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Media Construction of Presidential Campaigns Chris Sperry and Sox Sperry

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Media Construction of Presidential Campaigns Chris Sperry and Sox Sperry Social Education 71(7), pp 366–371 ©2007 National Council for the Social Studies Media Construction of Presidential Campaigns Chris Sperry and Sox Sperry Our next president will likely be the candidate who crafts the best “impres- Students often assume that today’s sion” in the media. It is our job as social studies teachers to help students separate presidential campaigns are far dirtier and impressions from substance and to understand the role that media play in crafting our more crass than campaigns of the past. meaning making and shaping our decision making. We can help students to recognize One primary historical document that the epistemology of media construction by integrating interactive decoding into our may help students understand the deeply history curriculum and by helping them understand the central role that media have partisan nature of early campaigns is the played throughout the history of American elections. 1800 Providential Detection cartoon, in which the American Eagle saves the Constitution from Jefferson, who is What are the messages alleged to be overly inspired by French communicated in this political revolutionary values. cartoon about Jefferson’s patriotism The primary mass-media form in and religious beliefs in 1800? the early years of our country was the newspaper. In the 1820s, there were more than 50 newspaper subscriptions for every 100 households.1 By the elec- tion of 1828, political parties became the primary organizations creating and sponsoring newspapers. Needless to say, their coverage was overtly partisan. Not only did the founding fathers rec- ognize the need for a literate citizenship, but they also saw a role for government in ensuring access to these varied points of view. Although legislation was debated that would have allowed the federal government to directly fund newspa- pers, Congress decided in 1792 to sup- port the delivery of newspapers to the electorate through a postal subsidy for periodicals in order to encourage the spread of literacy and print culture.2 This subsidy has recently become a political issue with arguments either to maintain or to abolish it coming before the U.S. Postal Service and the Postal Regulatory Commission. For suggested answers to the document-based questions in this article go to www.ithaca.edu/looksharp/mcpcweb. S OCIAL EDUCATION 366 1864: A Newspaper Report on the Gettysburg Address “Readers will not have failed to observe the exceeding bad taste which characterizes the remarks of the president … at the dedication of the soldier’s cemetery at Gettysburg. The cheek of every American must tingle with shame as he reads the silly, flat, dish-watery utterances of the man who has to be pointed out to the intelligent foreigners as the president of the United States.” —Editorial from The Chicago Times, 1864 Was The Chicago Times a 1840 Tippecanoe Pens Advertisement Democratic or Republican newspaper in 1864? What techniques did Harrison’s campaign use to target newly enfranchised voters? Give your evidence. The Campaign as Spectacle huge slogan-laden balls through the town until 1853, and photographs did not The first quarter century of contested shouting “Keep the ball rolling.” The appear in newspapers until 1897. William campaigns were largely fought in the popularity of these rallies likely con- McKinley’s 1896 campaign made par- newspapers since it was considered tributed to a voter turnout of over 80 ticularly effective use of the “photo op.” unseemly for a presidential candidate to percent (compared to today’s turnouts While McKinley’s charismatic and ask for votes face to face. This all changed of around 50 percent). populist opponent, William Jennings in 1828 when Andrew Jackson’s populist Decoding historical campaign docu- Bryan, took to the rails in a “whistle campaign abandoned previously held ments such as songs, newspaper ban- stop” campaign covering 18,000 miles, formalities and aggressively marketed ners, handbills, and editorial cartoons, McKinley’s campaign, with backing from its candidate. The Democratic Party requires students to apply their knowledge the railroad companies, brought more used heroic imagery, popular songs of history, geography, and political sci- than 750,000 “front-porch visitors” to and spectacular celebrations to sell ence to careful evidence-based reading of his home in Canton, Ohio. These visits, “Old Hickory” to a newly enfranchised primary documents. They can also begin and their resulting photos, were part of electorate of farmers and workingmen. to connect media constructions from the a highly organized campaign strategy In 1840, the newly created Whig Party past to contemporary campaign imagery. that targeted special interest groups. built on these strategies to elect William For example, an excerpt from George McKinley’s campaign manager, Mark Henry Harrison and John Tyler. The W. Bush’s biographical film shown at Hanna, tapped into Eastern industrial- Whig campaign was championed by the 2000 Republican Convention can ists’ fears of a Bryan presidency to raise the young newspaper publisher Horace be compared to Harrison’s Log Cabin $6 million, 20 times more than the Greeley, who would run for president Newspaper Banner to explore campaign Democrats. The campaign produced over himself 32 years later. Greeley took an constructions of “The Commoner.” 100 million pieces of literature, more attack on Harrison as a drunkard and than seven documents for each eligible spun it into the now famous “Hard Cider, New Media: voter. Hanna’s stewardship ushered in a Log Cabin” campaign. Greeley helped Photography and Radio new era of the mass marketing of politics. construct the aging Eastern aristocrat as American presidential campaigns have Karl Rove, President George W. Bush’s a hard-working, hard-drinking frontiers- always been influenced by media, but the primary political manager, considered man. The campaign brought barrels of advent of new communication technolo- Mark Hanna to be an important role whiskey to frontier towns and orches- gies in the twentieth century accelerated model for his orchestration of Bush’s trated raucous celebrations (political their impact. Today, we are accustomed successful 2000 and 2004 campaigns. “parties”) where costumed “mountain to seeing daily images of candidates, but Stumping gave candidates access to men” sang campaign songs as they rolled the first news photos did not appear the electorate every four years, but radio N OV E MB E R /DE C E MB E R 2007 367 What messages do you think the Taft campaign intended to com- municate in this early “photo op”? Explain your reasoning How did radio transform campaigns and the presidency? (see photo insert) allowed Franklin Roosevelt to extend the campaign through- out his entire presidency with more than 30 “Fireside Chats” reaching into the homes of most voters. Radio helped establish the era of the “personal presidency” in which a candidate’s connection to voters often counted for more than his stand on issues. The Age of Television Radio’s power to craft impressions was soon eclipsed by a new medium with even greater influence on public perceptions. In 1952, candidates began producing commercials for television. A leading Madison Avenue advertiser was hired to make a series of “spot ads” for the Eisenhower campaign that were to run after popular programs like I Love Lucy. Eisenhower was not happy with making TV commercials, and during a break in the filming (40 commercials in one day), he commented, “To think that an old soldier should come to this.” 3 No presidential candidate epitomizes both the potential pitfalls and the opportunities created by television more than Richard Nixon. In 1952, the vice presidential candidate was at risk of being dropped from the ticket due to a campaign funding scandal (ultimately shown to be false). Headlines in The New York Post read “Secret Rich Men’s Trust Fund Keeps Nixon in Style Far Beyond His Salary.” Eisenhower suggested that Nixon use the new medium of television to respond to the charges. Nixon’s 30-minute broadcast, follow- Would short and stocky John Adams have been elected ing the top-rated Milton Berle Show, drew 60 million viewers, in the television age? the largest TV audience to date. Nixon’s “Checkers” speech, S OCIAL EDUCATION 368 1960 Nixon-Kennedy Debates What role did television play in 1964 “Daisy Girl” TV Commercial the 1960 election? Why was this commercial pulled after the first time it aired and how did 40 million Americans get to see it? named for his reference to the family dog, ticated than Eisenhower’s 30-second ensured Nixon’s spot on the ticket and lecturettes. In 1964, the Johnson cam- Questions to ask highlighted the potential of television to paign aired the now famous “Daisy Girl” shape political impressions. commercial attacking Barry Goldwater about any media The 1960 Nixon-Kennedy debates as dangerously hawkish and likely to were both the first presidential debates lead us to nuclear destruction. Although message: and a watershed for the new medium of Goldwater’s name was never mentioned television. Less than a decade earlier in the commercial, Republicans filed Who produced and who spon- radio had been the dominant medium, a complaint with the Fair Campaign sored this message? but by 1960, 90 percent of American Practices Committee. The Democrats homes had TV, and most voters watched, pulled the spot after it aired only once, What is the purpose of this rather than listened, to the debates. A but television stations picked up on the message and who is the target majority of those who heard the radio controversy and ran the attack ad as news audience? broadcast thought that Nixon did as well (with no cost to the Johnson campaign). What ideas, values, and per- or better than Kennedy, while a major- This successful strategy of indirectly spectives are communicated? ity of those seeing the candidates on TV undermining one’s opponent was to be picked Kennedy as the victor, even among repeated in future elections.
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