Page 10 - Historical Dictionary of Political Communication in the United States

INTRODUCTION
a
means for politicians to reach the masses. The only other way was to go on IX
speech-making tour.
That changed with the advent of radio in the 1920s, although it wasn't until
the 1930s that we saw a politician make widespread use of radio. President
Franklin D. Roosevelt understood what could be done and had a radio voice
unmatched by his political rivals. Then, after World War II, television came on
the scene and became indispensable for politicians. Dwight Eisenhower used
television more effectively than his opponents in the 1950s, and it is widely
thought that John Kennedy defeated Richard Nixon for the presidency in 1960
because he looked so much better on television. Some wondered whether a tall,
somewhat awkward, stern-faced person like Abraham Lincoln could have been
elected president in the era of television.

With television there clearly was an emphasis on images in political com-
munication, and yet that wasn't really anything new. Images have always played
a major role in American politics. George Washington was the ' 'father of his
country." He could not tell a lie, as the legend of the cherry tree illustrates, and
much is made of the story that he threw a dollar across the Potomac. James
Monroe presided over the Era of Good Feeling, so called to this date by some
historians, although bitter sectional factionalism was soon apparent.
William Henry Harrison was elected president on a slogan of "Tippecanoe
and Tyler Too." What it meant was that Harrison had defeated the Indians at
the Battle of Tippecanoe, and Tyler was his running mate. What that had to do
with being president is anybody's guess. Lincoln was "Honest Abe" and "the
rail splitter." The former is commendable for a president, but the latter has
nothing to do with the duties of the office.
We began the twentieth century with Theodore Roosevelt, the "Rough
Rider." The story was that the Rough Riders had stormed up San Juan Hill in
Cuba during the Spanish-American War. Now historians doubt that they went
up the hill, and if they did, it was on foot because it is well documented that
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the horses were mistakenly left in Florida. President Franklin Roosevelt offered
us the "New Deal," and President Harry Truman made it the "Fair Deal."
President John F. Kennedy talked of a "New Frontier," and President Gerald
Ford, the former Michigan football player, offered us ' 'WIN'' for Whip Inflation
Now.
All of this is image with little substance. It continues today. Perhaps contem-
porary political consultants do it more and better. Clearly, they have been quick
to make use of emerging technology such as videotape and the Internet.

While political communication has been with us as long as we have been a
country, the study of political communication really hasn't. Its origins can prop-
erly be traced to the work of Walter Lippmann and Paul Lazarsfeld in the years
between World War I and World War II.
Since then the study of political communication has expanded for two major