• Exhibit Introduction

• The Prize:
  The Power of the Presidency

• The Candidates:
  Party Conventions

• The Chase:
  Political Campaigning

• The Image:
  Marketing the Candidates

• The Choice:
  Election Day

• The Coronation:
  Inaugurating the President

• Related resources:
  
  • Election results 1900-1944
  • Election results 1948-2000
  • 1948 Election
  • Teacher Lesson Plans

• Back to the
  Truman Library Home Page

THE IMAGE:
Marketing the Candidates

Campaign slogans and symbols have been around almost since the beginning of the nation. They gained prominence in the election of 1840. William Henry Harrison's slogan "Tippecanoe and Tyler, Too" and his log cabin symbol helped to bolster his campaign. Campaign posters, leaflets, buttons and other novelties have traditionally been used to promote Presidential candidates.

In the Twentieth Century radio and television enabled candidates to reach far larger audiences, but these new technologies also led to more controlled "packaging" of the candidates' images. Television ads began appearing in the 1952 campaign. That year the ads for Dwight Eisenhower and Adlai Stevenson used songs, animation, and personal testimonials to "sell" the candidates. Since then campaign ads have become more polished, sophisticated, and increasingly acerbic.

The famous 1964 "Daisy" ad implied that Republican candidate Barry Goldwater was trigger-happy with atomic weapons. In 1988 Democratic candidate Michael Dukakis was accused as being soft on crime in what became known as the "Willie Horton" attack ad. Love them or hate them, political commercials have been a powerful force in molding the image the voters have of the Presidential candidates.