Page 145 - Historical Dictionary of Political Communication in the United States

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The Brass
dal; Boston (1928), about the controversial Sacco-Vanzetti case; and 60 MINUTES
Check (1919), a press criticism.
But Sinclair's most enduring legacy is the 1934 gubernatorial race in Cali-
fornia, a campaign Heywood Broun called the dirtiest in American history. Sin-
clair had run for governor twice before as a socialist and lost. But in August
1934, he won the Democratic primary in a landslide, and most political analysts
believed he would easily defeat his Republican opponent, Governor Frank F.
Merriam, in November.
But the Republicans soon conceived a winning strategy. Sinclair had used his
fame and skill as an author to launch his campaign. His opponents now turned
his reckless career as a muckraker against him. He had attacked some of the
most powerful interests in California—the press, the movie studios, the oil in-
dustry, the churches, and the bankers.
Advertising pioneer Albert D. Lasker directed the most sophisticated direct-
mail campaign of its day, and his agency also created a series of radio dramas
that predicted California under Governor Sinclair would be a kind of Siberia
with palms.
The Los Angeles Times published an embarrassing Sinclair quote on its front
page every day. Some were from his novels and were merely what a character
was saying, but they were passed off as reflections of the author's beliefs.
While Sinclair got 900,000 votes, more than any previous Democratic can-
didate for governor, he lost by 200,000 votes. He immediately wrote another
book, /, Candidate for Governor: And How I Got Licked. Curiously, some of
the newspapers that had attacked him during the campaign paid substantial sums
to publish excerpts of the book.

SOURCE: Greg Mitchell, The Campaign of the Century—Upton Sinclair's Race for
Governor of California and the Birth of Media Politics, 1992.
Larry L. Burriss

60 MINUTES raised the curtain on a new sort of program format—the televi-
sion newsmagazine. The CBS program debuted in 1968 with correspondents
Mike Wallace and Harry Reasoner. It was the first to regularly devote itself to
addressing only a few topics in each program, but in depth. With executive
producer Don Hewitt in command, 60 Minutes now produces 120 segments
annually. Each requires an average of 6 to 10 weeks to produce. In addition to
the correspondents whom the public sees each week reporting the stories, the
staff consists of about 70 producers, editors, and reporters. Other 60 Minutes
alumni include Dan Rather and Diane Sawyer.
Now a ratings success in its familiar Sunday evening time slot, 60 Minutes
was not always so prosperous. It initially struggled to find an audience as well
as a regular time slot. Now it is not only one of the most watched news programs
but one of the most watched of all television programs. It built its reputation
not only by producing quality journalism but also by adding a sense of drama