Today is election day here in Japan. So, I thought I would dig up some of the old US election television commercials. In light of the events that took place afterwards, some of them are really funny. My overall impression is that election strategies and the resulting commercials really haven't changed that much over the years.
1952
Title: Hear Dick Nixon, Fighting American
Nixon: Let's take a look at corruption. You know it ranges all the way from petty political larceny to grand government theft. And as far as corruption is concerned I want to make this one point very clear. I worked for the government, for nine months during 1942. Mrs. Nixon worked for the government in San Francisco while I was in service overseas. I am proud of the fact that I once worked for the federal government. I am proud of millions of fine, good, honest, decent, loyal people that work for the federal government. And I say that the best thing that can be done for them is to kick out the crooks and the others that have besmirched their reputation in Washington D.C. and that's what we're going to do.
Announcer: Elect the Eisenhower/Nixon team on November 4th.
1964
Announcer: Graft! Swindle! Juvenile Delinquency! Crime! Riots! 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.
Announcer: In your heart, you know he's right. Vote for Barry Goldwater.
Title: Confessions of a RepublicanRepublican: I don't know just why they wanted to call this a confession; I certainly don't feel guilty about being a Republican. I've always been a Republican. My father is, his father was, the whole family is a Republican family. I voted for Dwight Eisenhower the first time I ever voted; I voted for Nixon the last time. But when we come to Senator Goldwater, now it seems to me we're up against a very different kind of a man. This man scares me. Now maybe I'm wrong. A friend of mine just said to me, "Listen, just because a man sounds a little irresponsible during a campaign doesn't mean he's going to act irresponsibly." You know that theory, that the White House makes the man. I don't buy that. You know what I think makes a president, I mean aside from his judgement, his experience, are the men behind him, his advisors, the cabinet. So many men with strange ideas are working for Goldwater. You hear a lot about what these guys are against (they seem to be against just about everything) but what are they for? The hardest thing for me about this whole campaign is to sort out one Goldwater statement from another. A reporter will go to Senator Goldwater and he'll say, "Senator, on such and such a day, you said, and I quote, 'blah blah blah' whatever it is, endquote." And then Goldwater says, "Well, I wouldn't put it that way." I can't follow that. Was he serious when he did put it that way; is he serious when he says I wouldn't put it that way? I just don't get it. A President ought to mean what he says. President Johnson, at least, is talking about facts. He says, "Look, we've got the tax cut bill and because of that you get to carry home x number of dollars every payday; we've got the nuclear test ban and because of that there is x percent less radioactivity in the food." But Goldwater, often, I can't figure out just what Goldwater means by the things he says. I read now where he says, "A craven fear of death is sweeping across America. What is that supposed to mean? If he means that people don't want to fight a nuclear war, he's right. I don't. When I read some of these things that Goldwater says about total victory, I get a little worried, youk know? I wish I was as sure that Goldwater is as against war as I am that he's against some of these other things. I wish I could believe that he has the imagination to be able to just shut his eyes and picture what this country would look like after a nuclear war. Sometimes I wish I'd been at that convention at San Francisco. I mean, I wish I'd been a delegate, I really do. I would have fought, you know. I wouldn't have worried so much about party unity because if you unite behind a man you don't believe him. It's a lie. I tell you, those people who got control of that convention: who are they? I mean, when the head of the Ku Klux Klan, when all these weird groups come out in favor of the candidate of my party—either they're not Republicans or I'm not. I thought about just not voting at this election, just staying home—but you can't do that, that's saying you don't care who wins and I do care. I think my party made a bad mistake in San Francisco, and I'm going to have to vote against that mistake on the third of November.
Announcer: Vote for President Johnson on November 3rd. The stakes are too high for you to stay home.
Ronald Reagan: I asked to speak to you because I'm mad. I've known Barry Goldwater for a long time. And when I hear people say he's impulsive and such nonsense, I boil over. Believe me, if it weren't for Barry keeping those boys in Washington on their toes, do you honestly think our national defense would be as strong as it is? And remember, when Barry talks about the way to keep the peace, when he says that only the strong can remain free, he knows what he's talking about. And I know the wonderful Goldwater family. Do you honestly believe that Barry wants his sons and daughters involved in a war? Do you think he wants his wife to be a wartime mother? Of course not. So join me, won't you? Let's get a real leader and not a power politician in the White House. Vote for Barry Goldwater.
1980
CARTER: I and all my predecessors have had a deep commitment to controlling the proliferation of nuclear weapons in ....
ANNOUNCER: When the subject is nuclear proliferation a president or a candidate must speak with absolute accuracy. He must also be able to remember what he has said.
CARTER: When Governor Reagan has been asked about that, he makes a very disturbing comment that nonproliferation or the control of the spread of nuclear weapons is none of our business.
REAGAN: I have never made the statement that he suggested about nuclear proliferation.
ANNOUNCER: But listen to Governor Reagan last January in Jacksonville.
REAGAN: I just don't think that it's any of our business. Unilaterally the United States seemed to be the only nation in the world that's trying to stop the proliferation of nuclear weapons.
ANNOUNCER: In this debate, in this whole campaign, Governor Reagan has changed important positions to get votes and then blandly tried to wipe out the earlier position. Which Ronald Reagan should we believe?
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