University of New Hampshire University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository Doctoral Dissertations Student Scholarship Fall 2010 Campaigning for authenticity Erica J. Seifert University of New Hampshire, Durham Follow this and additional works at: https://scholars.unh.edu/dissertation Recommended Citation Seifert, Erica J., "Campaigning for authenticity" (2010). Doctoral Dissertations. 522. https://scholars.unh.edu/dissertation/522 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Scholarship at University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. CAMPAIGNING FOR AUTHENTICITY BY ERICA J. SEIFERT BA, Skidmore College, 2002 DISSERTATION Submitted to the University of New Hampshire in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History September, 2010 UMI Number: 3430776 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. UMT Dissertation Publishing UMI 3430776 Copyright 2010 by ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This edition of the work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 This dissertation has been examined and approved. Dissertation Director, Kur|ifT)ors«y, Associate Professor of History iTucy E. Salyer, Associate Professor of Histo^ J. INj/mam Harris, Professor of History lien F^patrMOPr©fessfc» of History Andrew E. Smith, AssociateProfessor of Political Science (l •O^*--/ ^«-1 c? Date DEDICATION For my father, who raised me on a heartbreaking combination of Democratic politics and Red Sox baseball and for my mother, who suffered the consequences. 111 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This research was supported by a fellowship from the University of New Hampshire Department of History. This dissertation was edited with the help of many patient and eagle-eyed readers: Kurk Dorsey, Aaron Shaw, Stanley Olson, Diana Seifert, Gretchen Seifert, and Charles Seifert. Ellen Fitzpatrick, Andrew Smith, Lucy Salyer, Bill Harris, and Kurk Dorsey provided cogent insight and generous criticism. This project was achieved despite the herculean distraction techniques of friends and colleagues. These thanks belong exclusively to The Wednesday Club. Kurk, Molly, Luke, and Nick Dorsey provided advice, support, and laughter throughout this process. Thank you. Finally, I am grateful to those who made it worth the effort: Diana Seifert and Nathan Olson. IV ABSTRACT CAMPAIGNING FOR AUTHENTICITY, 1976-2000 by Erica J Seifert University of New Hampshire, September, 2010 In the fall of 1976 Jimmy Carter wanted to be "an American President... who is not isolated from our people, but a President who feels your pain and who shares your dreams." With humble, hopeful, homey images of Plains, Georgia, campaign advertisements sold Carter as a fresh-off-the-farm, peanut-picking Cincinnatus—an authentic American to whom voters could relate. Authenticity became increasingly important to candidate selection in the late twentieth century for multiple reasons. As a priority of the Babyboom Generation, the value of authenticity informed Americans' relationships to own another and evaluations of their cultural products. Political and cultural upheaval resulting from Vietnam and Watergate challenged Americans' trust in politicians and campaign politics; resulting structural reforms transformed presidential nomination and election processes. The growth of soft news, human interest, and television talk shows required candidates to become personally available in order to connect with voters intimately. This dissertation examines the role of candidate image in recent American presidential elections, focusing on the dominant cultural vocabulary of authenticity. While partisan affiliation, ideology, and economic trends were all essential determinants of election outcomes between 1976 and 2000, no one theme permeated campaign discourse more than authenticity. The bulk of this dissertation is devoted to analyzing the ways in which symbols of authenticity operated during specific election cycles. Although cultural vocabulary evolved between 1976 and 2000, several core themes dominated campaign rhetoric: colloquial language and dress, personal narrative and self-disclosure, and anti-elitism. In defining these authenticities, the project also explores negative constructions of inauthenticity associated with the "flip-flop," the Beltway elite, the Ivy League, and the Northeast. Each chapter examines a single general election season to uncover the ways in which Americans assimilated candidate images during that cycle. By examining televised and printed news, commentary, and comedy, along with political polls, campaign documents, manuscript collections, and political advertisements, this dissertation argues that Americans privileged campaign narratives that were authentically representative of themselves and their country. VI TABLE OF CONTENTS DEDICATION iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iv ABSTRACT v CHAPTER PAGE INTRODUCTION 1 I. PLAINS SPOKEN 62 JIMMY WHO? 67 THE EVOLUTION OF JERRY FORD 89 II. THERE YOU GO AGAIN 105 "THESE LAST FEW HOURS IN MY LIFE" 109 THE CREATIVE MANAGEMENT OF RONALD REAGAN 128 III. MORNING IN AMERICA 149 "YOU MAY HAVE HEARD OF ME..." 156 GOING TO THE MOVIES 171 IV. BELGIAN ENDIVES, QUICHE OUT OF A CAN 189 BUSHWHACKED 198 THE DUKE 214 V. THE MAN FROM HOPE 233 READ MY LIPS 241 PHIL AND BILL 254 VI. HOPE FLOATS 273 BELTWAY BOB 282 vii TABLE OF CONTENTS (CONT'D) IN THE KITCHEN WITH BILL 298 VII. HANGING CHAD 308 BEING AL GORE 317 JUST PLAIN FOLK 332 CONCLUSION 345 BIBLIOGRAPHY 354 vm INTRODUCTION REAL AMERICA When the gun-toting, moose-hunting, flag-waving, snowmobile-driving, hockey mom, Sarah Palin, emerged in August 2008, her personal appeal created a cult-like following. Both critics and advocates deemed her "authentic." Between dropped g's, vernacular references, and colloquial aphorisms, she came to define "authenticity" in populist anti-Washington, anti-east, anti-elite rhetoric. "We believe that the best of America is not all in Washington, D.C.. .We believe that the best of America is in these small towns.. .of what I call the real America." To Palin, the election was not merely a contest for the Presidency, but a great battle between representations of small town "real America" and its elitist enemies in Washington. Although she became the most notable "authentic" national candidate, Sarah Palin presented only the last in a long line of just- like-you narratives in 2008. Each candidate peddled authenticity at one point or another during the 2008 election cycle. Mike Huckabee gained national legitimacy after his meteoric rise in Iowa on the coattails of a southern accent and a holy-rolling, family values personal narrative. Hillary Clinton reemerged only after a New Hampshire sobfest suddenly humanized and personalized her campaign struggle, which had been deemed "robotic" by her critics. By his own admission, John McCain meant to capitalize on the "straight talk" brand he had created during his 2000 bid for the presidency. When Barack Obama announced his choice for Vice President, Joe Biden immediately branded himself as one of us: "Ladies and gentlemen, your kitchen table is like mine. You sit there at night.. .You talk about how much you are worried about being able to pay the bills."1 Biden appealed to voters on a visceral level—he did not merely look out for the average guy's interests, he was the average guy. Although a long-serving Senator, Biden emphasized the fact that he had never lived in Washington, packaging himself as a blue-collar working class kid from Scranton. Where Biden might have highlighted his many legislative accomplishments, he chose instead to share heartwarming stories about hard knocks and kitchen tables. Biden, like Palin, was not only attempting to define himself, but also to define the boundaries of "real America." Although the 2008 election gave the American people an endless stream of "authentic" personal narratives, this brand of American politics was not unique to the most recent campaign season. Its symbolic impulse can be located in the founding debates over democracy versus republicanism and in the "Man from Libertyville" style campaign commercials of the 1950s.3 More recently, the quest for a plain-spoken, 1 Joseph Biden, Aug. 23, 2008, Springfield, 111. 2 It would be tempting to argue that the "boundaries of 'real America'" were drawn politically. In recent years, conservatism has become a popular topic for historians, sociologists, and political scientists. This dissertation takes a decidedly anti-ideological approach. While popular discourse, election results, and the American National Election Studies survey data all indicate a rise in conservatism in the second half of the twentieth century, I contend that, regardless of the popularity of conservative ideas, conservatives have been more adept at adopting the cultural language of "real America." In this way, the boundaries of "real America" were not merely ideological, but rather drawn geographically, culturally, and socio- economically.