This Time, Vote Like Your Whole World Depended On It

The lessons of history.

As a student of history, I can't help but draw parallels between the past and today. Enclosed are a few examples of actual ads run by Presidential candidates over the past forty years.

I am advancing no candidate's agenda today; I am merely remarking on the ironies of history and political science. We will see these motifs from now until November.

1.

ANNOUNCER: How can a party that can't unite itself unite the nation? How can a party that can't keep order in its own back yard hope to keep order in our 50 states? How can a party that labels the results of its programs the "Great Society" ever find any real solutions? How can a party that lets the country get bogged down in an endless war against a fourth rate military power promise anything but decades of conflict? How, in the light of all this, can the American people fail to see that the United States urgently needs new leadership? By now it's clear. The American people do see the need.

Richard Nixon, 1968

2.

[twangy guitar music over images of the South]

JIMMY CARTER (voiceover): I'm a Southerner. And I'm proud of a heritage that shows concern for the working men and women who are the backbone of our great nation.
[images of Carter walking through agricultural fields, working at desk with others]

CARTER voiceover: These are the people who are often cheated by an unfair system of government. These are the people forgotten by the present administration, while the influential and powerful get special favors. When I'm elected president, that will change.

MALE ANNOUNCER: We in the south can help, by voting for Jimmy Carter: A leader, for a change.

[supertext: Jimmy Carter: A leader, for a change]

Jimmy Carter, 1976

Hubert Humphrey, 1968

Announcer: Here is President Eisenhower's decision of 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 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 first-hand 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.

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

Richard Nixon, 1960

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