Can the President be Sold?

Everyone knows that the rise of TV has had a profound impact upon politics. That everyone does know this may very well be the most important part of the impact. Elaborate and expensive attempts to define the exact nature of the influence have produced a great many interesting fragments of information, but no theory that is both definitive and all-embracing.

This does not seem to prevent any of us— experts and amateurs alike—from acting on implicit faith. According to received opinion, victory in the television debates elected John F. Kennedy in 1960; and a poor television image defeated Lyndon Johnson in 1968, making such archaic rituals as primaries, convention and campaign unnecessary. Richard Nixon lost in 1960 because he allowed anxiety to show on his sweaty, stubbly face during the debates; and he won both the nomination and the election in 1968 by deftly projecting the image of a new, warm, statesmanlike Dick Nixon. De Gaulle, Harold Wilson, and Trudeau are often si...