Eisenhower covered 20,000 miles by rail and flew 30,000 miles across the country, visiting 45 states and 232 towns and cities. In every town where he appeared, an advance team arrived many hours before in a giant truck labeled “The Eisenhower Bandwagon.” From this emerged an army surplus jeep with a shrieking sound system that blared out “I Like Ike” songs and broadcast the message that Eisenhower would soon be passing through town. The campaign used new technology, saturating the airwaves with pioneering television commercials. Eisenhower (who grumbled about it) made a series of short ads in
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