1968
The
American public got its first inside look at a presidential ad campaign with
the publication of "The Selling of the President." Joe McGinnis, at the time
a columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer, asked for and received unprecedented
access to the inner workings of the Nixon advertising team. His account shocked
many with its details of the careful crafting of Richard Nixon's image. Roger
Ailes, who would later gain notoriety for his aggressive 1988 media campaign
for George Bush, is quoted as saying in November of 1968 "This is the beginning
of a whole new concept. This is it. This is the way they'll be elected forevermore.
The next guys up will have to be performers."Nixon
won a close election over Hubert Humphrey and third-party candidate George
Wallace. McGinnis had originally approached the Humphrey campaign for his
book, and they turned him down. But he contends his story would be very much
the same no matter which side
he followed. 
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