Comparison Of Historical Communication Pieces 1

Comparison of Historical Communication Pieces

Compare and Contrast of Presidential election of 1964
After observing both videos you began to notice the suggestive nature in which communication can have in dictating the outcomes of peoples ideology or point of view. The involvement of media in this situation to gain the sympathy of the voters was huge. In this instance, it's the Presidential election race of 1964. The Johnson campaign launched the "daisy ad", in response to Goldwater’s stating he would use nuclear weaponry if needed. The ad blatantly accuses Goldwater of being capable of using nuclear weapons in Vietnam and would take the “do whatever it takes” approach to win the war, with footage of an exploding mushroom cloud, it inevitably tipped the voters toward Johnson. The Johnson campaign portrayed Goldwater as a warmonger. Articles were also written questioning whether or not Goldwater "was psychologically fit to serve as president of the United States."
Of course Goldwater insisted that he was not an advocate of using nuclear weapons. In an attempt to launch a rebuttal, The “I'm Mad” ad was created. It featured Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Nikita Khrushchev yelling "We will bury you!" with American children reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. None of this ended up mattering thought as Khrushchev's was effectively removed from office. Johnson's campaign took this opportunity to “mock” the Goldwater campaign causing public opinion to sway even further and Johnson; who was the obvious candidate to elect especially since the American public was still in shock due to JFK's recent death, won the election.