One of the earliest pieces from
the television era, this was an effort by the campaign of Democrat Adlai Stevenson
in 1952 to remind voters of why they had been supporting Democratic candidates
for the last twenty years. Created by the Illinois Democratic Party at a time
when the national party was unconvinced that television advertising would
prove to be the wave of the future, it offers the great social-welfare argument
of the New Deal party system in comprehensive and concentrated form.
The associated emphasis on partisan identification in the mass public would
gradually disappear, as candidates tried to portray themselves increasingly
as above party. Its central theme would nevertheless be repeated and repeated
by Democratic presidential candidates, though never better than in this initial
incarnation. This is also one of many pieces that helps underline the fact
that the best ads do not necessarily belong to the winning campaign.
