ii and scenes of them campaigning around the country and again it gave the personal connection and the 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. I 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 differein different din region, trying to build a new constituency through the Republican Party through this 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 sthipg here, thinking about how you can bring in new individuals that may not have beenen gamed in the political process before. They may not be invested in voting like worsers are whosy . Gosch yating rights who built their coal igd ever farmers wasted on this program and finding a way to get them invested aeshl mobile he during the political process. One of the effective things eisenhower does is he brings this to the white house tims 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, eisenhowers 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 moventgomery describes i internal memos that we shave to pick up where he left off into the next chapter of television and so he has a variety of different tactics that he introduces. In 1954, theres the first televised Cabinet Meeting and this is also available through the cspan archives, and i would show you a clip, but it is incredibly muddled and i think it shows to how it is not as effective and eisenhower was not as reluctant to have a televised meeting and his press secretary said this is a great opportunity to like radio before and James Hagerty, his press secretary said that 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. Again, that same way of using a new medium to bypass Critical Coverage of the press and allow eisenhower to connect directly to viewers. He tried to televise the Cabinet Meeting and the issue with the televised Cabinet Meeting is that it was incredibly scripted and they set up cameras, and it was clear that this is scripted. So yes, they talk about the issues of the day and Foreign Policy and economic challenges, but they did so in a way that it was actually a fly on the wall that they were overseeing these policy discussions and it was an 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 ingrained in the presidency ever since then, but again, he had reporters. It was televised, but was. Televised live. He had reporters come in, ask certain questions of eisenhower, but at the end of the day, James Hagerty 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 im going to play this quick clip of an address that he delivers during the little rock crisis when the segregationists 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 recently been passed, Dwight Eisenhower decided 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 or the decision that had been handed down by the Supreme Court, and so think about the controversies, weve looked at these debates over race and federal authority versus states rights and how theyve embroiled american politics over the previous century and its this 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 newsreels and the fireside chats that Franklin Roosevelt used. The 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 id sure 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 from the white house. I could have spoken from rhode island where id been staying recently, but i felt 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, mobs have 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 gathered in front of the Central High School of little rock, obviously for the purpose of again prevents 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 trooping under federal authority to aid in the execution of federal law at little rock, arkansas. This became necessary when my proclamation was not observed and the obstruction of justice still continues. So what does he do here . What power does this give him . Carolyn . 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 subsequently has cooper v. Aaron where they enforce, like, the brown decision, but as the executive, shes showing, yes, i am the figure that represents america and im talking about this first. So i think that premise effect is interesting and important. Excellent. Katelyn . 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 the governor. Im from little rock so this is important to me. He doesnt call out the local government there for not enforcing anything which i think is interesting because i think in some ways hes hes not trying to isolate and push them away for not doing their job, basically, but hes putting the emphasis on these people and mob and is theyre out of control but its not the politicians that are really to blame for this. Why do you think he does that . Whats the goal . Because thats on purpose. I think hes trying to keep them in, like draw them into the party, especially as theres theyre kind of undergoing this shift between the democrats and the Republican Party and the southern democrats, the idea of the southern Democratic Party is changing and hes trying to pull in southerners and southern politicians into the Republican Party. Absolutely. 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 that they call operation dixie where theyre thinking about ways they can capitalize on the divides in the Democratic Party. 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. One thing he makes very clear, this is to continue off of the absolving government point, he makes it very clear 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. 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. It was over the radio. It doesnt matter where he is. He goes back to the white house to, one, lend credibility to what he is saying and to draw comparisons to the president s he mentioned, even 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 this 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 katelyn mentioned, overwhelmingly its the president who is taking action and the president dominates television, especially in comparison to congress at this time. Its part of that visual shift in terms of who is taking action, who is leading the country. That is centering more in the executive branch than in the legislaturive. Did something fundamentally change with television and the presidency . Carolyn . I think its a mix of both. I know thats not the best answer. Obviously for historians, it isnt. Theres always trends in the media and we talk about Teddy Roosevelt being the first personality president and that transfers to fdrs radio addresses 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 kennedy, but this idea that there pr comes into existence in this era because theres this idea that theres a way to use media, not even paid advertising, to make your message more known and make it seem credible and this idea that there are these norms that have been to be addressed and understood with television as well. So i think the idea that theres this institution behind television, not just the not just the medium itself. Not just the fact that its visual, but theres an institution surrounding it 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 production seen 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 . With television now, its going to bring a lot of more transparency to the executive branch now that they do have visuals and its being more personable, like, when they get into familys homes and they gather 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 cultive personality that roosevelt used to appeal to the people and youll see later candidates use different backgrounds than, say, the Party Politics that truman or mckinley or a lot of the antebellum president s came out of and that, i think, is the biggest change that television creates on the presidency. Excellent, yes. It charges Party Structures and 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. 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 opposite 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 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. 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. 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 but i think it really gets at the core of what youre talking about in terms of changing Party Structures that happen because of Public Relations and television. If youre a candidate that is looking to win a president ial nomination from your party and its really telling that this is Stanley Kelly 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 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 . Katelyn . I think you have to become a celebrity within your own right. Somehow politically or otherwise. You could be reagan and be an actor and a radio talk show host or something on the radio that he did, i dont remember, or, you know, 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 a person of the people, again, a celebrity. Excellent. The importance of a systemic, largescale, privately sponsored publicity build up, 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 the 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. Weeknights this month on American History tv, its the contenders, our series that looks at 14 president ial candidates who lost the election but had a lasting effect on u. S. Politics. Today we feature 1964 republican president ial nominee barry goldwater, the senator from arizona who was called mr. Conservative, lost in a landslide to president lyndon b. Johnson but paved the way for younger conservatives. Enjoy American History tv this week and every weekend on cspan3. American history tv on cspan3. Exploring the people and events that tell the american story every weekend. Coming up this weekend, saturday at 5 00 p. M. Eastern, the book hunti hunting ikeman. And a look at black prisoners of war in the confederacy. On sunday at 9 00 a. M. Eastern, the final debate between Ronald Reagan and Walter Mondale and the second debate between george h. W. Bush and michael dukakis. And john f. Kennedys speak on church and state followed by reagans speech, the myth of the Great Society speech. Exploring the american story. Watch American History tv this weekend on cspan3. Youre watching American History tv. Every weekend on cspan3, explore our nations past. Cspan3, created by americas Cable Television companies as a Public Service and brought to you today by your television provider. Ladies and gentlemen of the