14/23 #RichardMNixon, the Republican California senator (though born in NY) who had been vice-president under #DwightDEisenhower, ran for president back in 1960, losing to #JFK.

He lost the 1964 nomination to #BarryGoldwater (noted as a significant conservative shift for the Republican party).

Nixon ran again in 1968 and (finally) won — but just barely; to strengthen his administration, he needed an angle, coming up with his #SouthernStrategy.

Nixon strategically powered the #PartySwitch

14/23 #RichardMNixon, the Republican California senator (though born in NY) who had been vice-president under #DwightDEisenhower, ran for president back in 1960, losing to #JFK.

He lost the 1964 nomination to #BarryGoldwater (noted as a significant conservative shift for the Republican party).

Nixon ran again in 1968 and (finally) won — but just barely; to strengthen his administration, he needed an angle, coming up with his #SouthernStrategy.

Nixon strategically powered the #PartySwitch

#Bales2023FilmChallenge XXDATE: Countdown on #NationalCountdownDay

[SPOILER WARNING BELOW]

#Peace, little girl aka Daisy aka Daisy Girl was the #PoliticalAd campaign to end all ad campaigns. It opens innocently enough with a little blonde girl, picking the petals of an ox-eye #daisy while counting. When the final petal's gone, the tone changes completely*

This deceptively simple #propaganda #film was made in support of Lyndon B. Johnson's 1964 presidential campaign by ad agency #DBB and media consultant #TonySchwartz. It was so effective and bleak in is insinuations that the Johnson campaign was forced to pull it after only one screening.

What fascinates me is the similarity with one particular scene from James Whale's Frankenstein (1931). The Monster (#Karloff) meets a little girl who sits on the shore of a lake, picking daisies. He approaches her, and the girl, knowing the creature is a good man at heart, invites him to play a game with her involving them tossing the daisies into the lake. <spoiler>When they run out of daisies, the Monster picks up the girl who to him is as pretty and innocent as a flower, and throws her into the water.</spoiler>.

This scene was cut and considered lost until the 1980s. Could Tony Schwartz have been aware of that scene? He was at the right age to have seen the pre-code, pre-cut version.

*Peace, little girl is deceptively simple and only a minute long. However, do watch it on a sunny day: https://www.loc.gov/item/mbrs01185386/?)

#film #cinema #propaganda #elections #LyndonBJohnson #BarryGoldwater #ColdWar #Vietnam #VietnamWar #politics #FilMastodon #CineMastodon @film https://letterboxd.com/12pt9/list/bales2023filmchallenge/

My aim is not to pass laws, but to repeal them
#BarryGoldwater

The income #tax created more criminals than any other single act of government
#BarryGoldwater

Let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue
#BarryGoldwater

The root evil is that the government is engaged in activities in which it has no legitimate business
#BarryGoldwater