Often overshadowed by LBJ’s infamous “Daisy” ad, “Confessions of a Republican” is great mostly because it’s so weird. It’s also really long—four minutes and change. I haven’t been able to figure out when exactly it aired, or how really, because four-minute ad breaks aren’t particularly common even now (and TV commercial breaks have stretched drastically in recent years). In the ad, an actor (although the ad doesn’t say as much) talks about how he’s always been a Republican, but the party’s candidate that year, Sen. Goldwater, is too extreme for his comfort. Sure, this is mostly an artifact of the era during which party...
Continue reading...History
Hell Bent for Election
So this is friggin’ cool. Above is an animated film directed by Chuck Jones that was basically a union-sponsored campaign ad for FDR. From the YouTube description: Hell-Bent For Election was a 1944 two-reel (thirteen minute) animated cartoon short subject now in the public domain. The short was one of the first major films from United Productions of America (then known as “Industrial Films”), which would go on to become the most influential animation studio of the 1950s. As UPA did not have a full staff or a studio location until the late-1940s, this film was made...
Continue reading...Book Review: Forgotten Drinks of Colonial New England, by Corin Hirsch
Before pilsners and whiskeys were the tried and true choice of Americans, those in the New England colonies put their lips around a wide collection of concoctions to keep things loose through the day. In Forgotten Drinks of Colonial New England, Corin Hirsch explores not just what we used to drink but how we drank it. And drink we did. Bitters before work was a morning ritual, cider at each meal was thought to keep one hydrated while avoiding polluted water, and if there wasn\’t rum in your cup each night then good luck keeping pace with...
Continue reading...Watch: This day-by-day animation of World War I
With about the least amount of fanfare possible, yesterday was the 100th anniversary of the start of the Great War. It wasn’t just about the western front. Check out the above animation, which shows all the movements each day. This is a war that may take a backseat in our history classes to the other big one, but all of geopolitics was formed by this conflict, especially the middle east (remember that the countries all in conflict right now are because of the fake lines drawn on a map after the Ottoman Empire was destroyed in this very same...
Continue reading...Today in History: The Sex Pistols play a poorly-attended show in Manchester
Today (June 4) marks the date in 1976 that the Sex Pistols played a show at the Lesser Free Trade Hall in Manchester. There were only about 35-40 people there (the space was big enough to hold hundreds), but it’s considered still one of the most important concerts in music history. Why? Well, there’s this: “We know that Morrissey was there, who went on to form the Smiths. We know that the lads who went on to form the Buzzcocks were there because they organised the gig. We know that two lads from Lower Broughton were there...
Continue reading...Temperance Railway, next stop Cigaretteville
I love maps, I love transit, I love transit maps, I love historical documents, and I love all things drink. So, you can imagine that I love this map. It\’s pretty great. From 1908, and recently dug up by the Library of Congress, it shows all the stops you\’ll go through if you continue down your non-temperate life. Such places as Selfishburg, Hypocrisy Heights, Whiskeyton (my neighborhood), Treasondale, Malicefort, Cocain Park, Sing Sing, Dissipation Gap and Prizefight City. Here it is full-sized and huge in case you want to print me a present. <via>
Continue reading...V&V Oversimplified Explanation Theater: What the hell is going on in Ukraine?
A new series, where we try to give a short, easy, way-oversimplified background and history to a story that could use at least a hint of explanation, but really needs like a massive book or several. So, what the hell is going on in Ukraine? There’s these protests, people are mad, it’s gotten violent, and at least 25 people have died just between yesterday and today. Let’s start at the beginning: Ukraine lies at the intersection of Russia’s and the European Union’s interests. It also lies at the intersection of the Russian world and the European world....
Continue reading...Great Moments in Campaign Advertising: Morning in America
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EU-IBF8nwSY&w=560&h=445] \”Prouder/Faster/Stronger\” A Reagan/Bush ad from 1984 featuring the famous tag-line \”It\’s morning in America,\” was one of the—if not the—most effective campaign advertisements in U.S. history. A simple message—things are better now than they were four years ago, so why change?—yet, thematically very interesting. \”Morning\” both symbolizes the disappearance of the dark age of the 1970s, as well as the very real and non-symbolic message of people going to work. IMDBish fun fact of the day: The ad was directed by John Pytka, whose brother Joe Pytka directed \”Space Jam.\” Full text of the ad after...
Continue reading...Great Moments in Campaign History: From the South, Not For the South
http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/flash/player.swf?id=4375 In 1968 and 1972, Richard Nixon\’s campaign had hedged a challenge from the racial right embodied by George Wallace by employing the so-called \”Southern Strategy:\” a series of policies with coded racial undertones (think \”states rights\” versus \”civil rights\”). However, Ford\’s more amiable demeanor didn\’t take well to that type of campaign, and with the nomination of folksy Georgia governor Jimmy Carter, he found himself against the wall in the South. While this ad only featured Strom Thurmond\’s talking head saying that Carter may be from the South, but wasn\’t for the South, in the context...
Continue reading...Great Moments in Campaign Advertising: What has Nixon done for me?
Since you may have never seen a Hubert Humphrey advertisement. For a little background, most of Humphrey’s advertising was negative, since he was in the uncomfortable position of being the sitting vice president in a terribly unpopular administration (and had been nominated above other Democrats who were far more popular, despite winning zero primaries). So, the general aim of the campaign was the paint Nixon as out of the loop and untrustworthy. Here, we see a tactic that pre-dated Karl Rove by decades. Nixon’s biggest strength, at least in his last run in 1960, was his experience....
Continue reading...
Recent Comments