Tv, Purdue University professor Kathryn Brownell teaching a class about political advertising, in the 19 fifties. Highlighting the eisenhower president ial campaigns, she compared radio and early tv ads, and discusses what make them successful. Nothing perhaps captures the popular memory of the 19 fifties, like the slogan i like ike. This idea, this been that so many people wore around the campaign of 1952, and 1956 conveys a notion of nostalgia and simplicity. It really emphasizes this idea of the 19 fifties 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 19 fifties, in fact, were 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 anti communism targeted the liberal reform impulses, of the new deal, and frequently, anti communists 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, 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 it 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 and the world. And this is what we are going to look at today. Dwight eisenhower brought several important 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 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 well focused executed component of the american presidency under eisenhower. For example, he had weekly Cabinet Meetings and he formed the office of Congressional Liaison so that he could have a formal link to the legislative process. This was especially important because throughout the 19 fifties, the Democratic Party controlled congress. So eisenhower recognized that to get things done, he needed to have a really smooth operation in terms of blanks with congress. But he also brought this organizational focus to the shifting media environment and transformed the white house into a production studio. To do that, you worked very closely with hollywood figures and madison avenue television vision executives and Advertising Companies to navigate the new mass medium of television that ultimately really transformed political communication during the 1950s. So this postworld 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 19 fifties. So the questions i want us to think about today as we study this particular period, our hottest television change leadership styles . How does it change the strategies a political communication and qualifications needed to succeed politically . The key question that we are going to come back to at the end of class is, does television revolutionize the american presidency or does it build on trans 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 . This 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. Did he not also set up the west wing as a sort of source to have the press within the white house in order to have a connection with them as well . Yes. Again, 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. There was already this idea that there is this personalized president that if every person has a radio in their home its like he is speaking to them. So its reiterate that is easy to understand and not super complicated political jargon. Yes. So Franklin Roosevelt really brings in the idea of the fireside chats. Theodore roosevelt uses the presidency as a bully pulpit. He creates these relationships with journalists and uses Public Opinion to launch and advocate for very specific policies. Franklin roosevelt takes this a step further. He capitalizes on radio and uses that to create an intimate connection with the american public. 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 are tuning into your radio during the 1930s to listen to your president. This would have been what you heard. Carl 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. A top with the comparatively few who understand the mechanics a banking, but more particularly with the overwhelming majority of you who used banks for the making of deposits and the drawing of change. What does he do in that very simple opening . You 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 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 the radio and bypass, like, say newspapers that have editorial slants against new deal policies and just to work around all institutions that work 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 for against the new deal, overwhelmingly, at this time. Newspapers were more conservative, or 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 news reels that would have been shown at the beginning of a Motion Picture feature. He also worked with a variety of different studios in hollywood create production shorts like this one which promoted the National Recovery administration. [applause] you and you and you and you, youve got a president now. He gave the land a new deal. You hold because manu deal. You and you and you and you did apply. He gave us what we asked for, not pay him back somehow. Step out in front, get back on the fence, and give a man a job. Bear with the president and give a man a job. If only a roosevelt makes the old heart. You take this message straight from the president and give a man a job. You look like a banker who drives a car. I drive it myself, but a cigar. Keep your cigar and higher chauffeur and keep a man from being becoming a loafer. You look like a grocer. No, sir. My job is extermination. You must give your assistance each a nice weekend vacation. Then i will need more meant to kill the rats. If you hang out a sign, it means no rats allowed. Whats the matter with you . One for armenia and one for easy mia, nobody, bronchitis, flee by this, st. Pietys, or any other kind. That will delight us. You must adapt every disease youve got. That way madam, you will have to and unemployment. Now listen to me, everybody. Step out in front. Get back to the president and give a man a job. You know he bore the brunt, you know that, i know it. Give a man a job. Who is president of the n. R. A. . No . Ill tell you. You take this message straight from the president , and give a man a job so what does this do that is different from the fireside chats . The 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 his prosperity within the country. So the focus, the hero of the story, is Franklin Roosevelt, but hes featured at the end, his portrait, what he has a variety of other people who are helping solve this. A comedian in this capacity and variety of different celebrities come out for Franklin Roosevelt. Radio spokesman and personalities are all selling the president for him. Excellent. Adam . It kind of creates the soundbite. Its a really easy to remember jingle. Give a man a job. You could put it in a radio advertisement or appeal to a more generalized audience. They will remember that message whether or not they pulled these whole song or not or whether or not they poured all about the different ways they can help. They will remember give a manager. The slogan. Advertising at this time and hollywood and bringing them into politics to sell particular policies. The only reason you will be not humming give a man a job today is you will have the eye like ike one because its more catchy. I thought it was interesting to hold the president up, but also using it as a selling point. When you think about selling a candidate, its about votes. But in this case it was actually getting people involved in a specific policy. Its actually helping the common man, or the middle class man, to come out. With that you, we cant do this, but with you, you can be part of this grander think that is 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. As a tool to sell their agenda as well. 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. Thats 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 presenting an agenda, shaping Public Opinion and promoting a personality that comes with radio and Motion Pictures. So what about television . This 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 can base 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. One of the key things to think about is this growth of a new technology caused tremendous anxiety and concern. 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 in this time and the ways it could be used to undermine democracy and to promote totalitarian governments. After all, 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 joph stalin in the soviet union. 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 of unamerican activities that, quote, gam glamour is appealing. The communists have made excellent use of it for their purpose. They are trying to bedazzle auz audiences with celebrity. 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 embrace television and the opportunities that it had to offer but overwhelming, in the 1950s, they were very wary of it. And the argument that 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, 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 stevenson. He wanted to use this new medium to perhaps expand his message, to deliver longer speeches, to emphasize his oratory, but not to use any of those slick sales 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 the way that we did with radio, thats fine. But i am not going to appear in these short advertisements. Theres no way that i can talk about a policy in 30 seconds. So instead, stevenson worked with the Democratic National committee and purchased longer chunks of time. An hour perhaps where he would then go in front of a t. V. Camera and deliver a long speech about a particular policy. Well, if youre gonna purchase an hour of t. V. Time and you have a limited budget, when will that time be . Any thoughts . When can you afford that whenever its cheapest. Time . When its not prime time. Exactly. When stevenson did appear on t. V. , it was late at night when the only people watching were perhaps those people who are committed democrats that wanted to watch what stevenson had to say. So thats really the only time he appeared in these purchased periods on television. And he had his Advertising Team make ads that, again, reflected radio strategies. Im going to show you two of them. I want you to think of how these are perhaps more reminiscent of something youd hear over the radio than something youd see on t. V. music [music] music mus ic music old mcdonald had a farm music music back in31 music music petitions filled him with alarm music music back in31 music music [singing] music music music [singing] music music music [singing] music music music all america loves that farm music music vote stevenson today music music all right. And one more. Then well discuss. music [music] music mus ic ike bob. Ike bob. Im so glad were friends again, bob. Yes, ike. We agree on everything. Lets never separate again, bob. Ike bob. Ike bob. Ike will ike and bob really live happily ever after . Is the white house big enough for both of them . Stay tuned for a musical interlude. music [music] music mus ic music ive been thinking music music bob and ike now think alike music music with the general in the white house music music who will give the orders music music bo