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Landslide: LBJ and Ronald Reagan at the Dawn of a New America
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PRESIDENTIAL SERIES > WE ARE OPEN - WEEK EIGHT - PRESIDENTIAL SERIES: LANDSLIDE - January 19 - January 25 - Chapter Seven - No Spoilers, Please

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message 51: by Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief (new) - rated it 4 stars

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Folks, you will notice that I have been adding some primary sources - some short conversations with some of the key folks - I think it is important sometimes to listen to some of the primary sources and make up your own mind. These tapes are great conversation pieces. I will be adding some of the ones with Martin Luther King.


message 52: by Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief (last edited Jan 22, 2015 07:02PM) (new) - rated it 4 stars

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Chapter 7 is in the October -December 1964 timeframe - the assassination is behind LBJ and he should be looking forward to his own presidency.

"The country has grieved and now the announcer is saying - Vote for Johnson - the stakes are too high for you to stay home."

Now we have spoken about how the Republicans seem to be the prophets of doom and gloom and the Democrats of hope and change.

But frankly that campaign announcement would sound more to me as if a Republican was running.

Topic Questions:

What were your thoughts about this kind of campaign announcement and how would that grab folks now? What if you saw the Daisy campaign on television today - what would have been your reaction?

Do you think that the same kind of campaigning and ads are prevalent today?

How do you view campaigning and political ads - have they gotten any better or are they worse?

Can you remember any particular campaign ads for any presidential campaign that you want to discuss and what were your feeling about them at the time?

The Daisy Campaign

http://youtu.be/dDTBnsqxZ3k


message 53: by Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief (last edited Jan 21, 2015 08:33PM) (new) - rated it 4 stars

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How about this one from the opposing candidate?

Your Children Will Be Communists" (1964) - Barry Goldwater Campaign Ad

http://youtu.be/I8bB0FnnwHw

After watching this campaign ad - did you feel that in your heart - you knew he was right? Vote for Barry Goldwater.

Your thoughts about these campaign ads?

By the way, the Democrats response to in your heart you know, he's right was in your guts, you know he's nuts. Obviously not a politically correct time period.


message 54: by Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief (last edited Jan 21, 2015 07:18PM) (new) - rated it 4 stars

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This jingle should have you humming along. I was tapping away while listening to it (smile)

Barry Goldwater Radio Jingle (1964)

http://youtu.be/lro5t2yKHT4?list=PLOz...

Cast your vote for Mr. USA.


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Here is another one:

"Goldwater" by The Citizens (1964)

:45 second campaign song for the 1964 Republican nominee for President of the United States, Barry Goldwater. The track was written by Hazel E. Davis and performed by a "vocal group" called The Citizens. The 45 disk was released by the Faith and Freedom Records label of Long Beach, California. Produced by Jack Moon Elliott.

http://youtu.be/3qYbyBJEumo?list=PLOz...

Goldwater Victory Song - Peggy Lynn Goldwater - 1964 (from Mrs. Goldwater)

http://youtu.be/mmokWfNSgyk?list=PLOz...


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And Here's Lyndon - not to outdone:

Hello, Lyndon! - Ed Ames (1964)

http://youtu.be/KBPNM96geq0?list=PLOz...

It is great to have you where you belong!!!!

Let us rally around the one who knows the score.


message 57: by Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief (last edited Jan 21, 2015 07:28PM) (new) - rated it 4 stars

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These were Kennedy's - Frank Sinatra singing no less.

K E N N E D Y - he is America's favorite guy

Everyone is voting for Jack
'Cause he's got what all the rest lack
Everyone wants to back -- Jack

Frank Sinatra - "High Hopes" with Jack Kennedy (1960)

http://youtu.be/lHRTCVwSKMs?list=PLOz...


message 58: by Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief (last edited Jan 21, 2015 07:30PM) (new) - rated it 4 stars

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Campaign Message from JFK

President John F. Kennedy Reminds You to Vote November 6th (PSA)

http://youtu.be/z8cwsSgOKjA

I thought this one was pretty good.


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JOHN KENNEDY CHAMPAIGN SONG

Do you want a man for President who is seasoned through and through or one who is not so doggone seasoned that he won't try something new?

A man who is old enough to know -
And young enough to do

It is up to you, up to you, it is strictly up to you!

Do you want a man with spirit who is not afraid to fight?

And his record shows that he will fight for what is right.

A loyal man who brings the job a fresh point of view

And do you deny to any man the right he is guaranteed?

And he should be elected president no matter what is creed?

It is promised in the Bill of Rights to which we must be true

Do you like a man that answers straight and a man that is always fair?

We will measure him against the others and you can compare

So you should vote for Kennedy and the change that is overdue

http://youtu.be/7DoUiNxh6_0?list=PLOz...

Note: I think he should have stuck with the Sinatra one.


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Go Vote Nixon

With Nixon in the White House and Lodge his running mate - we know that everybody will feel secure

http://youtu.be/tJlEEFpeT7Q?list=PLOz...


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Buckle Down with Nixon - Buckle Down

Buckle down with Nixon, buckle down
We can win with Nixon if we buckle down
We can always fight
When we know we're right
And we know we're right, so buckle down

Make 'em yell for Nixon, make 'em yell
We can win with Nixon if we make 'em yell
If we don't give in
Take it on the chin
We can win with Nixon if we'll only buckle down

He has been to fifty lands across the sea
And they know he stands for peace and liberty
He has friends everywhere
Over here, over there
What a president he'll make for you and me

Buckle down with Nixon, buckle down
We can win with Nixon if we buckle down
He has set the pace
We will win the race
Yes, we'll win the race with a Nixon victory

http://youtu.be/ETW1nTzmhRg?list=PLOz...


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Nixon 1960 Campaign Ad

Vote for Nixon and Lodge - They understand what peace demands.

http://youtu.be/j3cpQnVvXSs

Richard Nixon/Henry Cabot Lodge campaign ad. This was one of our more interesting elections in history. John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson won with four fewer states and only carried 0.2% more of the popular vote. Had Harry Byrd and Strom Thurmond not run on an independent ticket, Nixon may have carried the popular vote, would have had six more states than Kennedy, and still would have lost by 77 electoral votes.


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Barry Goldwater Campaign Ad

Barry Goldwater Campaign Ad (1964) - Bearded Dictator In Cuba

http://youtu.be/md_1NlllnGc


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Lyndon B. Johnson Campaign Ad - Girl with Ice Cream Cone (1964)

http://youtu.be/N5CHYSUfQ_Y

And you thought that recent campaign ads were bad?


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Barry Goldwater Against Big Government (1964) - Classic Campaign Ad

Don't look now young man but somebody has his hand in your pocket?

It is the hand of big government!

Taking away about 4 months pay from what your Daddy makes every year.

1 dollar our of every 3 in his paycheck.

It is taking the security right out of your grandmother's social security.

http://youtu.be/b3CO7xw2K0U


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LBJ Campaign Ad

Which Barry Goldwater? (LBJ 1964 Presidential campaign commercial) VTR 4568-17

http://youtu.be/DyP_hWvqchU?list=PLzy...


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Time To Vote In 1964 American Elections AKA American Elections (1964)
Newsvideo

http://youtu.be/QgO2V_s8k_Y?list=PLzy...

Vote and the choice is yours

Don't vote and the choice is theirs.

Your vote could be the one that counts

=================

Great vintage footage and very funny in parts.


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Another awful LBJ ad

KKK for Goldwater Ad- LBJ 1964 Presidential Campaign Commercial

http://youtu.be/QUMzswnBh4M?list=PLzy...


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Kennedy for President ad

http://youtu.be/tIGK7boY-wQ?list=PLF6...

1960 motion picture ad to elect John F. Kennedy against Richard Nixon including comments from President Eisenhower.

Ike seems to throw Nixon under the bus with his comments.


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LBJ - Poverty 1964 Election Ad

http://youtu.be/plCkZ38ftlI?list=PLF6...


message 71: by Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief (last edited Jan 21, 2015 09:17PM) (new) - rated it 4 stars

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I hope you enjoyed the jingles and the ads - these ads and jingles I think give you a feel for the men running for President.

What did you think of these campaign ads and the messages contained within?

This was the atmosphere at the beginning of Chapter 7.


message 72: by Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief (last edited Jan 21, 2015 09:54PM) (new) - rated it 4 stars

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One that I almost forgot to post was actually one of George Wallace's which he used when Lyndon decided not to run in the next term. I will include it here in this chapter because I have consolidated the jingles and the campaign ads for the major candidates in the Kennedy race as well as the LBJ race.

Wallace was also such a thorn in the side of Kennedy and then Lyndon Johnson.

As you recall - Alabama Governor George C. Wallace was what they called a Segregationist Democrat. Wallace made a national name for himself battling the Kennedy Administration's attempts to integrate the University of Alabama in 1963 and in his attempts to battle the aggressive Civil Rights legislation of the mid 60s. And of course right now when Lyndon was preparing for the election he had no idea that Selma was right around the corner in his future and that once again Wallace would be a thorn in his side. Less than a year in the future, Wallace would not spend any state funds on providing protection for the demonstrators, which sent his approval ratings in his home state of Alabama soaring. President Johnson would have to counter by federalizing the Alabama National Guard.

Here is what his campaign song would be. He called it Stand Up for America. Wallace routinely included country bands at his rallies, even in the North. Some the of Nashville stars, many of them longtime Democrats, signed on to support him. One early follower was singer Lamar Morris, an Alabama native who performed in the band of Wallace supporter Hank Williams Jr. - this campaign song was written by him. There are a lot of digs about LBJ's the great society and LBJ going back to his ranch where he belong.

http://youtu.be/XdDbD3oYIyA

Source: Youtube


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The Harry Belafonte and Kennedy campaign ad

TRANSCRIPT
Museum of the Moving Image
The Living Room Candidate
"Harry Belafonte," Kennedy, 1960

BELAFONTE: Hi. My name is Harry Belafonte. I'm an artist, and I'm not a politician. But like most Americans, I have a great interest in the political and the economic destiny of my country. I'm seated here with Senator Jack Kennedy. As a Negro and as an American, I have many questions, and I'm sure everyone does — about civil rights, about foreign policy, about the economy of the country, and about things that'll happen.

KENNEDY: And I want to make it very clear, Harry, that on this question of equality of opportunity for all Americans, whether it's in the field of civil rights, better minimum wages, better housing, better working conditions, jobs - I stand for these things. The Democratic Party under Franklin Roosevelt stood for them.

BELAFONTE: I'm voting for the Senator. How about you?

MALE NARRATOR: Vote for a leader like Roosevelt. Vote for John F. Kennedy for president.

Link: http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/co...

Source: The Living Room Candidate


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Sills Family Ad with Kennedy (campaign ad)

Museum of the Moving Image
The Living Room Candidate=
"Sills Family," Kennedy, 1960

MALE NARRATOR: This is the Sills family. Recently, John F. Kennedy visited the Sills.

KENNEDY: Mr. and Mrs. Sills are facing one of the great problems that all American families are now facing. And that is the great increase in the cost of living.

MRS. SILLS: Our rent has gone up, our food, our cleaning of our clothing, buying of the clothing, our gas and electric and our telephone bills have gone up.

KENNEDY: What's been your experience, Mr. Sills? How are you keeping those two daughters of yours going?

MR. SILLS: We're very concerned with their future. We would like both of them to go to college.

KENNEDY: Have you been able to put much aside?

MR. SILLS: No, unfortunately, not right now.

KENNEDY: One of the things which I think has increased
the cost of living has been this administration's reliance upon a high interest rate policy. My own judgement is that we're going to have to try to do a better job in this field.

MALE NARRATOR: Yes, we can do better. But to do so we must elect the man who cares about America's problems. We must elect John F. Kennedy President.

Link:

http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/co...

==================

Does the slogan at the end sound familiar - Yes we Can - do better.


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The Kennedy Religion Campaign Ad

TRANSCRIPT
Museum of the Moving Image
The Living Room Candidate
"Religion," Kennedy, 1960

WOMAN: You would be divided between two loyalties, to your church and your state, if you were to be elected President?

KENNEDY: The question is whether I think that, if I were elected President, I would be divided between two loyalties: my church and my state.

Let me just say that I would not. I have sworn to uphold the Constitution, in the fourteen years I've been in Congress, in the years I was in the service. The Constitution provides in the First Amendment that Congress shall make no laws abridging the freedom of religion. I must say I believe in it; I think it's the only way that this country can go ahead. Many countries do not believe in it. Many countries have unity between church and state - I would be completely opposed to it. And I say that whether I'm elected President, or whether I continue as a Senator, or whether I'm a citizen. That is my view based on a long experience.

So in answer to your question, I would fulfill my oath of office, as I have done for fourteen years in the Congress. There is no article of my faith that would in any way inhibit - I think it encourages - the meeting of my oath of office. And whether you vote for me or not because of my competence to be President, I am sure that no one believes that I'd be a candidate for the Presidency if I didn't think I could meet my oath of office.

Secondly, Article 6 of the Constitution says there shall be no religious test for office. That's what was written in the Constitution: Jefferson, Washington, and all the rest. They said every American will have an opportunity. Now you cannot tell me that the day I was born it was said I could never run for President because I wouldn't meet my oath of office. I would not have come here if I didn't feel that I was going to get the complete opportunity to run for office as a fellow American in this state. I would not run for it if in any way I didn't feel that I could do the job.

I come here today saying that I think that this is an issue...

(Inaudible, crowd cheering and applause)

Link: http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/co...

-----------------

One thing that I can say is that Kennedy could speak and make himself understood and had a very organized debate style and was more coherent than I have seen in any candidate lately. And he spoke with no notes and no teleprompter. Excellent job and excellent response.


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Kennedy gets Jackie in the act with a Spanish campaign ad

Museum of the Moving Image
The Living Room Candidate
"Mrs. JFK," Kennedy, 1960

Translation appears below transcript

JACQUELINE KENNEDY: Queridos amigos, les habla la esposa del senador John F. Kennedy, candidato a la presidencia de los Estados Unidos. En estos tiempos de tanto peligro, cuando la paz mundial se ve amenazada por el comunismo, es necesario tener en la Casa Blanca un líder capaz de guíar nuestros destinos con una mano firme. Mi esposo siempre vigilará los intereses de todos los sectores de nuestra sociedad que necesitan la protección de un gobierno humanitario. Para el futuro de nuestros niños y para lograr un mundo donde exista la paz verdadera, voten ustedes por el partido demócrata el día 8 de noviembre. Que viva Kennedy!

Translation:

JACQUELINE KENNEDY: My dear friends, I am the wife of Senator John F. Kennedy, candidate to the Presidency of the United States. In these times of danger when world peace is threatened by communism, it is necessary to have in the White House a leader who is capable of guiding our destiny with a firm hand. My husband will always watch over the interests of all sectors of our society who are in need of the protection of a humanitarian government. For the future of our children, and to achieve a world where true peace exists, vote for the Democratic Party on November 8. Long Live Kennedy!

Link: http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/co...


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A Henry Fonda Extravaganza for Kennedy - Reagan could not have topped this one (smile) - with Coconuts, FDR as a backdrop and footage at sea!

TRANSCRIPT
Museum of the Moving Image
The Living Room Candidate
"Henry Fonda," Kennedy, 1960

MALE NARRATOR: Ladies and gentlemen, Henry Fonda.

HENRY FONDA: I've always been an admirer of Franklin D. Roosevelt. So I was especially interested recently when I saw a movie of FDR as a young man. His fight against polio, his courage, his endurance, his will to live: it was an experience that history says had a deep influence on the leadership he gave our country as president at a time when our country was hurt and stricken, when we all needed courage and endurance.

I know another man like that, with the same strong character and indomitable will to live. And this I have known for over 15 years, ever since I read an article in the Reader's Digest by John Hersey about a young Naval officer in the Solomon Islands during some of the darkest days and nights of World War II.

August 2nd, 1943 in the South Pacific. (Military music, explosions) A US Navy PT boat is patrolling the south. The Japanese fleet is everywhere. Three miles to the Northeast, 10,000 Japanese are on Kolombangara Island. Five miles to the west is Dela______; more Japanese. One mile south, the Japanese camp on _______. (Cheering) The PT boat is cruising quietly. (Boat motor) At the wheel is the captain, Navy Lieutenant John F. Kennedy. Suddenly, out of the dark night, a Japanese destroyer bears down at 40 nauts and lands the PT boat in two. (Crash) Back on the deck, Lieutenant Kennedy stares up to see the destroyer crash through his boat.

Half the PT boat stays afloat, and Lieutenant Kennedy helps ten other survivors hang on. Eventually, they leave the sinking hull and swim for a small island three miles Southwest. One man has been badly injured. Lieutenant Kennedy ties a strap to the man's life jacket and tows him with his teeth the entire distance. It takes five hours to swim it.

Lost for nine days in enemy territory, Lieutenant Kennedy painfully, slowly swims from island to island, reef to reef, scouting for help, (Waves) watching the seas and straits for other PT boats. He drifts, floats, sleeps while being carried by the current for days. He swims back to lead them to another island. Swimming, drifting, treading over sharp coral, once more towing the injured man with his teeth.

On the ninth day, it ends. An SOS Lieutenant Kennedy had carved on a coconut shell and given to a native got past the Japanese and reached the allies. And finally one of the PT boats Lieutenant Kennedy had been searching for picks them up.

"Hey, Jack," someone calls from the boat.

"Where have you been?" asks Kennedy.

"We've got some food for you!"

"No thanks," says Kennedy, "I just had a coconut."

VETERAN: Senator Kennedy never liked talking about this himself, but I was a member of that crew, and believe me, we really had it rough. I would like you to know what the Navy said when he was decorated: "His outstanding courage, endurance, and leadership contributed to the saving of several lives, and were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval service."

HENRY FONDA: Courage. Endurance. Leadership. John F. Kennedy has them all the way. And the way has been the hard way. As president, John F. Kennedy will have the courage to meet the greatest challenge our country has ever faced. He'll have the endurance to do the work, to maintain the patience, to possess the raw nerve we need in a world where our enemies would like to win by wearing us down. (Violin music) And he will give us leadership for the '60s, a new American leadership for the world beyond the seas to honor and respect.

FDR, a man who loved the sea. John F. Kennedy, another man of the sea. His hand will be a strong hand on the ship of state.

Link: http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/co...


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Nixon Campaign - Best Qualified Campaign

TRANSCRIPT
Museum of the Moving Image
The Living Room Candidate
"Best Qualified," Nixon, 1960

MALE NARRATOR: Here is President Eisenhower's decision on who is best qualified to follow him in the White House.

EISENHOWER: Dick Nixon is superbly experienced, maturely conditioned in the critical affairs of the world. For eight years he has been a full participant in the deliberations that have produced the great decisions affecting our nation's security and have kept us at peace. He has shared more intimately in the great affairs of government than any Vice President in all our history. He has traveled the world, studying at firsthand the hopes and the needs of more than fifty nations. He knows in person the leaders of those nations, knowledge of immeasurable value to a future president. By all odds, Richard Nixon is the best qualified man to be the next President of the United States.

MALE NARRATOR: Along with the President, All America is going for Nixon and Lodge. Vote for them November 8th. They understand what peace demands.

Links:

http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/co...


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Nixon on Civil Rights Campaign Ad

http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/co...


message 80: by Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief (last edited Jan 21, 2015 10:37PM) (new) - rated it 4 stars

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Accomplishments (LBJ) campaign ad

TRANSCRIPT
Museum of the Moving Image
The Living Room Candidate - Transcript
"Accomplishments," Johnson, 1964

MALE NARRATOR: The following is a pre-recorded paid political announcement.

JOHNSON: We have suffered a loss that cannot be weighed. I will do my best. That is all I can do. I ask for your help, and God's.

MALE NARRATOR: And so Lyndon Baines Johnson, the 36th President of the United States, thrust suddenly into leadership of the free world by the tragic assassination of John F. Kennedy, returned to the nation's capital. He came with grief in his heart, but he also came determined that the young President he had served would not live or die in vain.

JOHNSON: John Kennedy's death commands what his life conveyed: that America must move forward. And now the ideas and the ideals which he so nobly represented, must and will be translated into effective action.

MALE NARRATOR: The promises made that November day were strong promises. One by one, they have been kept. An eleven billion dollar tax cut, proposed by President Kennedy, was signed in law by President Johnson on February 26th. The President sought and won support from both parties in passing a bill to fulfill our founding father's commitment that every American have his full Constitutional rights. The anti-poverty bill expressed the President's and the people's determination to eliminate poverty from the richest nation in the world. It was signed on August 20th. Lead by the President, Congress passed five significant bills on education, more than any other Congress in recent history. The President signed the wilderness bill, saving threatened areas of natural beauty. He signed new legislation attacking the problems of transportation and housing in our cities. New programs to help insure the farmer a fair reward for his labor. In fact, forty-five major bills were passed. But the President's leadership was not felt in the halls of Congress alone. He helped to settle a four and a half year-old conflict between the railroad companies and the men who operate the trains, averting a strike that could have paralyzed the nation. He cut the Federal budget, only the second time in ten years this has been done, and federal expenditures have been kept below the level authorized in the budget. When American destroyers were attacked in the Gulf of Tonkin, he replied firmly and decisively, and Communist aggression was turned back. In the dark days of last November, President Johnson expressed the nation's purpose in three simple words: Let us continue. Vote for President Johnson on November 3rd. The stakes are too high for you to stay home.

Link: http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/co...

Note: This one was rather dramatic at the beginning


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The "Our President" Campaign Ad for Lyndon Johnson

TRANSCRIPT
Museum of the Moving Image
The Living Room Candidate - Transcript
"Our President," Johnson, 1964

MALE NARRATOR: The Constitution does not tell us what kind of man a President must be. It says he must be thirty-five years old and a natural-born citizen. It leaves the rest to the wisdom of the voters. Our presidents have been reasonable men. They have listened. They have thought clearly and spoken carefully. They have cared about people, for the pieces of paper on which they sign their names change people's lives. Most of all, in the final loneliness of this room they have been prudent. They have known that the decisions they make here can change the course of history or end history altogether. In crisis and tragedy, we have found men worthy of this office. We have been fortunate. Vote for President Johnson on November 3rd. The stakes are too high for you to stay home.

Link: http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/co...


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The Social Security Ad for Lyndon Johnson Campaign Ad

You have to see the reels!

TRANSCRIPT
Museum of the Moving Image
The Living Room Candidate - Transcript
"Social Security," Johnson, 1964

MALE NARRATOR: On at least seven different occasions, Barry Goldwater has said he would drastically change the social security system. In the Chattanooga, Tennessee Times, in a Face the Nation interview, in the New York Times Magazine, in a Continental Classroom TV interview, in the New York Journal American, in a speech he made only last January in Concord, New Hampshire, and in the Congressional Record. Even his running mate, William Miller, admits that Barry Goldwater's voluntary plan would wreck your Social Security.

JOHNSON: Too many have worked too long and too hard to see this threatened now by policies which promise to undo all that we have done together over all these years.

MALE NARRATOR: For over thirty years President Johnson has worked to strengthen Social Security. Vote for him on November 3rd. The stakes are too high for you to stay home.

Link: http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/co...


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The Medicare Discussion for Lyndon Johnson Campaign Ad

RANSCRIPT
Museum of the Moving Image
The Living Room Candidate - Transcript
"Medicare," Johnson, 1964

(Sound of boat motor)

MALE NARRATOR: On September 1, 1964, Senator Barry M. Goldwater interrupted his vacation cruise and headed for shore in a big hurry. Destination? Washington, D.C.

(Sound of airplane taking off)

MALE NARRATOR: He arrived just in time to cast his vote.

MALE VOICE: NO.

(Sound of car engine)

MALE NARRATOR: Then he turned around and headed back. Senator Goldwater flew across the continent twice, almost 6,000 miles, to vote against a program of hospital insurance for older Americans. As he said in the Atlanta Constitution on January 26, 1963, "I've got my own medicare plan. I've got an intern for a son-in-law." Flip answers do not solve the problems of human beings. President Johnson wants a program of hospital insurance for older Americans. He is determined to see this program passed in the next Congress.

[TEXT: Vote for President Johnson on Nov. 3]

Link: http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/co...

Note: This one was probably very effective.


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The Eastern Seaboard going out to sea Campaign Ad for Lyndon Johnson

Sort of humorous

TRANSCRIPT
Museum of the Moving Image
The Living Room Candidate
"Eastern Seaboard," Johnson, 1964

(Sound of metal saw cutting through wood; water rippling)

MALE NARRATOR: In a Saturday Evening Post article dated August 31st, 1963, Barry Goldwater said, "Sometimes I think this country would be better off if we could just saw off the Eastern Seaboard and let it float out to sea." Can a man who makes statements like this be expected to serve all the people, justly and fairly?

(Sound of wood breaking off; heavy splash)

MALE NARRATOR: Vote for President Johnson on November 3rd. The stakes are too high for you to stay home.

Link: http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/co...


message 85: by Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief (last edited Jan 21, 2015 10:54PM) (new) - rated it 4 stars

Bentley | 44291 comments Mod
The IBM Punchcard Tax Bill Campaign Ad for Barry Goldwater

Sort of sinister - talking about you going to your final reward (yikes) - this one even had a Bobby Baker caricature in it.

TRANSCRIPT
Museum of the Moving Image
The Living Room Candidate - Transcript
"Punchcard," Goldwater, 1964

MALE NARRATOR: This--this punchcard--could be a portrait of you and your family. A portrait owned and manipulated by an all-powerful Big Brother government. And you work four full months a year to pay Big Brother here in Washington to plan and regulate your life, your business, the teaching of your children, your protection, and even comfort you on the way to your final reward. For all of this, Big Brother sends you one very big annual bill: your taxes. For that price, he says he will put you on the best possible terms with your neighbors, and with other people in other parts of the world. Oh, Big Brother will be your high-living representative with world leaders who don't like your system of government. There must be people who want to become a number looked after by Big Brother government. They want the present administration to continue--and grow. But there are other people to whom it is a frightening picture. And it is this man who speaks for them. His name is Barry Goldwater.

GOLDWATER: The individual, the private man, today stands in danger of becoming the forgotten man of our collectivized, complex times. The private man, the whole man, must and can be restored as a sovereign citizen, as the center of the family and the state, and a prime mover and shaper of the future. In this year of decision, and with your help, we must begin a great campaign to return the government of this nation to the people of this nation. We must take a first step to ending in our time the erosion of individual worth and responsibility, the growing federal bureaucracy. This time, in this election, we have a choice. It's between far more than political personalities, or political promises, or political programs. It is a choice of which sort of people we want to be. It's a choice of what sort of world we want to live in and pass on to our children. Choose the way of the present administration, and you will have chosen the way of regimented society, with a number for every man, woman, and child; a pigeonhole for every problem; a bureaucrat for every decision. Choose the way of this administration, and you choose the way of unilateral disarmament and appeasement in foreign affairs. Choose the way of this present administration, and you make real the prospect of an America unarmed and aimless in the face of militant communism around the world.

Instead, I ask if you'll join me in protesting that every man, every American, can stand on his own, make up his own mind, chart his own future, teach and control his own family. Asking for help and getting help only when truly overwhelming problems beyond his control beset him. I ask you to join with me in finding twentieth century answers for twentieth century problems, rather than relying on the old, worn-out doctrine of turning our problems, our lives, and eventually our liberties, over to an all-powerful central government. The campaign we wage today is dedicated to this search for new answers. The campaign we wage today is dedicated to peace, to progress, and to purpose. Peace through preparedness. Progress through freedom. Purpose through constitutional order. These are the themes we will make resound across this great land of ours. These are the themes that will be heard around the world as we restore peace and freedom.

MALE NARRATOR [and TEXT]: In your heart... You know he's right. VOTE FOR BARRY GOLDWATER.

Link: http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/co...


message 86: by Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief (last edited Jan 21, 2015 11:04PM) (new) - rated it 4 stars

Bentley | 44291 comments Mod
Ike at Gettysburg Campaign Ad for Barry Goldwater.

Goldwater is sitting with Ike in Gettysburg talking about his candidacy and that of his choice for running mate - Congressman Bill Miller. Goldwater wants to know Ike's opinion about all of the war monger name calling. Ike starts out talking but never truly answers the question and seems cut off (smile)

TRANSCRIPT
Museum of the Moving Image
The Living Room Candidate - Transcript
"Ike at Gettysburg," Goldwater, 1964

MALE NARRATOR: Senator Barry Goldwater, speaking with General Dwight D. Eisenhower at Gettysburg.

GOLDWATER: We keep getting back to the subject of war and peace, and in this campaign that Congressman Bill Miller and I are engaged in - for the Presidency and the Vice Presidency - because we constantly stress the need for a strong America, our opponents are refering to us as warmongers, and I'd like to know what your opinion of that would be. You've known me a long time and you've known Congressman Miller a long time.

EISENHOWER: Well, Barry, in my mind, this is actual tommyrot. Now, you've known about war; you've been through one. I'm older than you; I've been in more. But I'll tell you, no man that knows anything about war is going to be reckless about this.

MALE NARRATOR: Vote for Barry Goldwater. In your heart you know he's right.

Link: http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/co...


message 87: by Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief (last edited Jan 21, 2015 11:08PM) (new) - rated it 4 stars

Bentley | 44291 comments Mod
Morality - Graft - Swindles - Barry Goldwater Ad

Quite a dismal ad.

TRANSCRIPT
Museum of the Moving Image
The Living Room Candidate - Transcript
"Morality," Goldwater, 1964

MALE NARRATOR #1: Graft!

[TEXT: BILLIE SOL ESTES]

MALE NARRATOR #1: Swindles! Juvenile Delinquency! Crime! Riots!

MALE NARRATOR #2: Hear what Barry Goldwater has to say about our lack of moral leadership.

GOLDWATER: The leadership of this nation has a clear and immediate challenge to go to work effectively and go to work immediately to restore proper respect for law and order in this land — and not just prior to election day either. America's greatness is the greatness of her people, and let this generation, then, make a new mark for that greatness. Let this generation of Americans set a standard of responsibility that will inspire the world.

MALE NARRATOR #2: In your heart, you know he's right. Vote for Barry Goldwater.

Link: http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/co...


message 88: by Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief (new) - rated it 4 stars

Bentley | 44291 comments Mod
Senator Margaret Chase Smith is speaking for Barry Goldwater Campaign Ad

TRANSCRIPT
Museum of the Moving Image
The Living Room Candidate - Transcript
"Senator Margaret Chase Smith," Goldwater, 1964

SMITH: I am happy to personally correct a serious misconception and untruth. Those opposing Senator Goldwater have tried to make you think Barry Goldwater is against the Social Security program. Nothing could be further from the truth. As a United States Senator, I know Barry Goldwater's voting record on Social Security. He has voted time and again for Social Security legislation, including the one that increased Social Security payments. He is for Social Security, in fact, wants to see it strengthened, and as I pointed out, has supported it time after time in the United States senate.

[TEXT: vote for Barry Goldwater. In your heart, you know he's right.]

Link: http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/co...


message 89: by Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief (new) - rated it 4 stars

Bentley | 44291 comments Mod
Mrs. Hussler is Worried about Communism Ad - Campaign Ad for Barry Goldwater

(smile)

TRANSCRIPT
Museum of the Moving Image
The Living Room Candidate - Transcript
"Communism," Goldwater, 1964

HUSSLER: I'm Mrs. Hussler and I have a question for Barry Goldwater. I'm concerned about Communism and it's spread throughout the world. You know as the years go by they gain more ground all the time. And as time goes on, the matter is going to get much worse. I would like Mr. Goldwater to tell me his thoughts and ideas on how we can stop the spread of Communism throughout the world.

GOLDWATER: Well the first thing we can and should do is to rebuild and revitalize our whole system of alliances. Top priority must go to repairing the damage done by this administration to the great North Atlantic Treaty Organization, which to me is the greatest peacekeeping force ever devised by free men. Our allies will know that once again, America wants to work with them, as equal partners, in the cause of freedom and peace.

MALE ANNOUNCER: In your heart, you know he's right. Vote for Barry Goldwater

Link: http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/co...


message 90: by Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief (new) - rated it 4 stars

Bentley | 44291 comments Mod
Mrs Garby is Sick and Tired Campaign Ad for Barry Goldwater.

TRANSCRIPT
Museum of the Moving IMage
The Living Room Candidate - Transcript
"Dowager," Goldwater, 1964

GARBY: I'm Mrs. Garby. I'm sick and tired of my husband working his head off to pay high taxes, while the men in Washington are using their big political jobs to get rich at our expense. I know some people say that we have to have corruption in government, but I want to know what Barry Goldwater can do about this.

GOLDWATER: Americans everywhere are indignant about the moral decay in Washington, and nobody should accept corruption in positions of public trust as a way of life. All it takes to clean it up is an administration that really wants it cleaned up, and one that has the moral courage to fire the influence-peddlers and graft-takers, no matter who they may be. All it takes when you come right down to it, is a real confidence that free Americans can and should run their own lives.

Announcer: In your heart, you know he's right. Vote for Barry Goldwater and put conscience back in government.

Link: http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/co...


message 91: by Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief (last edited Jan 21, 2015 11:17PM) (new) - rated it 4 stars

Bentley | 44291 comments Mod
We are Beloved Campaign Ad for Barry Goldwater

TRANSCRIPT
Museum of the Moving Image
The Living Room Candidate - Transcript
"America's Image," Goldwater, 1964

MALE NARRATOR: On February 11, 1964 in Washington, President Lyndon B. Johnson said, "We are a much-beloved people throughout the world."

[TEXT: "...we are a much beloved people throughout the world." - PRESIDENT LYNDON B. JOHNSON]

(Minor music)

GOLDWATER: Is this what President Johnson means when he says we are much beloved? Well, I don't like to see our flag torn down and trampled upon anywhere in the world, and I think most Americans agree with me on that. I don't like to see American citizens pushed around, and there's no good reason for letting it happen. All this results from weak, vacillating leadership. We must show the world that we are a mature, responsible people, aware of our rights as well as our responsibilities. And just as soon as we do this, we will resume our rightful role of world leadership, which this administration has let go by default.

Link: http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/co...


message 92: by Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief (last edited Jan 21, 2015 11:21PM) (new) - rated it 4 stars

Bentley | 44291 comments Mod
And they rolled out John Wayne - the John Wayne Campaign Ad for Barry Goldwater - the Umbrella ad

Link: http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/co...

Vote Goldwater/Miller for a new beginning!


message 93: by Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief (last edited Jan 21, 2015 11:23PM) (new) - rated it 4 stars

Bentley | 44291 comments Mod
Republican Convention Ad for Lyndon Johnson Campaign Ad

http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/co...

Probably was effective.


message 94: by Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief (new) - rated it 4 stars

Bentley | 44291 comments Mod
The Voting Booth Campaign Ad for Lyndon Johnson

http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/co...


message 95: by Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief (new) - rated it 4 stars

Bentley | 44291 comments Mod
Confessions of a Republican Campaign Ad for Lyndon Johnson

Very weird - you never could do this one today. An actor and then he lights up a cigarette puffing away.

Link: http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/co...


message 96: by Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief (new) - rated it 4 stars

Bentley | 44291 comments Mod
Moral Responsibility - Barry Goldwater Campaign Ad

http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/co...


message 97: by Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief (last edited Jan 21, 2015 11:32PM) (new) - rated it 4 stars

Bentley | 44291 comments Mod
Raymond Massey gets into the act for Barry Goldwater - the Vietnam message

Link: http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/co...


message 98: by Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief (last edited Jan 21, 2015 11:35PM) (new) - rated it 4 stars

Bentley | 44291 comments Mod
And the Gipper gives his performance in a Campaign Ad for Barry Goldwater and he is mad!

Link: http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/co...

Humorous Ads.


message 99: by Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief (last edited Jan 22, 2015 07:11AM) (new) - rated it 4 stars

Bentley | 44291 comments Mod
Chapter Seven - Sacrifice

Campaign Ads and Jingles.

Topics for Discussion:

In Chapter Seven the author alluded to all of the campaign jingle, ads an and issues that LBJ was having during the campaign to be elected in his own right.

1. We have included above all of the ones we could find so that you could watch them yourselves and comment upon them. What was your impression of these ads and did they show a different country, a different time and culture?

2. What were the issues on both sides of the campaign - what was Barry Goldwater for and what did LBJ stand for? Was what he stood for the dilemma that he had?

Regarding LBJ - the Candidate

The author makes the following comments about LBJ and his insecurities:

The author wrote - "It was a new sort of problem for Lyndon Johnson. All his life, he had found his way out of difficult situations by determining what people wanted and then convincing them that he was the best one to provide it.

Then he’d go ahead and provide it, even if the providing meant walking the narrowest of paths. But the abundance of his electoral opportunity created an altogether new kind of challenge.

There was no narrow path in front of him. There was no path at all. He had to create it. He had to decide what he wanted, and to try, like Kennedy and FDR before him, to persuade the nation to come along.

For Lyndon Johnson, this would have seemed the most frightening of proposition of all. He had the opportunity, with his comfortable lead, to tell his people how things really were in America, and how things might get better from there. But to do so, he would have to turn the same realism on himself: to not be the president people wanted, but the president he really was. And that would mean risk; the risk that once they saw him, they would not want him at all:

Topics for Discussion:

1. What are your thoughts about the man and his insecurities after achieving as much as he achieved? Was he so afraid of failure that he really did not know who he was or what he wanted?


Michael (michaelbl) | 407 comments Bentley wrote: "I agree wholeheatedly - along with the depressive state - there is the manic one which has a host of other characteristics along with risky behavior. I frankly do not think that LBJ fit that profi..."

RE: LBJ bi-polar/manic: I do not think what we are seeing is a mental illness at work. At one point in my career I experienced major burn-out, to the point that my superiors actually stepped into the situation to help me. This was caused by major stress brought on by crisis in our organization. High stress levels and burn-out can result in bouts of depression even years later, you are more easily stressed, and even without the depression you can get into corners in your thinking where you have a hard time seeing or finding a way out.

Now consider the stresses that anyone who is the President of the United States experiences. Plus it was an election year and he was pushing some fairly controversial legislation in an area where some cities were already fairly volatile. I think this might be what we are seeing here.


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