(1963) POLITICAL PROPAGANDA - EITHER A WORLD FOR ALL GOD"S CHILDREN OR WE MUST DIE- LBJ ELECTION COMMERCIAL

"These are the stakes! To make a

 world in which all of God's children

 can live, or to go into the dark. We

 must either love each other, or we

 must die."


LBJ LETS AMERICANS KNOW THAT WE MUST MAKE A WORLD FOR ALL OF GODS CHILDREN OR GO IN TO THE DARKNESS, AND DIE, AND THE WAY WE WILL DIE IS SEEN IN THE END OF HIS COMMERCIAL AS A NUCLEAR BLAST LIGHTS UP THE SCREEN WITH THE SOUND OF THE DETONATION FOLLOWING IT.......THAT HORROR THAT HE FORECASTS AGAINST THE BACKDROP OF A NUCLEAR DETONATION THAT IS SEEN IN THE REFLECTION OF A LITTLE GIRLS EYE (WHO IS REFERRED TO AS DAISY OR THE DAISY GIRL) AS SHE IS COUNTING DAISY PETALS AND AS SHE COUNTS A MALE VOICE TAKES OVER AND COUNTS DOWN WHAT SOUNDS LIKE A NUCLEAR MISSILE LAUNCH. IT IS VERY SERIOUS AND SHOCKING IN ITS IMAGERY AND ALSO ITS WORDING. THIS WAS 1963 SO THIS WAS A LITTLE HEAVY FOR ITS DAY, BUT SO WERE HIS OTHER CAMPAIGN COMMERCIALS SHOWING THE KLAN OR OUT OF CONTROL HIPSTERS AND LONG HAIRED DRUG FUELED YOUTH TEARING UP AMERICA. ALL OF THESE VERY IMAGE HEAVY COMMERCIALS  THAT CALLED FOR STRAIGHT GOD FEARING AMERICANS TO COME OUT AND VOTE FOR HIM THE STAKES HAVE NEVER BEEN HIGHER. 
THIS HAS TO BE ONE OF THE SCARIEST ELECTION BIDS I HAVE EVER SEEN.....WELL SOME OF RONALD REAGAN'S ELECTION ADS AND QUOTES ARE ALSO KINDA SCARY TOO, BUT JOHNSON RODE THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS OUT WITH KENNEDY AND THAT WAS THE CLOSEST WE HAD COME TO A HOT WAR WITH THE SOVIETS. SO AFTER KENNEDY WAS ASSASSINATED AND JOHNSON WAS SWORN IN AS PRESIDENT HE TOOK ON THE BURDEN OF THE COLD WAR ,SO IF HE SAYS IN A ROUNDABOUT WAY THAT IF YOU DON'T COME OUT AND VOTE FOR ME WE ARE ALL GOING TO MARCH TOGETHER INTO A NUCLEAR APOCALYPSE THAT MIGHT OF BEEN A GOOD REASON TO VOTE FOR THE GUY. SCARY SHIT, IT IS MOST DEFINITELY A CLASSIC COLD WAR MEMORY AND HE WAS ELECTED, AND EVEN STILL SOME  AMERICANS WERE MARCHED OFF IN TO THE DARKNESS..IT WAS CALLED VIETNAM 

“LBJ’s Atomic Ad”
1964 – “Daisy Girl”

'Daisy Girl' counting her petals in 1964.

      On September 7, 1964, television advertising history was made during the broadcast of NBC’s Monday Night at The Movies.  That’s when a new kind of TV ad was first aired that would forever change the art and practice of political advertising – and to a large degree, political campaigning as well. For 1964 was the year that the negative political ad was born, initiating the clever use of image and sound to paint an opponent in negative or scary terms. No less than a presidential election was at stake.

     The Democrats, with President Lyndon B. Johnson in the White House following the assassination of John F. Kennedy, were headed for an election-year battle with Republican presidential candidate Barry Goldwater, a fierce and outspoken conservative.  The Democrats had hired a New York advertising firm to help them in their campaign.  Among the ad men enlisted was Tony Schwartz who believed that negative sentiment associated with a particular candidate could be more powerful in persuading voters than positive ones.

Photograph of an atomic blast, a version of which was also shown in the 'Daisy Girl' campaign ad.

     On the campaign trial, Goldwater had advocated the use of “tactical” nuclear weapons in Vietnam, and Lyndon Johnson’s team went right after that, trying to paint Goldwater as dangerous.  One result was the infamous“Daisy Girl” TV ad, a one-minute spot featuring a little blond girl in an open field, appearing innocent and playful, plucking petals off a daisy, counting as she went, flubbing the sequence a bit, as young children do:  “One, two, three, four, five, seven, six, six, eight, nine, nine …,”she says, counting in a slow, sing-song fashion.  Immediately following the little girl’s voice comes a man’s voice, enhanced by an echo chamber.  The girl looks up from her de-petalled flower, as if hearing the distant voice, also counting — backwards:  “Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, zero.”  The sound of a horrific explosion follows as the TV image changes sharply to the mushroom cloud of an atomic explosion, then an x-ray-like image of the daisy girl as the blast sound rolls out for an extended count of some long seconds.  Then comes the voice of Lyndon Johnson.  In his perfect Texas twang, pausing purposely for effect at the proper moments, Johnson offers this view:  “These are the stakes . . . To make a world in which all of God’s children can live . . . Or, to go into the darkness . . . We must either love each other, or we must die.”  The piece closes with an announcer voice-over:  “Vote for President Johnson on November 3rd.  The stakes are too high for you to stay home.”